James Cunningham

City MP Jim honours Coventry great

JIM Cunningham today paid tribute to Sir Frank Whittle after visiting a House of Commons exhibition in honour of one of Coventry’s greatest sons.
The Coventry South MP visited the display, featuring exhibits, photographs and a bronze bust, and called Earlsdon-born Sir Frank as one of  the ‘greatest aero engineers of the 20th century’.
The exhibition in London came after hundreds of people gathered in Coventry to see the unveiling of a bronze statue in honour of Sir Frank.
The statue, in Millennium Place, was officially unveiled on the centenary of Sir Frank Whittle’s birth.
Mr Cunningham said: “Today when we fly abroad on holiday, we take the jet engine for granted.
“Yet when Sir Frank Whittle was born 100 years ago, flying machines were extremely basic.
“From the presentation of his design for a jet engine in the 1920s, Sir Frank went on to patent his turbo-jet engine.
“There is no doubt in my mind that this was one of the most important engineering achievements of the past century.
 “Sir Frank, who was one of the greatest aero engineers of the 20th century, had the vision and drive to invent the jet engine and we’ll forever be indebted to him.”
Frank Whittle was born in Coventry on June 1,1907, the son of a mechanic, and lived in Newcombe Road in Earlsdon. He qualified as a pilot officer in 1928.
Using newly available strong and light alloys he produced the first viable jet engine to be successfully tested in a laboratory.
Whittle retired from the RAF in 1948 with the rank of air commodore.
He was knighted in 1976 and went to work in the USA shortly afterwards, becoming a research professor at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis.
He died at his home in Maryland, USA, on August 9,1996, aged 89.