The David-versus-Goliath story of the man who built the war winning jet engine in the face of huge opposition from the scientific community, the government and big business.
In 1937 Whittle ran the world’s first turbojet engine leading to a revolution in the way we travel – all of today’s jet engines can trace their origin to Whittle’s work.
Whittle’s invention of the turboJet marked the dawn of the dawn of the jet age.
With all the science behind Whittle’s turbojet, an engineering marvel, the fundamentals can be summed up quite simply however as “SUCK, SQUASH, BANG, BLOW”– Kerissa Khan – Former President of The Royal Aeronautical Society
“The production of FRANK WHITTLE: A GENIUS IN THE FAMILY originally set out to explore a simple question:
What is it like to have a genius in your family?
Ian Whittle’s deeply personal testimony about his memoires of his father formed the foundations of the story which we then broadened with the support of a variety of aviation experts and contributors that permitted not only a biographical presentation but also a deep look at the trajectory of Whittle’s invention.
The film took more than four years to produce, taking in locations from the across the UK. The result is that it reveals Frank Whittle as a fascinating and complex man who not only changed the world but allowed us to see what it looks like.” – Nick Horrell, Producer, Director and Writer.
The participants represent the who’s who of British Aviation History including:
- •Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle – digitally remastered from original 16mm, filmed in 1986
- •Ian Whittle – Younger son of Sir Frank Whittle
- •Max Asseily – Great grandson of Sir Frank Whittle
- •Kerissa Khan – President of The Royal Aeronautical Society (2023-2024)
- •Professor Robert Miller – Director of Cambridge University’s Whittle Laboratory
- •Dr Victoria Taylor – Military Historian, Writer and Broadcaster
- •Richard Noble – Former Land Speed World Record Holder (1983-1997)
- •Captain Eric Brown – WWII fighter ace and test pilot filmed 2007
- •Dr Hans Von Ohain – German jet pioneer filmed in 1987
A 2025 68-minute film in 4K by Producer, Co-Director and Co-Writer Nick Horrell.
HOW TO ORDER:
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