SECRET plans for the jet engine invented by Frank Whittle, who has died in the US aged 89 spent a week in 1942 under his mattress in the Royal George Hotel in Limerick where the aviation pioneer was marooned by bad weather.
Wing Commander Whittle, promoted from Royal Air Force ranks so that he could sit, work and dine with officers in the class ridden British armed forces before the second World War, was one of a party disguised as civilians en route to the US via the Foynes seaplane base on the Shannon.
The plans were being flown to the US to seek investment and advanced co production for the invention that was to revolutionise world travel.
It had been decided that the transatlantic route via spy ridden Lisbon and the Azores was a security risk. When poor weather marooned the party in Limerick, Whittle was reportedly surprised to find a "Royal George" in the city, but Ireland's recent history convinced him that the IRA would attempt to steal his plans.
The inventor never let the papers out of his possession, sleeping on them at night, but the party's cover was blown when the Royal Air Force forwarded Whittle's wife's birthday cards to her husband in Limerick, addressed by rank and name. Next morning, the Royal George porter greeted the guest with "Good morning, Wing Commander". Within hours every dog on O'Connell Street knew about the "civilian" party, but the IRA never did raid that mattress.
Frank Whittle, an RAF cadet of working class origin, had been peddling his jet thesis since 1928 in the teeth of government disbelief, bureaucratic penny pinching and the jealousy of officer ranks. Eventually, after failed attempts to separate him from his plans, he was promoted and the 1942 trip to the US became a necessity for a war beleaguered Britain.
He overcame initial derision, too, in the United States where hundred of large factories used turbine engines bolted to the floor to warm their premises in freezing conditions. The Americans were slow to accept that Whittle's jet turbine could work.
The wing commander's invention was to have other, unforeseen consequences back in Limerick. The jets enabled airliners to overfly Rineanna [now Shannon] Airport, a development that inspired the duty free airport shop.