17 January 2017
The late British engineer Sir Frank Whittle, inventor of the jet engine, is to be honoured by the U.S. National Aviation Hall of Fame. Whittle is pictured above (Imperial War Museum photo).
Whittle will be ‘enshrined’ within the Hall of Fame at a special ceremony known as ‘America’s Oscar Night of Aviation’ on the night of 28 October 2017 at Fort Worth Alliance Airport, Texas. The ceremony will take place during the annual Ford Worth Alliance Airshow.
Sir Frank Whittle was an RAF pilot when he came up with the idea of the gas turbine in 1929 but the British Air Ministry wasn’t interested in the idea at first. Whittle eventually found funding and the first engine ran in 1937, with flight tests starting in 1941 in a Gloster E28/39 at Cranwell.
Whittle is one of four being enshrined this year. The others are: Major General Charles F Bolden, Jr., USMC (Ret), the late Commander Malcolm Scott Carpenter, USN, and test pilot Robert J. Gilliland. The Hall of Fame is permanently located at Dayton, Ohio, birthplace of Orville Wright and location of the Wright Brothers’ famous cycle workshop where they built the Flyer.
Video of a restored Whittle Jet Engine firing up
