Power Jets W.1

W.1
Preserved Power Jets W.1 at the Science Museum (London)
Type	Turbojet
Manufacturer	Power Jets
First run	14 December 1940
Major applications	Gloster E.28/39
Developed into	General Electric J31

The Power Jets W.1 (sometimes called the Whittle W.1) was a British turbojet engine designed by Frank Whittle and Power Jets. The W.1 was built under contract by British Thomson-Houston (BTH) in the early 1940s. It is notable for being the first British jet engine to fly, as the "Whittle Supercharger Type W1", powering the Gloster E.28/39 on its maiden flight at RAF Cranwell on 15 May 1941. The W.1 was superseded by the Power Jets W.2.

After a period of indifference, in June 1939 a demonstration of the Power Jets WU was made before a delegation of the Air Ministry, notably Dr Pye, Director of Scientific Research. The demonstration was so successful that the Ministry quickly arranged to buy the engine to give Power Jets working capital, lending it back to them for testing.

At the same time, a contract was placed for a "flight engine", the W.1. Unlike the Whittle WU, that began bench testing in 1937, the W.1 was a symmetrical engine designed to facilitate, after development, installation in an aircraft. The W.1 used a double-sided centrifugal compressor of Hiduminium RR.59 alloy, reverse-flow 'Lubbock' combustion chambers and a water-cooled axial-flow turbine section using 72 blades with 'fir-tree' root fixings; the turbine was later modified to use air-cooling. The turbine blades were of Firth-Vickers Rex 78, a stainless steel developed under Dr. W. H Hatfield. Design rating was 860 pounds-force (3.8 kN) at 16,500 rpm, increased to 17,750 rpm above 4,000 feet. With the W.1 aircraft manoeuvring would subsequently be limited by a compressor casing stress to 2g. Maximum jetpipe temperature was 597°C.

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