AERO-ENGINEERS whose skills saved families from the buzz-bombs of the blitz are getting together to mark the diamond jubilee of the jet engine.

Organiser Douglas Daniels, one of the original design team, says the Rolls Royce men at Barnoldswick and engineers with sub-contractors such as Lucas are the unsung heroes of the air battles which won the war.

The reunion party, to which every worker is invited, begins at noon April 12, 1997, sixty years to the exact hour of the first demonstration run of a jet engine.

Mr Daniels said: "It was Rolls Royce who brought the jet engine to full practical reality with the engines for the Gloster Meteor, the first operational jet fighter to go into active service with the Royal Air Force.

"They were the only aircraft capable of catching the buzz bombs and tipping them into a different orbit.

"If people knew the part it played they would appreciate what was done. It must never be forgotten.

"We'd been working on the engines at Rolls without knowing what they were for, and I'll never forget the day when one flew overhead.

"We were told to go and stand on the rooftops. It was freezing cold; we heard a roar and the aircraft whizzed towards us like a ghost from the mist."

The reunion is at the Stirk House Hotel, Gisburn.

Mr Daniels would like to hear from anyone who worked on the early jets. Call him on 01454 416 572.

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