Frank Whittle and the Jet Engine: History's Most Underrated Invention

Comments · 174

• ME

  @megaprojects9649 · 1 month ago · pinned

  They can&apos;t harm you, if they can&apos;t find you! Use code MEGAPROJECTS at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: <a href="https://incogni.com/megaprojects">https://incogni.com/megaprojects</a>

  5

• MA

  @Mark-y3i7p · 1 month ago

  I was a jet engine technician for over 30 years and I don&apos;t think Frank Whittle (or Dr. Anselm Franz) get anywhere near the credit they deserve for their respective accomplishments.

  47

• PA

  @paulrobinson3649 · 1 month ago

  The Gloster Meteor &nbsp;entered service in July 1944, so Whittle&apos;s engine did serve in the war.

  20

• ON

  @OnTheFringes-e2i · 1 month ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fz1AnFKPc4&amp;t=952">15:52</a> That is incorrect. The jet powered Gloster Meteor was in active RAF service by July 1944, with 616 Squadron. It was more than capable as a fighter, but the sensitivity of such a new design meant they were largely held in reserve, where they were used to shoot down V1 flying bombs over southern England.<br><br>A detachment of Meteors from 616 was deployed to Belgium in 1945 where they conducted ground attack missions against German airfields.

  10

• DW

  @dwaynne_way · 1 month ago

  Such an appropriate name Frank Whittle hearing this you know you&apos;re in safe hands 😂

  7

• JO

  @johnburns4017 · 1 month ago

  Hans von Ohain, the leading German jet engineer, wrote a very comprehensive foreword in the &apos;Elements of Propulsion, Gas turbines and Rockets&apos;. In that foreword he states:<br><br><i>&quot;The first patent of a turbojet engine, which was later developed and produced, was that of</i> <i><b>Frank Whittle, now Sir Frank.</b></i><b></b> <i>His patent was applied for in January 1930. This patent shows a multistage, axial-flow compressor followed by a radial compressor stage, a combustor, an axial-flow turbine driving the compressor, and an exhaust nozzle. Such configurations are still used today...&quot;</i> and <i>&quot;From the beginning of his jet propulsion activities, Frank Whittle had been seeking means for improving the propulsive efficiency of turbojet engines. He conceived novel ideas for which he filed a patent application in 1936, which can be called a bypass engine or turbofan. To avoid a complete new design, Whittle sought an interim solution that could be merely &quot;tacked on&quot; to a jet engine. This configuration was later known as the aft fan. Whittle&apos;s work on fan jets or bypass engines and aft fans was way ahead of his time. It was of greatest importance for the future or turbopropulsion.&quot;</i> and <i>&quot;In April 1937, Whittle had his bench-test jet engine ready for the first test run. It ran excellently; however, it ran out of control because liquid fuel had collected inside the engine and started to vaporize as the engine became hot, thereby adding uncontrolled fuel quantities to the combustion process. The problem was easily overcome.</i> <i><b>This first test run was the world&apos;s first run of a bench-test jet engine operating with liquid fuel.&quot;.</b></i><b></b>

  1

• TE

  @Techstriker1 · 1 month ago

  As a certain electrician mentioned recently, Air Conditioners are in contention as a super important development as well.

  1

• MA

  @MacShintersbane · 1 month ago

  Ah, the almost forgotten Lancashire cotton mines.<br>Glad they got a mention, not enough is known about them.

  39

• AG

  @AG3n3ricHuman · 1 month ago

  A distinction should also be made between centrifugal and axial compressor jet engines. Centrifugal compressors were already in common use but aren&apos;t well suited to aircraft. Axial compressors are much more complex but also far narrower and the version used in pretty much every jet aircraft in history (not counting turboprops).

  3

• M3

  @M3PH11 · 1 month ago

  i live one mile from the test field and about 5 miles from where the tesco that was the factory is. Dude had a house in my school named after him

  6

• PE

  @PeteYates-yc3fq · 1 month ago

  Worth looking at Whittle&apos;s concept of by-pass air giving more thrust was never pursued during the Whittle era but was the basis on which all passenger high by-pass jets now operate. Amazing foresight that needs to be acknowledged.

  1

• MA

  @markotrieste · 1 month ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fz1AnFKPc4&amp;t=204">3:24</a> didn&apos;t know that cotton was mined

  25