The history of turbojet fighters was started by a young cadet, who studied in the

the Royal Air Force College in Cranwell for obtaining a pilot's license and
becoming an officer. During the fourth

year in the academy, Whittle wrote an essay titled [i]Future Developments in the
Design of Aircraft[/span], in which he mentioned diverse possibilities of employing
rockets or turbines for rotating

the propellers of an aircraft, albeit not the possibility of propelling an aircraft

by a mere flow of hot air produced by a gas turbine. About one year and half after
having entered the Royal Air

Force, Whittle had discovered, after patient research, a patent granted in 1917
that illustrated a method for aircraft propulsion by means of a jet engine. The
limitations of the proposal were

evident: the patent provided as source of energy a piston engine, that should
rotate a propeller installed inside the fuselage in the fore part, while in the
rear part an afterburner would help to

increase the thrust of the engine. Considering this principle as not satisfactory,
Whittle thought in replacing the piston engine by a turbine. However, his proposal
was refused by the Air

Ministry; in the response the technicians affirmed that the idea was not realizable
because the materials that would be needed simply did not exist. Still, Whittle did
not give up and the 16th

January 1930 he forwarded a patent request regarding the creation of a turbojet

engine for aircraft. Not being the Air Ministry officially interested in the
matter, the patent, once granted circa

18 months later, was published, being lost so the secret of the investigations.[p]
The principle of the ducted propeller moved by a piston engine would be definitely
discredited by the experiments carried in Italy, namely the aircraft Caproni
Campini N.1, which flew for the first

time the 27th August 1940, fulfilling 10 minutes of flight. Later it would be very
announced its flight between Milan and Guidonia, with scale in Pisa. The fuselage
of this particular aircraft was

tubular, open for both ends, admitting air through the fore opening and exhausting
gases through the rear opening, as any jet engine. Inside, the N.1 had a Isotta-
Fraschini piston engine with a

power of about 900 HP attached to a three-phase variable pitch propeller, which

compressed the air aspirated through the air intake sending it to the rear part,
where a circular burner fed with

fuel increased the thrust generated by the piston engine. The projectist, Secondo
Campini, had been working in the field of jet propulsion during eight years;
however the performance of his

aircraft was disappointing. The N.1 was slower than a conventional piston-engine
fighter, even when its burner operated - and this one consumed high amounts of fuel
- for which reason this project

was refused by the authorities and eventually abandoned.[p]

[aimg96]high_res/aircraft_italy/
caproni_campini_n1_jet_aircraft.jpg[*aimg96]low_res/aircraft_italy/
caproni_campini_n1_jet_aircraft.jpg[/aimg96][br]
[fs]The Caproni Campini N.1. Wingspan: 15.33 meters; length: 13.07 meters; weight:
4180 kilograms; maximum speed: 375 kilometers/hour at 3000 meters of
altitude.[/span][p]
The start of the Second World War induced the British Air Ministry to order to the
aeronautical industry a single-seater fighter propelled by a turbojet engine.
Previously, the Ministry had

stipulated a contract with the company Power Jets, directed by Frank Whittle, for
the construction of a turbojet engine. The negotiations were started in March 1938
and the contract was finally

signed the 7th July 1939. The contract for the aircraft, signed with Gloster
Aircraft the 3rd February 1940, provided the preparation of an interceptor, whose
maximum speed should be about 610

kilometers/hour, being armed with four machine guns. The prime purpose of the
prototype should be to study the behaviour of the turbojet engine during flight,
and also the disposition for combat.

The first turbojet engine, still not intended for flight, was installed in the
aircraft E 28/39 the 6th April 1941. The next day, Lieutenant Phillip Edward Gerald
Sayer started with it taxiing

tests at Brockworth. Gently accelerating and decelerating, Sayer managed to get the
aircraft briefly off the ground three times. The machine seemed ready for flight.
[p]
The first prototype was transferred to the airfield in Cranwell, the town where
Whittle had spent years as cadet of the Royal Air Force College during his youth;
sentimentalisms apart, Cranwell was

chosen due to its long runway and because this airfield was very adequate for
tests. The 14th May Sayer repeated the taxiing test, intending to effectuate the
first flight during the next morning.

But that morning the sky was cloudy and only in the evening it started to get
clear. The E 28/39, painted in a camouflage scheme, was directed towards the
runway. As the scream of the engine

increased in sharpness, the aircraft started moving along the runway, successfully
taking off for the first flight - the first flight of a British turbojet - that
lasted 17 minutes. Official

support did not lack and the trials program was intensified to know more about the
new propulsion system. Gradually, but in less than 10 hours of flight, the aircraft
was brought to an altitude of

7500 meters and a speed of 480 kilometers/hour. Soon the Rolls Royce took on the
task of perfectioning the engine, increasing the thrust up to 635 kilograms. Thanks
to that, the aircraft reached a

speed of 750 kilometers/hour and an altitude of 12600 meters. The Gloster Aircraft
completed its part relative to the aircraft towards June 1943, passing the E 28/39
to the aeronautical facilities

of the Royal Air Force in Farnborough. From these first experimentations with the
Whittle engine would be born in no time the first true British turbojet fighters,
the Gloster Meteor and the de
Havilland Vampire.[p]
[aimg96]high_res/aircraft_britain/whittle_turbojet_engine.jpg[*aimg96]low_res/
aircraft_britain/whittle_turbojet_engine.jpg[/aimg96][br]
[fs]Turbojet engine Whittle W1: dual centrifugal compressor, 10 combustion chambers
operating by flow inversion, communicating. Fuel: paraffin with atomized comburent.
Specific consumption: 0.25

kilograms of fuel per kilogram of thrust each hour. Prestations: static thrust of
385 kilograms at 16500 revolutions per minute. Weight to thrust ratio:
1:0.66.[/span][p]
[aimg96]high_res/aircraft_britain/gloster_e-
28_turbojet_aircraft.jpg[*aimg96]low_res/aircraft_britain/gloster_e-
28_turbojet_aircraft.jpg[/aimg96][br]
[fs]The Gloster E 28/39, propelled by a Whittle W1 engine with a thrust of 385
kilograms. Wingspan: 8.83 meters; length: 7.71 meters; weight: 1559 kilograms;
maximum speed: 547 kilometers/hour.

[/span][p]
[aimg96]high_res/aircraft_britain/
gloster_meteor_mk_7_and_de_havilland_vampire_mk_11_1973.jpg[*aimg96]low_res/
aircraft_britain/gloster_meteor_mk_7_and_de_havilland_vampire_mk_11_1973.jpg[/
aimg96][br]
[fs]A historic photography: a de Havilland Vampire T-11, last version of this
aircraft in the RAF, flies together with a Gloster Meteor T-7 in May 1973.[/span]
[p]