Turbojet Development at The RAE - Further Work

Further Work

The RAE continued working on axial compressor design after the F.2 success. The original Freda compressor was later enlarged into Sarah with the addition of a further five low-pressure stages as part of a collaboration with Armstrong Siddeley, and eventually became the ASX. They also worked with the British General Electric Company on a series of axial compressor designs for other uses, and there was some exploration of axial-compressor based superchargers known as E.5. By this point, however, the British industrial companies had taken over much of the research and development effort, and the RAE team was no longer vital to continued development. It was later folded into the nationalized Power Jets to form the National Gas Turbine Establishment.

None of the RAE designs would go on to be a success on their own. The F.2 design was not put into production, although an enlarged version was very successful as the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire. Griffith's complex designs at Rolls never worked properly and were abandoned, but he turned his attention to the simpler F.2-like AJ.65 design and produced the even more successful Rolls-Royce Avon, and later to the world's first turbofan, the Rolls-Royce Conway.