GE "Whittle Engine" Team photo - identify the people

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Allison4man

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Hi! I live in the Midwest US. I have recently taken charge of my Grandfather's papers and am trying to find a way to conserve and share them.
Background: My grandfather worked for GE Riverworks in Lynn, MA starting in 1939. In 1941 he was put on a 6 man team to develop the Whittle jet engine into a US version with mass production as the end goal. He knew from the start of his involvement that he was working on new jet engine technology and worked directly with Whittle and his 3 engineers to develop a flight worthy prototype.

Grampa saved everything. Unfortunately he passed away some years ago and I don't know what some of these things are or why they are important. The attached photo is one such puzzle. I can identify about 6 individuals as having direct involvement in GE at the time or some involvement with the development of early jet planes. A post on this forum on Dundas Heenan (the gent in front with the cocktail) was most informative. So far I know that Stevenson, Puffer, D. F. "Truly" Warner and Standerwick were with GE, Major Keirn was involved in the planning stages to get the English prototype to the US, and somehow W. E. Johnson was a jet pioneer, though in what capacity is unclear. I am having trouble finding out about the rest of them, as many of the names are more common and Google searches need more parameters to narrow things down.

So what is the connection between these men? Anyone know a good resource for finding out? A note about the photo: Google lens does not produce a match, so it's probably not widely circulated. I don't know who took it, but I possess the negative. Since Standerwick looks similar to another photo that was published in a GE Newsletter from 1946 I assume this is from that same period. Keirn's insignia might provide a clue, but I am not well versed on the subject. Judging from the plant life, it was probably late fall or early spring in the Northeast US.

Thoughts?
 

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Allison4man said:
Hi! I live in the Midwest US. I have recently taken charge of my Grandfather's papers and am trying to find a way to conserve and share them.
Background: My grandfather worked for GE Riverworks in Lynn, MA starting in 1939. In 1941 he was put on a 6 man team to develop the Whittle jet engine into a US version with mass production as the end goal. He knew from the start of his involvement that he was working on new jet engine technology and worked directly with Whittle and his 3 engineers to develop a flight worthy prototype.

Grampa saved everything. Unfortunately he passed away some years ago and I don't know what some of these things are or why they are important. The attached photo is one such puzzle. I can identify about 6 individuals as having direct involvement in GE at the time or some involvement with the development of early jet planes. A post on this forum on Dundas Heenan (the gent in front with the cocktail) was most informative. So far I know that Stevenson, Puffer, D. F. "Truly" Warner and Standerwick were with GE, Major Keirn was involved in the planning stages to get the English prototype to the US, and somehow W. E. Johnson was a jet pioneer, though in what capacity is unclear. I am having trouble finding out about the rest of them, as many of the names are more common and Google searches need more parameters to narrow things down.

So what is the connection between these men? Anyone know a good resource for finding out? A note about the photo: Google lens does not produce a match, so it's probably not widely circulated. I don't know who took it, but I possess the negative. Since Standerwick looks similar to another photo that was published in a GE Newsletter from 1946 I assume this is from that same period. Keirn's insignia might provide a clue, but I am not well versed on the subject. Judging from the plant life, it was probably late fall or early spring in the Northeast US.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Left back row, first guy is Sir Stanley Hooker ("S G Hooker" in the signatures), Rolls-Royce engineer and in charge of making the Whittle Powerjets engine into a workable engine.
 
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W E Johnson - https://www.nae.edu/29126/Mr-Wilfrid-E-Johnson

Still later in World War II (1944-45), while serving as division engineer in GE's Aircraft Gas Turbine Engineering Division, Syracuse, New York, Wilfrid recruited, organized, and trained an engineering force to carry out the development and production testing of early jet engines for aircraft. This organization accepted an incompletely developed jet engine design from Frank Whipple of British Rolls Royce, completed its development, and successfully placed it in production. Wilfrid subsequently became general manager of this first U.S. jet engine production plant. No engine produced by this GE Syracuse plant ever failed in flight.
Click to expand...
 
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Joseph Sorota was part of this team. Some of the signatures are difficult to read. You might want to google: General Electric Hush Hush Boys -- as they were called.
 
Top row, middle signature - W J King (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Cornell University, New York, U.S.A) was a professor in the field of propulsion engineering - could be him?
 
Back row: Edward M. Redding worked at the Bureau of Aeronautics, Navy Department and has several jet engine related patents.
 
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Middle row, 3rd from right is A. A. Griffith, English engineer. Researched metal fatigue and helped develop an axial flow jet engine for Metropolitan Vickers. Found him on Wikipedia while reading up on Johnson. Thanks!
 
Allison4man said:
Middle row, 3rd from right is A. A. Griffith, English engineer. Researched metal fatigue and helped develop an axial flow jet engine for Metropolitan Vickers. Found him on Wikipedia while reading up on Johnson. Thanks!
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Sorry, should have been Hayne Constant instead of Johnson.
 
edwest4 said:
Joseph Sorota was part of this team. Some of the signatures are difficult to read. You might want to google: General Electric Hush Hush Boys -- as they were called.
Click to expand...
Sorota's name was on some of the test results in Grampa's files.
 
Thanks for all the help, folks! It seems this was a meeting of British and U.S. war time jet engine developers/ engineers. Still not sure of the occasion, or about 3 remaining names that are difficult to read, but thanks to everyone for shedding some light on this. I'll bring it to the Museum soon.

Grampa was head of the Jet Pioneers Association for a while, people who were in on the secret before it flew. I've read through some of their old newsletters. Many of them start "In Memory of...". It makes me incredibly sad to think that within my lifetime they have passed on, that they knew someday their group would fizzle out and cease to exist. Jet engine technology is one we take for granted these days; I want their contributions to be remembered.
 
Agreed! I was going to post AA Griffith, but got sidetracked.

It probably related to the General Electric production of the Whittle engine, but there are a lot of other non-Powerjets British engine people there as well.
 
I was going through a box of Grampa's papers and found a GE Newsletter dated June 8, 1945. Front page article titled G-E Super-Jet Wins Praise Of AAF Officers. It was a conference held in Swampscott, MA. Second paragraph reads:
Attended by 200 outstanding practical and research engineers of the major aircraft and engine companies in the United States and a delegation from England, the conference was the first one of its scope on jet propulsion ever held.
I wonder if this was a photo taken at that conference?
 

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