Richard Uppstrom, e-mail, 23.02.2017 23:37 Ref the date of first flight as 15 May 41. It may be stretching a point a bit, but it DID "fly" on the previous day. I got to know Sir Frank Whittle in the 1980s, and he told me that he had done a " high speed taxi test" on the 14th of May, and with a bit of discrete backpressure got the G-40 off the grass for a few seconds before resuming the "high speed taxi". If you were privileged to know him, this will not come as too much of a surprise. A brilliant engineer and a wonderful person. Frank--I hope I did not betray a confnence.

met man, e-mail, 21.09.2011 19:01 I was a meteorological observer at RAF Edgehill in 1942/43 and I first saw the aircraft when it was doing taxi trials. I later saw it flying when it had to make an emergency landing when being flown by F/L G Sayer the Gloster Test Pilot

lucy, e-mail, 18.06.2011 11:17 A second one was built with a "whittle 2" and had a max speed of 466 mph. They were also named pioneer.

deaftom, e-mail, 26.03.2011 03:27 I would love to see a modern flying reproduction of this plane, perhaps with a small Williams engine in the tail. Heck, I'd BUY one if I could get the loan.

d.jay, 06.03.2009 21:55 A second one was built with a "whittle 2" and had a max speed of 466 mph. They were also named pioneer.

Maverick Mitchell, 05.04.2008 02:08 The G-40's Max speed was actually 340 mph

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