NEW TYPE OF PLANE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25428, 8 January 1944, Page 5

NEW TYPE OF PLANE

FIGHTER WITHOUT PROPELLER JET PROPULSION ENGINES (Rec. 7 p.m.) RUGBY, Jan. 6. Aircraft without propellers may become familiar in the near future. Jet-propelled 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, 1937. The Air Ministry placed its first order in 1939 for aircraft using jet propulsion engines with the Gloucester Aircraft Company. The engines were uo 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 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 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 suitalble to take two engines, and the first flight in the United States was made in under 12 months.

Several hundred successful flights have been carried put 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 aware of its existence.