Andrew Nahum considers the invention of the jet engine, from Frank Whittle’s first drawings of a gas turbine and his troubled attempts at jet manufacture during the war, through to the post-war development of the first commercial jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet. Nahum also re-examines Whittle’s relationship with government agencies: far from struggling against unsupportive officialdom, the charismatic inventor benefited from a creative collaboration with the state and British industry.