High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, CB, FRS, Hon FRAeS (1 June 1907 - 9 August 1996) was a British Royal Air Force (RAF) engineer officer. He is credited with independently inventing the turbojet engine (some years earlier than Germany's Dr. Hans von Ohain) and is generally hailed as the father of jet propulsion.