stevec
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| posted on 31/5/07 at 09:23 AM |
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For you Aircraft fans. Frank Whittle Statue and Gloster Meteor fly by.
A bit of info for you aircraft fans.
At 12.00 noon tomorrow in Millenium Square in Coventry a statue of Sir Frank Whittle inventor of the jet engine will be unveiled, His son will be
there and there will be a fly over by a Gloster Meteor 
Steve.
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flak monkey
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| posted on 31/5/07 at 09:26 AM |
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Ahh dammit I have a 3 hours exam tomorrow afternoon. Something else to miss 
Sera
http://www.motosera.com
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stevec
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| posted on 31/5/07 at 09:30 AM |
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David,
Keep the window open if you are at Warwick, The Meteor is coming from Baginton, It is bound to be flying close by.
Steve.
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diyer
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| posted on 31/5/07 at 10:07 AM |
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We will nip outside and have a look!
Hug a Hoodie!
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Dave J
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| posted on 31/5/07 at 10:16 AM |
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Sir Frank Whittle, great man. Shame he wasn't honoured more during his lifetime.
The government of the day did their best to scupper one of his greatest inventions of the 20th Century namely the jet engine.
Let him do all the development work and get it up and running with very little support, virtually took the lot away from him, then gave the design
away to the Americans and Russians.
Anyway it's great that he is being honoured and not before time.
Cheers
Dave.
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Bob C
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| posted on 31/5/07 at 11:41 AM |
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The men who invented the modern world - Frank Whittle & Tommy Flowers - both shafted by the british establishment.
B@stards
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1010070
[Edited on 31/5/07 by Bob C]
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spaximus
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| posted on 31/5/07 at 12:17 PM |
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History has a way of showing our failings, FW was not alone in not being recognised for his genius, Barnes Wallis was another, he designed planes and
the famous bouncing bomb, and died of cancer almost unnoticed. When he was needing a plane to test his first bombs they didn't want to let him
have one, until he pointed out he did design it.
On the Jet engine it wasn't the first time or the last our special relationship with the USA cost us and our engineers and scientists. Another
was when both the US and Great Britain (cos it was great then) were chasing the sound barrier, they agreed to share technology and GB handed over the
details of there inovative tail design which allowed control at high speeds. The Yanks never sent any details and less than a year later went and
broke the sound barrier with the Bell x1 which was a copy of the GB designed plane. Everyone remembers Chuck Yeager, no one remembers that without our
expertise they would not have reached the sound barrier. No recognition of their input at all. Another forgotten band sacrificed at the alter of the
politicians.
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MikeR
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| posted on 1/6/07 at 11:34 AM |
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well i didn't get to cov center today, but i did see the plane as it banked over north coventry (just by junction 2 of the M6).
Lovely sound and great to see it in the sky.
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Simon
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| posted on 1/6/07 at 07:41 PM |
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If you want to read a book that'll a) want to make you tear your hair out and, b) want to hang the gov then read John Golley's biography
of Whittle.
Frustration is just not the word
ATB
Simon
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Simon
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| posted on 1/6/07 at 08:00 PM |
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For those with Sky, Channel 530 (History) doc on Whittle
NOW
ATB
Simon
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