Frank Whittle
Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, (1 June 1907 – 8 August 1996) was an English engineer, inventor and Royal Air Force (RAF) air officer. He is credited with co-creating the turbojet engine. A patent was submitted by Maxime Guillaume in 1921 for a similar invention which was technically unfeasible at the time. Whittle's jet engines were developed some years earlier than those of Germany's Hans von Ohain, who designed the first-to-fly turbojet engine as well as Austria’s Anselm Franz. Whittle demonstrated an aptitude for engineering and an interest in flying from an early age. At first he was turned down by the RAF but, determined to join the force, he overcame his physical limitations and was accepted and sent to No. 2 School of Technical Training to join No 1 Squadron of Cranwell Aircraft Apprentices. He was taught the theory of aircraft engines and gained practical experience in the engineering workshops. His academic and practical abilities as an Aircraft Apprentice earned ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Air Commodore
Air commodore (Air Cdre or Air Cmde) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. Air commodore is immediately senior to group captain and immediately subordinate to air vice-marshal. It is usually equivalent to a commodore or a brigadier/ brigadier general. The equivalent rank in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, Women's Royal Air Force (until 1968) and Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service (until 1980) was "air commandant". Canada The rank was used in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) until the 1968 unification of the Canadian Forces, when army-type rank titles were adopted. Canadian air commodores then became brigadier-generals. In official Canadian French usage, the r ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Prince Philip Medal
The Prince Philip Medal is named after Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who was the Senior Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE). In 1989 Prince Philip agreed to the commissioning of solid gold medals to be "awarded periodically to an engineer of any nationality who has made an exceptional contribution to engineering as a whole through practice, management or education."RAEPrince Philip Medal/ref> The first of these medals was awarded in 1991 to Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle. Background The Prince Philip medal is awarded through the Royal Academy of Engineering. Nominations are opened around September each year. Candidates can be from any nationality and hence it is an international award. Although it is an annual award, at times when there is no qualified candidate, the medal is not awarded. Winners include people from industry and university. Winners Others Another different medal also known as the Prince Philip medal is the City and Guilds Institute of Lond ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Orders, Decorations, And Medals Of The United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories, personal bravery, achievement, or service are rewarded with honours. The honours system consists of three types of award: *Honours are used to recognise merit in terms of achievement and service; *State decoration, Decorations tend to be used to recognise specific deeds; *Medals are used to recognise service on a particular operation or in a specific theatre, long or valuable service, and good conduct. Appointments to the various Order (distinction), orders and awards of other honours are usually published in ''The London Gazette''. Brief history Although the Anglo-Saxon monarchs are known to have rewarded their loyal subjects with rings and other symbols of favour, it was the Normans who introduced knighthoods as part of their Feudalism, feudal government. The first English order of chivalry, the Order of the Garter, was created in 1348 by Edward III. Since then, the system has evolved to address the changing need t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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British Thomson-Houston
British Thomson-Houston (BTH) was a British engineering and heavy industry, heavy industrial company, based at Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Originally founded to sell products from the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, it soon became a manufacturer using licences from the American company. They were known primarily for their electrical systems and steam turbines. BTH merged with the Metropolitan-Vickers company in 1928 to form Associated Electrical Industries (AEI), but the two brand identities were maintained until 1960. The holding company, AEI, was bought by The General Electric Company, GEC in 1967. In the 1960s AEI's apprenticeships were highly thought-of, both by the apprentices themselves and by their future employers, because they gave the participants valuable experience in the design, production and overall industrial management of a very wide range of electrical products. Over a hundred of the apprentices - who came to Rugby from all over the UK, and a few from abro ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Power Jets
Power Jets was a British company set up by Frank Whittle for the purpose of designing and manufacturing jet engines. The company was nationalised in 1944, and evolved into the National Gas Turbine Establishment. History The origins of Power Jets is closely tied with the pioneering work of the British inventor Frank Whittle. Whittle had been exploring the use of gas turbines as a form of propulsion since the 1920s, having been awarded his first patent on such an engine design in 1930.Buttler 2019, p. 4. On 27 January 1936, Power Jets was founded; it initially consisted of Whittle, Rolf Dudley-Williams, James Collingwood Tinling, and Lancelot Law Whyte of investment bankers O T Falk & Partners. At this point, there was no official backing of the company from any government ministry.Buttler 2019, p. 5. Securing funding was a persistently worrying issue throughout the early development of the engine. Initial premises for the firm were hired from British Thomson-Houston (BTH) ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State for Air. Organisations before the Air Ministry The Air Committee On 13 April 1912, less than two weeks after the creation of the Royal Flying Corps (which initially consisted of both a naval and a military wing), an Air Committee was established to act as an intermediary between the Admiralty and the War