TREMENDOUS POSSIBILITIES

Evening Star, Issue 25068, 8 January 1944, Page 5

TREMENDOUS POSSIBILITIES

NEW TYPE OF AIRCRAFT ALL TESTS SUCCESSFULLY PASSED RUGBY, Jan. 6. Aircraft without propellers may become familiar in the near future. Jetpropelled fighter aircraft have successfully passed experimental tests and will soon be in production. A joint statement by the American Air Force and the R.A.F., describing this revolutionary development in air warfare, says the work was started in Britain in 1933 by Group-captain Frank Whittle. The first engine ran successfully in April, 5937. The Air Ministry placed its first order in 1939 for aircraft using jet propulsion engines with the Gloucester Aircraft Company. Tho engines were to be built by Power Jet, Ltd., a special factory in'England to whom Group-captain ; Whittle was loaned.

The first successful flight was in May, 1941. The pilot was Flight-lieutenant P. G. Sayers, the chief test pilot of the Gloucester Company. It was Groupcaptain Whittle's genius and energy that made this fine performance possible. Full information about the engine was disclosed in July, 1941. to General . Henry Arnold, chief of the United States Air Force, who, like the R.A.F. and the Ministry of Aircraft Production, had the foresight to appreciate the tremendous possibilities. He at once asked that an engine be sent.

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 aircraft company was given an-order to build aircraft suitable to take two engines, ;and the first flight in the United States was. made in under 3.2 months.

Several hundred successful nights 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 that plans be made for the production in the United States and England of a sufficient quantity for training purposes. The. American Air Force is also .giving some to the United States Navy for additional trials and experiment. The Washington correspondent of the ' New York Times ' says the indications are \that the new fighters will soon make their debut on the war fronts, and 'some observers believe that the planes are already in action, stating that it is the standard British and American practice not to announce a new Weapon until it has been tried against the enemy and the enemy are awarq of its existence.