AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 134 / 280

Plate 134 of 280 · Second World War · Experimental jet research aircraft

Gloster E.28/39

E.28/39, W4041/G, painted as W4041/G, the first of two Gloster E.28/39 jet research aircraft built to Air Ministry specification E.28/39 and flown by Flight Lieutenant P. E. G. ‘Gerry’ Sayer from RAF Cranwell on 15 May 1941, the first flight of a British jet aeroplane, preserved in the Science Museum, London, since 1946 and represented at the Jet Age Museum, Gloucestershire, by a full-size replica: the small single-seat low-wing monoplane George Carter designed around Frank Whittle’s W.1 centrifugal turbojet, with a round nose intake feeding ducts either side of the cockpit, the engine behind the pilot exhausting through a short jet pipe in the tail, a straight tapered wing with rounded tips, a conventional tail with a tall rounded fin, a sliding canopy and a retractable tricycle undercarriage, shown standing on its wheels with the nose-wheel doors open: Dark Earth and Dark Green upper surfaces over prototype yellow undersides, Type A1 roundels on the fuselage followed by the yellow ringed prototype ‘P’ and black ‘W4041/G’, a red, white and blue fin flash, Type B roundels above the wings and Type A below, as flown in 1941 and preserved (shape from a published three-view, checked against photographs of the original and of the Jet Age Museum replica; the drawing’s side view and the replica set its height on the ground, a little taller than the 9 ft 3 in usually quoted, and the camouflage over the wings, which no photograph shows from above, is a representative pattern).

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as W4041/G, the first of two Gloster E.28/39 jet research aircraft built to Air Ministry specification E.28/39 and flown by Flight Lieutenant P. E. G. ‘Gerry’ Sayer from RAF Cranwell on 15 May 1941, the first flight of a British jet aeroplane, preserved in the Science Museum, London, since 1946 and represented at the Jet Age Museum, Gloucestershire, by a full-size replica: the small single-seat low-wing monoplane George Carter designed around Frank Whittle’s W.1 centrifugal turbojet, with a round nose intake feeding ducts either side of the cockpit, the engine behind the pilot exhausting through a short jet pipe in the tail, a straight tapered wing with rounded tips, a conventional tail with a tall rounded fin, a sliding canopy and a retractable tricycle undercarriage, shown standing on its wheels with the nose-wheel doors open: Dark Earth and Dark Green upper surfaces over prototype yellow undersides, Type A1 roundels on the fuselage followed by the yellow ringed prototype ‘P’ and black ‘W4041/G’, a red, white and blue fin flash, Type B roundels above the wings and Type A below, as flown in 1941 and preserved (shape from a published three-view, checked against photographs of the original and of the Jet Age Museum replica; the drawing’s side view and the replica set its height on the ground, a little taller than the 9 ft 3 in usually quoted, and the camouflage over the wings, which no photograph shows from above, is a representative pattern). Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (912 KB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (reproduction); engine, crew and dimensions are for the E.28/39, W4041/G modelled here.

History

The E.28/39

Frank Whittle, an RAF officer, patented the turbojet in 1930, and in 1936 set up Power Jets Ltd to build one. His first engine ran on a test bed at Rugby in April 1937, and by 1939 the Air Ministry was ready to pay for an aeroplane to fly it. Gloster, at Hucclecote near Gloucester, was given the job, and its chief designer George Carter drew a small, simple low-wing monoplane around the engine, written to Air Ministry specification E.28/39. The contract, signed in February 1940, called for two aircraft; a fighter version with guns was considered, but the E.28/39 was built purely to prove that a jet aeroplane could fly.

The airframe was laid out around the Whittle engine: air entered a round intake in the nose, passed in ducts either side of the cockpit to the engine behind the pilot, and left through a short jet pipe in the tail. Much of the work was done in a requisitioned garage in Cheltenham, away from the bombing of the Hucclecote factory. After taxiing trials at Brockworth in April 1941, in which Gloster’s chief test pilot, Flight Lieutenant P. E. G. ‘Gerry’ Sayer, made a few short hops, the first prototype W4041/G was taken by road to RAF Cranwell, with its long runway, for its first proper flight.

At about a quarter to eight on the evening of 15 May 1941, Sayer took W4041/G off from Cranwell on the first flight of a British jet aeroplane, landing again after 17 minutes. It went on to fly with more powerful Whittle engines, at Gloster and at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough. The second prototype, W4046/G, flew in March 1943, but in July that year its ailerons jammed at high altitude and its pilot baled out. The E.28/39 was never meant for service, but it led directly to Gloster’s twin-engined Meteor, the RAF’s first jet fighter.

This airframe

Gloster E.28/39 W4041/G

W4041/GThe airframe modelled

W4041/G was the first E.28/39 and the aircraft that made the first flight of a British jet, from RAF Cranwell on 15 May 1941; the ‘/G’ on its serial meant it had to be kept under armed guard on the ground. It flew on with later Whittle engines until 1944, and in 1946 it went to the Science Museum in London, where it is displayed in the Flight gallery. The Jet Age Museum at Gloucestershire Airport, a few miles from where it was built, shows a full-size replica of it. The model shows W4041/G as it flew in 1941 and as it is preserved: Dark Earth and Dark Green above, prototype yellow underneath, and on each side of the fuselage a roundel, the yellow ringed ‘P’ of a prototype and a black ‘W4041/G’, with a red, white and blue fin flash. It stands on its tricycle undercarriage with the nose-wheel doors open. Its shape comes from a published three-view, checked against photographs of the original and of the replica, which also set its height on the ground; no photograph shows the top of the wings, so their camouflage pattern is representative.

See it at Jet Age Museum

Where to see one

In the gazetteer

The gazetteer records the E.28/39 in one UK collection. The airframe modelled here is marked.

Every airframe and serial All 280 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.