Jet pioneer celebrated with new Royal Mail stamps

Sir Frank Whittle designed the first turbojet engine to enter RAF service

The pioneering work on the jet engine by Sir Frank Whittle has been celebrated with a new set of stamps from Royal Mail.

Whittle, who was born in Coventry and founded Power Jets in Rugby to build the aircraft engines he designed, before going on to continue his pioneering work in Gloucestershire, died 30 years ago this year.

The stamps come in two sets, the first featuring four images of Whittle and his engines, while the second shows eight iconic British jet aircraft.

His son, Ian, said "It is a fitting tribute not only to my father's pioneering achievements, but also to the generations of engineers, designers and aviators who helped shape Britain's world-leading contribution to aviation."

Whittle was born in Coventry in 1907 and joined the RAF in 1923, training as an aircraft mechanic and graduating from RAF Cranwell as an officer in 1928.

There are 12 stamps in the set - eight aircraft and four of Frank Whittle.

He took out a patent on his proposals for a jet engine in 1930 and, without support from the government, formed Power Jets Limited in Rugby in 1936 to develop his designs for what would eventually become the turbojet engine.

It was one of those that powered Britain's first jet aircraft, built by Gloster Aircraft Company, which flew in 1941.

The lessons learned from that plane led to the introduction of the Gloster Meteor fighter in 1943, the first Allied jet aircraft to enter combat during the World War Two, powered by two jet engines based on his designs.

The set of eight stamps includes the first jet fighter used by the RAF through to the latest aircraft flown by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy, all through the work carried out on the jet engine by Sir Frank Whittle

Whittle's work went on to see the technology he pioneered put Britain at the forefront of post-war aircraft design, leading to aircraft like the twin tail-boom De Havilland Vampire and the Avro Vulcan.

2026 is also a significant year for those aircraft as it marks the 80th anniversary of the introduction of the Vampire and the 70th of the Vulcan, the last of the so-called V-Bomber force.

The Vulcan is best known for flying more than 6,000 miles from RAF Waddingham in Lincolnshire to bomb Port Stanley during the Falklands War in 1982.

Those aircraft, along with six others, are all commemorated in the second set of stamps:

Gloster Meteor F1: the first Allied jet fighter to enter combat during the World War Two

De Havilland Vampire FB5: the first plane powered by a single jet engine to e