JET PROPELLED FIGHTER

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24150, 8 January 1944, Page 5

JET PROPELLED FIGHTER

British Invention

SUCCESSFUL FLIGHTS MADE

(8.0. W.) RUGBY, January 6. Aircraft without propellers may become familiar in the near future. A jet propelled fighter aircraft has successfully passed experimental tests and will soon be in production.

A joint statement by the United States Army Air Forces and the Royal Air Force, describing this revolutionary development in air warfare, says work was started in Britain in 1933 by Group Captain Frank Whittle.

The first engine ran successfully in April, 1937. The Air Ministry placed the first order in 1939 for an aircraft using jet propulsion engines with the Gloster Aircraft Company. The engines were to be built by Power Jet, Ltd., at a special factory in England to which Group Captain Whittle was lent.

United States Army Air Force is also giving some to the United States Navy for additional trials and experiment.

“The jet propelled aeroplane which has successfully passed experimental tests and will soon be in production, ends the needs for an orthodox engine and an airscrew,” says “The Times” aeronautical writer. “The new type of aeroplane without an airscrew has no need for a heavy undercarriage which is merely dead weight when the aeroplane is airborne.

The first successful flight was made in May, 1941. The pilot was the late Flight Lieutenant P. G. Sayers, chief test pilot for the Gloster Company. It was Group Captain Whittle’s genius and energy that made' this fine performance possible. Full information about the engine was disclosed in July, 1941, to General H. H. Arnold, chief of the United States Army Air Forces, who, like the Royal Air Force and the Ministry of Aircraft Production, had the foresight to appreciate its tremendous possibilities. He at once asked that an engine be sent.

“There are many varieties of the jet propulsion system, but broadly the principle is that the air is drawn into ducts in the leading edges of the wings or the nose of the fuselage. It is then mixed with liquid fuel compressed by a turbo-driven impeller and fired in a combustion • chamber. Then expanded by heat it is forced out at high speed through jets or nozzles emerging from the rear edges of the wings or from the tail of the fuselage.

The engine which made the .first flight was sent to the General Electrical Company in September, 1941.' As the result of close co-'operation between the two Air Forces and their material suppliers and the General Electrical Company, a number of these engines were built. The first was ready for a test in under six months.

“The jet propulsion system may not only have extremely important war applications, but also may present tremendous possibilities for air transport after the war. Big strides have already been made, although many problems remain to be solved, among them fuel consumption. “The Italian Caproni Aircraft Company two years ago disclosed that it had made successful flights with jet propelled aeroplanes, but the performance was mentioned as not impressive, although it may have been better than the published results.”

An aircraft company was given an order to build an aircraft suitable to take two engines, and the first flight in the United States was made in less than 12 months.

Several hundred successful flights have been carried out since by British pilots in the United States, and England, many at high-altitudes and extreme speed, without a single mishap. In view of this successful record and the obvious .advantage of the . new type of aircraft. General Arnold, the Air Ministry, and the Ministry of Aircraft Production directed plans to be made for the production in the United States and England of a sufficient quantity for training purposes. The

The Washington correspondent of the “New York Times” says indications are that the new fighters may soon make their debut on the war fronts. Some observers believe that the aeroplanes are already in action, stating that it is standard British and American practice not to announce a new weapon until it has been tried against the enemy, and the enemy is aware of its existence.