The company was involved in the early developments of Frank Whittle in the jet engine field, a Mr. I Lubbock of the company devising a suitable combustion chamber design, known as the 'Lubbock Burner' and used in the Power Jets WU and subsequent engines.
During World War II, Balderton Airfield, opened in 1941, became home to RAF bombers and Sir Frank Whittle, inventor of the jet engine, lived and worked on his engine designs at Balderton Hall.
The company produced the Gloster Gladiator; Hawker Hurricane; Hawker Typhoon; Gloster Meteor and Gloster Javelin and its runway became famous for the first flight of Sir Frank Whittle's turbo-jet aircraft.
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On April 8, 1941 the first test flight of the Gloster E28/39 with a turbo-jet engine invented by Sir Frank Whittle took off from the company's flight test airfield at Brockworth.
Frank Whittle lodged at a house in the village while developing the jet engine at RAF Cranwell; the remains of this house lie near the church.
Frank Whittle (1907–96), the jet engine pioneer, was born in Earlsdon in a terraced house on Newcombe Road, which is marked out by a small grey commemorative plaque.
Whittle was discovered in July 1990, and named after Frank Whittle.
Possible names for this "new" village have included Whittlesfield, after Frank Whittle, who invented the jet engine that powered the aeroplane that took off from the airfield, and Pineholt, which had been used to describe a small part of the area before a housing estate more than doubled the Parish's size in the late 1990s.
One of its two teachers at the time, was Miss Whittle, the daughter of Sir Frank Whittle, co-inventor of the jet engine.
Named in 1977 by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) after Sir Frank Whittle, Air Commodore, RAF, British pioneer of gas turbines for jet propulsion of aircraft from 1937.
Frank Sinatra | Frank Zappa | Frank Lloyd Wright | Frank Capra | Frank Gehry | L. Frank Baum | Frank Stella | Frank | Frank Herbert | Frank Wedekind | Anne Frank | Frank Loesser | Frank Langella | Frank Whittle | Frank Keating | Frank Lautenberg | Frank McCourt | Frank Vincent | Frank Evershed | Frank Bruno | Frank Thomas | Frank Rich | Frank Ocean | Frank Morgan | Frank Lampard | Frank Gifford | Barney Frank | Waldo Frank | Frank Urso | Frank Paschek |
Graduates of this scheme include several former officers of Air rank, including Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, father of the jet engine, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Keith Williamson, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Armitage, Air Marshal Sir Graham Miller, and Air Marshal Cliff Spink
Lefebvre was a pioneer in the development of the jet engine, and arguably one who contributed more as a researcher, designer and educator than any other, except of course, the original inventors – Sir Frank Whittle and Hans von Ohain.
Not only did he design a powerboat engine with T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), but also worked on the Dambusters' bouncing bomb and Frank Whittle's jet engine.
This problem was one that led to early research into jet engines, notably by Frank Whittle in England and Hans von Ohain in Germany, who were led to their research specifically in order to avoid these problems in high-speed flight.