Lincoln City Council

Gas turbine research past and present

Paul Stewart
First flight of the jet engine powered Gloster E28-39

May 2011 saw the 70th anniversary of the first British jet powered aircraft flight celebrated at RAF Cranwell.

Exactly 70 years ago, on 15 May 1941, the Gloster E28/39 aircraft powered by Sir Frank Whittle’s jet engine taxied over 500 yards down the runway before taking off for a flight that lasted almost 17 minutes.

Organised by the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering (DCAE) and sponsored by Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the event saw the attendance of a wide range of guests including Sir Frank’s son Ian Whittle. Sir Frank began his RAF career as an apprentice and later trained as an RAF officer at RAF Cranwell.

L-R Ian Whittle, Kate Ellis (Lincoln City Council), Dr Jill Stewart (Acting Head of Engineering, University of Lincoln), Rob Smith (City of Lincoln Council)

Dr Jill Stewart, Acting Head of Engineering at the University of Lincoln is pictured in front of the Gloster E28/39 aircraft, and one of Sir Frank Whittle’s jet engines.

Pictured with Jill are Kate Ellis and Rob Smith from Lincoln City Council. We work closely with Kate and Rob, developing links with Lincoln engineering businesses for R&D, and also to raise the profile of Lincoln as a centre of engineering excellence.

Coming right up to date, Jill is currently leading a major research project looking at fundamental combustion in gas turbines for Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery in Lincoln.

Engineering School facilitates major equipment grant from Lincoln Council to aid local businesses

Paul Stewart
EOS P380 Rapid Prototyping Machine

Lincoln City Council has secured approval to purchase a Rapid Manufacturing Machine in order to establish a facility which is accessible to local businesses as part of a commitment to promote and encourage the growth of engineering and innovation activity in the local economy.

The School of Engineering is fully committed to this initiative, which is part of its engagement process with local industry and a long term close collaborative relationship with the City Council.

Dr Jonathan Lawrence, who is Reader and Head of the  Laser Materials Processing Group in the School, has sourced a machine in China, and will be travelling out to Shanghai in the near future to perform a technical verification before the unit is shipped to Lincoln.

The School will be working closely with the Council to promote the usage of the facility, and will be subsequently working with local businesses to fully utilise it.

The EOS P380 machine uses a high-powered laser, which fuses metal powder into a solid part by melting it locally using the focused laser beam. Parts are built up additively layer by layer. This process allows for highly complex geometries to be created directly from the 3D CAD data, fully automatically, in hours and without any tooling, producing parts with high accuracy and detail resolution, good surface quality and excellent mechanical properties.