An important part of our heritage is back home. Lee Marlow reports on frank whittle's jet engine
One of the first jet engines made, designed and developed by Frank Whittle at a village in Leicestershire, has a new home – back at the same factory where it was built.
The engine – a W2/500 – was one of only five built by Whittle in the 1940s.
It was designed and developed by Power Jets Ltd, Whittle's firm which was later nationalised by the Government to pioneer the development of the jet engine.
Today, after numerous name changes and buy-outs, the old Power Jets factory in Cambridge Road, Whetstone, is known as ITP Engines.
It was on this site, nearly 70 years ago, this engine was created.
It's an important part of Leicestershire's heritage – an invention that didn't just change the world, but shrank it – and yet it's something the county makes little fuss about.
Max Daetwyler, 90, of Wigston, was a young mechanic in the RAF when he was handpicked to work with Whittle at Lutterworth and then Whetstone.
He was taken by limousine from his RAF base to rural Leicestershire to work on a "special project".
He knew then, even as a naive 19-year-old, that he was taking part in something special.
Max became part of a small but well-drilled team which worked under Whittle's expert instruction helping to make jet engines.
"History was made here in Leicestershire," he says, "and I've always found it a little bit disappointing that, as a city and county, we didn't shout that from the rooftops.
"I'm delighted the engine is being brought back to Whetstone, its rightful home and birthplace. There were only five made so to get one, and to bring it back and put it on display here, is great news."
Although only five of these engines were built, only three survived. Two were destroyed during rigorous tests; one in Whetstone, one in Lutterworth.
The engine has been loaned by the London Science Museum on a rolling five-year programme.
Peter Knight is the operations director of ITP Engines. It's taken more than two years of negotiations with the London Science Museum to bring the engine home, he says.
"It's a bit of coup for us as these engines are so rare, it really is like gold dust," he says.
"The engine belongs to the nation, but we have it on a programme. I hope we can continue to renew that lease so we can keep it here.
"This is not a prototype, it was a proper, working engine. It was used in the Gloster E28/39 or the Meteor aeroplanes – possibly both – which were the first jet planes."
Much of the original Power Jets factory has been demolished. The test beds – old brick-built buildings where the early jet engines were run and tested – were dismantled only five years ago.
It's good, finally, to have a proper link with the past, and to show people exactly what was made here, says ITP's chief executive Craig Askew.
"I think only the original cooling pond remains from the factory that was here in the 1940s," says Mr Askew.
"We still make components for Rolls-Royce engines here and the estate where we are located is called the Whittle Estate but it's good, I think, to have the engine back here."
Part of the agreement with the Science Museum is that the engine must be available to view by the general public.
"We've put it in an area where people can see it," says Peter Knight, "although we would prefer it if they called to make an appointment."
A commemorative blue plaque – noting the importance of the site and the role it played in the development of the jet engine and air travel – will also be sited at the factory.
The official Whittle Homecoming Celebration will be held at ITP on Wednesday, when the engine will be officially unveiled.
Max Daetwyler is one of only a handful of survivors who helped to make those engines. He hopes to have a front-row seat. "I'm looking forward to it," he says. "It's about time."
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