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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 1070.PDF
FLIGHT, 8 June 1951 HONOURING THE JET PIONEERS Hawker Siddeley Commemorative Dinner Marks Ten Years of Turbine History farming an appropriate setting for what will probably be remembered as THE jet dinner are the original Whittle unit, the Gloster aircraft built for it and on the right, in contrast, a fine example of the modern British axial turbojet, the A.S. Sapphire. The Chief of the Air Staff, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Slessor, is seen speaking to the truly remarkable assembly of guests. Sir Frank Spriggs, Air Chief Marshal Sir Alec Coryton and Sir Frederick Handley Page are (I. to r.) in the foreground. MORE than one speaker at the dinner given by theHawker Siddeley Group in London on May 31stto honour "the first ten years of jet-powered flight in the free world" remarked on the still-modern and wholly attractive appearance of the Gloster-Whittle E.28/39. By courtesy of the Director of the Science Museum the chubby little monoplane had been made available to grace the head of the banqueting room, in company with an original Whittle turbojet and a glinting Sapphire. There was general acclamation when Sir Frank Whittle mountedto the E.28's cockpit and the little machine—still airworthy, in spite of its gruelling career—bobbed forward on its nosewheel, asif curtseying to the man who made its construction possible. Both Sir Frank and Mr. George Carter, designer of the E.28,must have derived as much satisfaction from their ten-year-old handiwork as from the amazing achievements which have stemmedfrom the Gloster-Whittle alliance. The whole occasion, indeed, was one for honest pride in a matchless British achievement, and it wasone which the 300 guests, of many nationalities, will not soon forget. MR. T. O. M. SOPWITH, chairman of the Hawker SiddeleyGroup, expressed the pleasure that he and his old friend and supporter, Sir Frank Spriggs, took in welcoming the distinguishedcompany—especially Sir John Slessor, the Chief of the Air Staff, General Leon Johnson, Commanding General of all U.S. Forcesin this country, and Lord Trenchard, described by Mr. Sopwith as "the R.A.F.'s father confessor and staunch isupporter in theUpper House." We knew^said Mr. Sopwith, that a few flights were made in Sir Frank Whittle receives a presentation—the silver model of the E.28/39 is just discernible—from Mr. T. 0. M. Sopwith, chairman of the Hawker Siddeley Group. A similar presentation was made to Mr. Cart' 665 Germany and Italy by machines using some form of jet propulsionat a slightly earlier date than May 15th, 1941, but he felt confident that the first flight by an aeroplane especially designed for apower unit substantially the same as those in use today was made by the actual machine present on that night—and this machinewas made possible only by the empirical thought and dogged, determination of one man—A. Cdre. Sir Frank Whittle. Manyinventors had experienced great difficulty in getting the backing to carry them through their experimental stages, and this wasencountered in no mean degree by Frank Whittle. However, initially by private enterprise and later with Ministerial backing—when results justified it—he had managed to produce a jet engine which took to the air like the proverbial duck to water. Mr. Sopwith remarked that in ten years the power of the firstflight engine had been multiplied by ten: the Sapphire, in fact, swallowed air at the rate of more than three tons a minute—butit had been said that more hot air had been talked about the jet than had ever come out of it. If we had been able to help ourAmerican partners by giving them the technical "know-how," we looked to them for equal help from their unrivalled knowledgeand ability to produce jet engines in large quantities. Mr. Sopwith paid tribute to the memory of Jerry Sayer, Geoffreyde Havilland and Trevor Wade. He knew from experience that there came a time when there was a tendency to take a con-servative line in design and development, but we who were born to aviation should never tolerate such an attitude; we mustnot temporize with progress. A. CDRE. SIR FRANK WHITTLE rose to make a breezy andapposite reply. The fact that the E.28 was still serviceable after years of varied experimental work was, he said, the strongestpossible testimony to the quality of the design and workmanship that went into it—and also to the skill of the late Jerry Sayerand the other Gloster test pilots who flew it. One of his regrets that he never flew it himself—though he had a good try. [e did, however, manage to fly the Meteor, and it was noexaggeration to say that it gave him the biggest thrill in the whole development. It was a great pity that such meagre records werekept of the historic events of May 15th, 1941. Sir Frank admitted diat he was partly guilty himself because, though he kept anextensive diary, for some reason or other all he recorded for May 15th, 1941, was that the first flight of the E.28 took placeand was "without incident." He also noted down the names of the Power Jets and Gloster representatives who were present.He himself was too close to the job to realize that he was witnessing the end of one chapter and the opening of a new one : it seemedjust another small step in a long story. The full story had not yet been told, but Sir Frank disclosed that he was in the process ofwriting it up in some detail, though he was afraid some time would elapse before he could complete it. Sir Frank emphasized that there was no doubt at all that hiswork on the jet engine would never have taken practical shape but for the initiative of two men whose contribution had, in hisopinion, never received the recognition it deserved. They were R. D. Williams and J. C. B. Tinling. He recalled that he hadtaken out his first patent in 1930, but in the succeeding years had failed to arouse the interest of the Air Ministry or any privatefirm. When the patent came up for renewal in January, 1935, he had come to believe that it was before its time, and allowedit to lapse. Only four months later he was approached by Williams and Tinling and "prodded" by them into a revival of interest
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