The jet engine was invented by Sir Frank Whittle, an English aviation engineer and pilot. He first conceptualized the turbojet engine in 1928 and received the patent for his design in 1930. Whittle tested his first jet engine on the ground in 1937, and it powered the first British jet aircraft, the Gloster E.28/39, which flew on May 15, 1941. Although German engineer Hans von Ohain designed the first operational jet engine that flew in 1939, Whittle's work is credited as the invention of the turbojet engine as we know it today.