The Complete Book of Spaceflight: From Apollo 1 to Zero Gravity

Whittle, Frank (1907–1996)
An English pioneer of the jet engine. Whittle was born in
Earlsdon, at a time when powered flight was still in its
infancy, his boyhood coinciding with the use of aircraft
in World War I, the formation of the RAF in 1918, and
Alcock and Brown’s flight across the Atlantic in 1919. He
grew up in an engineering environment, his father owning
a general engineering business in Leamington Spa,
and he was particularly fascinated by aircraft. After leaving
school in 1923, he joined the RAF as an apprentice
aircraft fitter and was later selected for pilot training at
the RAF Staff College, Cranwell, where he was soon flying
solo. The piston-engined planes of the 1920s were
limited with respect to speed and altitude—as they would
be for another two decades. But while at Cranwell, and
aged only 21, Whittle began to consider the possibilities
of jet propulsion. By 1930, he had designed and patented
a jet aircraft engine. At first, many people refused to
believe that his invention would work at all. The Air Ministry
was approached, as were various industrial firms, but
all were put off by the practical difficulties and high costs
involved in making the engine: Britain in the 1930s was
in the middle of a serious industrial depression, and
money for new products was limited. With no one to
back him, Whittle couldn’t even afford to renew his
patent. By 1935, Whittle had almost given up hope that
his ideas would ever be developed. He was then at Cambridge,
where the RAF had sent him to work for a degree
in mechanical engineering. In May of that year, he was
approached by two ex-RAF officers who suggested that
they should cooperate to try to get work started on the jet
engine. It proved to be a turning point. By 1936, some
money had been obtained, a small company, Power Jets
Ltd, was formed, and work on the first experimental
engine started at the British Thomson Houston (now
GEC) factory in Rugby. In April 1937, the first engine was
tested. According to Whittle, it “made a noise like an air
raid siren,” causing onlookers to run for cover. Nevertheless,
the demonstration was successful. The Air Ministry
now began to take an interest and in 1939 gave Power Jets
Ltd. an official contract for a flight engine. Subsequently,
the Gloster Aircraft Company was asked to build an
experimental aircraft. The result was the Gloster E.28/39,
which, powered by the Whittle jet engine, took off from
Cranwell on May 15, 1941, on an historic 17-minute
flight. Toward the end of World War II, the now renamed
Gloster Meteor entered service as the RAF’s first jet
fighter.
Wilkins, John (1614–1672)
A brother-in-law of Oliver Cromwell and an Oxford
graduate who became Master of Trinity College, Cambridge,
and eventually Bishop of Chester. As a young
Wind 483
author he was one of several men, including Johannes
Kepler, who speculated about the possibility of traveling
to the Moon. His first book, A Discourse tending to prove
(tis probable) there may be another Habitable World in the
Moon, was published in 1638, the year Milton visited
Galileo, then imprisoned by the Inquisition for promulgating
the same ideas that Wilkins developed in his book.
It was in the third edition of his Discourse that Wilkins
spoke explicitly of space travel: “That tis possible for
some of our Posterity to find a conveyance to this other
World; and if there be Inhabitants there to have Commerce
with them.” He drew a parallel between the difficulty
of crossing space and that of crossing the oceans.
Ships must once have seemed strange, “And yet now,
how easie a thing is this even to a timorous and cowardly
nature, And questionless the Invention of some other
means for our conveyance to the Moon cannot seem
more incredible to us than did this at first to them.”
Wilkins recognized the problems of gravity and distance.
He supposed that gravity became negligible above 20
miles; as for a means of transport, he suggested a flying
chariot or bird-power—the latter a propulsion system also
favored by Francis Godwin.
Williams, Walter C. (1919–1995)
A prominent engineer and administrator with the U.S.
manned space program. Having earned a degree in aerospace
engineering, Williams joined NACA (National
Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) in 1940 and worked
on improving the handling, maneuverability, and flight
characteristics of World War II fighter planes. Following
the war, he went to what became Edwards Air Force
Base to set up flight tests for the X-1, including the first
human supersonic flight by Charles Yeager in October
1947. Subsequently, he became the founding director of
the organization that became Dryden Flight Research
Facility and, in September 1959, assumed associate directorship
of the new NASA space task group at Langley,
created to carry out Project Mercury. He later became
director of operations for this project, then associate
director of the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center,
renamed the Johnson Space Center. In 1963, Williams
moved to NASA Headquarters as deputy associate
administrator of the Office of Manned Space Flight.
From 1964 to 1975, he was a vice president for Aerospace
Corporation. Then from 1975 to 1982 he served as chief
engineer of NASA, retiring in the latter year.
Wind
Together with its sister spacecraft Polar, NASA’s contribution
to the International Solar Terrestrial Program
(ISTP), an international effort to quantify the effects of
solar energy on Earth’s magnetic field. From an L-1 halo