Sir Frank Whittle
Lutterworth's other claim to fame is that Frank Whittle, inventor of the jet engine, developed some of the world's first jet engines at the British Thomson-Houston works in Lutterworth, and in nearby Rugby, during the late 1930s and the 1940s. The engine for the UK's first jet aeroplane, the Gloster E.28/39, was produced in Lutterworth. A statue of the plane stands in the middle of a roundabout just south of the town as a memorial. For many years there was a pub on Leicester Road called "The Frank Whittle". It was demolished in the 1990s and replaced with a car show room. During 2010 that showroom has also now been replaced with residential apartments. In the centre of the town on the Greenacres estate, the public house previously known as "The Balloon" has been renamed as "The Sir Frank Whittle" so the connection of the name to the town is intact.
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Famous quotes containing the words sir, frank and/or whittle:
“Never say a humorous thing to a man who does not possess humour. He will always use it in evidence against you.”
—Herbert, Sir Beerbohm (1853–1917)
“Sebastian: When we’re up in the air, I fall more and more in love. You too, no?
Holly: No!
Sebastian: Oh, a girl may say no, but the woman in her means yes.”
—Fredric M. Frank (1911–1977)
“Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river.”
—Will Durant (1885–1981)