Jet Man: The Making and Breaking of Frank Whittle, Genius of the Jet Revolution

Jet Man: The Making and Breaking of Frank Whittle, Genius of the Jet Revolution by Campbell-Smith, Duncan. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9781788544696.

The story of Frank Whittle – RAF pilot, mathematician of genius, inventor of the jet engine and British hero. Wonderful David Edgerton, TLS A fascinating account Aeroplane Monthly Casts new light on the intense, heroic character of Frank Whittle Leo McKinstry [A] thorough dissection of the evolution of the jet engine... I recommend this mighty tome unreservedly Journal of Aeronautical History A long overdue corrective of an extraordinary man James Hamilton-Paterson A fine, deeply researched book Military History Monthly In 1938, a thirty-one-year-old RAF pilot and engineer named Frank Whittle – given special leave to pursue his own startlingly original concept of flight – presented the Air Ministry with a written proposal for a revolutionary jet-powered fighter aircraft. A ready response might have changed the course of history, but Whittle got no reply. In this gripping and insightful biography, Duncan Campbell-Smith charts Whittles success at building a pre-war jet engine against all the odds – and tracks his desperate struggle to have it launched into active service against Hitlers Luftwaffe. It arrived too late – but nonetheless transformed the future of aviation.