Office in matters relating to aviation. The new Air Committee was composed of representatives of the two war ministries, and although it could make recommendations, it lacked executive authority. The recommendations of the Air Committee had to be ratified by the Admiralty Board and the Imperial General Staff and, in consequence, the Committee was not particularly effective. The increasing separation of army and n ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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University Of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, world's third-oldest university in continuous operation. The university's founding followed the arrival of scholars who left the University of Oxford for Cambridge after a dispute with local townspeople. The two ancient university, ancient English universities, although sometimes described as rivals, share many common features and are often jointly referred to as Oxbridge. In 1231, 22 years after its founding, the university was recognised with a royal charter, granted by Henry III of England, King Henry III. The University of Cambridge includes colleges of the University of Cambridge, 31 semi-autonomous constituent colleges and List of institutions of the University of Cambridge#Schools, Faculties, and Departments, over 150 academic departm ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Peterhouse, Cambridge
Peterhouse is the oldest Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has around 300 undergraduate and 175 graduate students, and 54 Oxford fellow, fellows. Peterhouse alumni are notably eminent within the natural sciences, including scientists William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Lord Kelvin, Henry Cavendish, Charles Babbage, James Clerk Maxwell, James Dewar, Frank Whittle, and five Nobel prize winners in science: Sir John Kendrew, Sir Aaron Klug, Archer Martin, Max Perutz, and Michael Levitt (biophysicist), Michael Levitt. Peterhouse alumni also include the Archbishop of Canterbury John Whitgift, Lord Chancellors, Lord Chief Justices, important poets such as Thomas Gray, the first British Fields Medal, Fields Medallist Klaus Roth, Oscars, Oscar-winning film director Sam Mendes and comedian David Mitchell (comedian), David Mitchell. British Prime Minister Au ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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RAF Cranwell
Royal Air Force Cranwell or more simply RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station in Lincolnshire, England, close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. Among other functions, it is home to the RAF College Cranwell, Royal Air Force College (RAFC), which trains the RAF's new commissioned officer, officers and aircrew. The motto, ''Altium Altrix'', meaning "Nurture the highest" appears above the main doors of the Officers Mess. Since January 2025, RAF Cranwell has been commanded by Wing Commander Matthew "Chocka" Thornton. History The history of military aviation at Cranwell goes back to November 1915,Halpenny (1981), p.74 when the British Admiralty, Admiralty requisitioned 2,500 acres (10 km2) of land from the Frederick Hervey, 4th Marquess of Bristol, Marquess of Bristol's estate. On 1 April 1916, the "Royal Naval Air Service Training Establishment, Cranwell" was officially born. In 1917 a dedicated railway station was establi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Anselm Franz
Anselm Franz (January 21, 1900—November 18, 1994) was a pioneering Austrian jet engine engineer known for the development of the Jumo 004, the world's first mass-produced turbojet engine by Nazi Germany during World War II, and his work on turboshaft designs in the United States after the war as part of Operation Paperclip, including the Lycoming T53, the Honeywell T55, the AGT-1500, and the PLF1A-2, the world's first high-bypass turbofan engine. Early life Born in Schladming, Austria, in 1900, Franz studied mechanical engineering at the Graz University of Technology and earned a doctoral degree from the University of Berlin. Franz worked as a design engineer at a company in Berlin, where he developed hydraulic torque converters. In 1933 Franz joined the Sturmabteilung. Junkers Aircraft In 1936, he joined Junkers, and during much of the 1930s he was in charge of supercharger and turbocharger development. Meanwhile Hans von Ohain's first engines were being run at Heinkel, a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hans Von Ohain
Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain (14 December 191113 March 1998) was a German physicist, engineer, and the designer of the first aircraft to use a turbojet engine. Together with Frank Whittle and Anselm Franz, he has been described as the co-inventor of the turbojet engine. However, the historical timelines show that von Ohain was still a university student when, in January 1930, Whittle filed his first patent for a turbojet engine and successfully tested his first engine in April 1937, some 6 months before von Ohain. Additionally, prior to building his engine and filing his own patent in 1935, von Ohain had read and critiqued Whittle's patents.Margaret Conner, Hans von Ohain: Elegance in Flight (Reston, Virginia: American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., 2001), page 31 Von Ohain stated in his biography that "My interest in jet propulsion began in the fall of 1933 when I was in my seventh semester at Göttingen University. I didn't know that many people before me had ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jet Engine
A jet engine is a type of reaction engine, discharging a fast-moving jet (fluid), jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition may include Rocket engine, rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term typically refers to an internal combustion airbreathing jet engine, air-breathing jet engine such as a turbojet, turbofan, ramjet, pulse jet engine, pulse jet, or scramjet. In general, jet engines are internal combustion engines. Air-breathing jet engines typically feature a Axial compressor, rotating air compressor powered by a turbine, with the leftover power providing thrust through the propelling nozzle—this process is known as the Brayton cycle, Brayton thermodynamic cycle. Jet aircraft use such engines for long-distance travel. Early jet aircraft used turbojet engines that were relatively inefficient for subsonic flight. Most modern subsonic jet aircraft use more complex High-bypass turbofan, high-bypas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |