In 1929, Frank Whittle at 22, was an officer in Britain's Royal Air Force. He had been working on a new idea: a new and inventive way of powering aircraft. His thoughts were directed along the lines of discarding all of the rods, spark plugs, and additional parts of the piston engine and replacing them with a jet engine. He knew that the operation of releasing gas under high pressure would enable an aircraft to be pushed forward. The advantage of the jet engine was that it would allow aircraft to fly at much greater speeds than those possible with the piston engine. Unfortunately, when Frank Whittle presented his idea to the Air Ministry they rejected it. Knowing that the jet engine was a feasible proposition, Frank proceeded in patenting his design in 1939.
The first jet engine was built by Germany in 1939. Towards the end of World War II, both the Germans and the British were using jets. The jet engines of today can now power passenger airliners. Justifiably, the King of England knighted Whittle when the importance of his invention came to light.
