Hooker's eminence in the field was widely recognised and he was made an Honorary Fellow of the AIAA. I thought this was a great book and a good insight into the "other side" of the Rolls Royce / Whittle jet story.

The book abounds with anecdotes which may delight; for instance the tale of the skilled metal worker, Albert Rigg, who translated the ever-changing ideas of air intake contours through the constraints of space around the supercharger, mounted as it must at the rear of the engine, so that optimal flow helped to boost the power of the Merlin. For the first four years, I had an uninspiring career, because I soon found that I could maintain an ‘invisible’ position, about mid-form, with the minimum of effort on my part.Its a story of the incredible development of the jet engine culminating in todays large and successful units.

In the late 1980s, test pilot Bill Bedford gave a talk in Christie’s auction room in South Kensington in London. He was in the enviable position of having the necessary “smarts” to begin with, so keeping up with the academic side of things never seems to have troubled him and he was able to concentrate on enjoying the whole experience whilst also growing up.But fate intervened, and in December 1929, I suffered a broken leg in a football match against University College Hospital. I had anticipated that I would have been put into the charge of some awe-inspiring engineer, who would have allocated me some simple tasks while instructing me in the mysteries of the super aero engines that Rolls-Royce was designing and producing. I was, however, quite interested in physics and mathematics, and in the examinations at the end of each year usually managed to acquire the prize awarded jointly for these subjects. In August 1940, with the Battle of Britain being fought with the motive power of Rolls-Royce Merlin engines in both Hawker Hurricanes and Supermarine Spitfires, the first jet engines of Frank Whittle (1907–96) were beginning to demonstrate their potential. In the real world in which we live air’s viscosity gradually dissipates, like friction, all air motion into heat.

Spannend und dabei noch detailliert in die Entwicklung von Düsentriebwerken führt der Autor ein, eine oft amüsante Darstellung erwartet kaum jemand von einem Mathematiker. In fact, the appreciation, liking and knowledge of aerodynamics which I gained at that time have been a great strength to me throughout my career, especially when I was moved into the field of gas turbines. The Proteus was soon in production, but did not see widespread use, as only a small number of Britannias were built. The same year the Air Ministry made a request for a turbocharged Merlin for use in the planned high altitude Wellington VI bomber.While my right arm was no problem, merely requiring to be pulled straight and bandaged, my right leg was in a sorry mess. Bairstow was interested, and it was for this reason he recommended me for the Armourers and Braziers Fellowship. Frameworks allow a Frameworker to build software products in a way similar to how IKEA allows me to build shelving units.