Sir Frank Whittle’s work on the jet engine was arguably the most important mechanical engineering feat of the twentieth century. In the first RAeS Whittle lecture, the then Chairman of Rolls-Royce plc reviews the first sixty years development of Whittle’s basic ideas before exploring upcoming major advances along with the ongoing challenges to reduce product and operating costs.

The inaugural Whittle Lecture took place on 4th February 1997, the podcast was edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and it was digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.