Allison4man
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- Joined
- 5 October 2024
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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?
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?
