Development
Alan Arnold Griffith published a seminal paper in 1926, An Aerodynamic Theory of Turbine Design, that for the first time clearly demonstrated that a gas turbine could be used as a practical, and even desirable, aircraft powerplant. The paper started by demonstrating that existing axial compressor designs were "flying stalled" due to their use of flat blades, and that dramatic improvements could be made by using airfoil designs instead, improvements that made a gas turbine practical. It went on to outline a complete compressor and turbine design, using the extra exhaust power to drive a second turbine that would power a propellor. In today's terminology the design was a turboprop. In order to prove the design, Griffith and several other engineers at the Royal Aircraft Establishment built a testbed example of the compressor in 1928 known as Anne, the machinery being built for them by Fraser and Chalmers. After Anne's successful testing they planned to follow this up with a complete engine known as Betty.
In 1929 Frank Whittle's thesis on pure jet engines was published, and sent to Griffith for comment. After pointing out an error in Whittle's mathematics, he went on to deride the entire concept, saying that the centrifugal compressor he used would be impractical for aircraft use due to its large frontal area, and that the use of the jet exhaust directly for power would be extremely inefficient. Whittle was distraught, but was convinced that he should patent the idea anyway. Five years later a group of investors persuaded him to start work on what would be the first working British jet engine.
Griffith continued development of his own concepts, eventually developing an advanced compressor design using two contra-rotating stages that improved efficiency. His partner, Hayne Constant, started discussions in 1937 with Manchester-based Metrovick, a maker of steam turbines, to produce the new machinery. Incidentally, Metrovick had recently merged with British Thomson-Houston, another turbine builder who were supporting Whittle's efforts.
Read more about this topic: Metropolitan-Vickers F.2
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