Post #1871568

In March 1941, General Henry H. ‘Hap’ Arnold, Chief of Staff of the US Army Air Corps, was on a fact-finding mission in Britain and was astonished when, by chance, he learned that Whittle’s engine was about to fly. He was aware of British jet patents and after checking out the Whittle project he was convinced that the British invention could become the springboard for America’s entry into the Jet Age. He quickly made arrangements for Whittle’s W.1X engine to be shipped to the USA, and picked General Electric to build it under licence. In April he asked GE to send a good engineer to Britain to work with Colonel A. J. Lyon of the US Army Air Force in London. Within a few months contracts were signed between the British and US governments for rights to build the Whittle engine in the United States. On 1 October 1941 the W.1X disassembled to packing-case size, accompanied by a Power Jets team comprising Dan Walker, Flight Sergeant King and G. B. Buzzoni, was flown to Bolling Field, Washington, in the bomb bay of a Liberator. They arrived at GE’s works at Lynn, Massachusetts, on the 4th. The PJ team, huddled in the bomb bay, had been worried that the pilot might pull the wrong toggle and deposit them in the drink. Towards the end of the flight they were so cold they almost wished he would. Buzzoni, a very capable fitter, commented on landing that, “The first time I fly I have to fly the bloody Atlantic!” ' This was a little over 9 weeks before Pearl Harbor, so the US was not yet in the war. The US Government gave an undertaking that they would use the information for war purposes only. At the end of the war the UK Government released them from this undertaking for the magnificent sum of $800,000! Thus America received a virtually free passport into the field of aero gas turbines, entirely brought about by Whittle’s guts and determination to bring his project to fruition. The deal with America was indicative, and could not have come at a better time. There was some hard bargaining taking place between the two countries over lend-lease deals during this period, when America was neutral and Britain, fighting alone, desperately needed American arms. This reciprocal arrangement regarding the Whittle project was proof that Britain was in the forefront of a new aviation technology, which gave the country added status in American eyes just when she needed political and economic support in the USA. The Americans, by nature, wasted no time in tackling the jet project, which Arnold and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics considered to be of vital national importance. It was naturally a top secret project, and only a handful of people concerned knew what was going on. Arnold quickly decided that GE were the best company, because of their experience in steam turbine technology and in superchargers. Like Whittle, Arnold did not approach traditional piston-engine manufacturers, being convinced that they would be sceptical of such a radical and unorthodox development. In August 1941, about three months after the first flight of the E.28, GE received a contract to build 15 Whittle engines designated as Type I-A. Bell Aircraft, of Buffalo, New York, were selected to build three aeroplanes, to be powered by the I-A. The Americans were off to a good start, helped by Whittle and his associates. Only thirteen months after General Arnold’s historic Washington meeting, on 2 October 1942, the XP-59A Airacomet made its maiden flight — some six months before the British Meteor became airborne!