Whittle is one of the great engineers of the century, perhaps the greatest if judged by the scale of the consequences of his invention. Only the discoverer of the properties of the silicon chip could claim comparable importance.

Jet propulsion was first demonstrated by Hero of Alexandria in AD 60. The gas turbine was patented by Barber of Nuneaton in 1791. Whittle patented a design for an aircraft engine in 1930 in which propulsion was to be achieved by a jet produced by a gas turbine. By combining the thoughts of two men separated in time by over 1,700 years he made an engine which revolutionised world air transport.