The main reason I mentioned David Smith earlier is that he approached Axial Flow design/development in a totally different way to the Germans.
He rightly thought that the best approach was to try and get the Compressor/Turbine flows etc correct and then to lighten the casing weight to fit on an aircraft.
The German approach seemed to be to try and get the smallest/lightest design at the expense of turbine development - also their engine control/fuel control systems were bizarre to say the least - a real development cul de sac !
From Graces Guide...
What the article below does not say is that the Sapphire Compressor design was actually eventually used to improve the RR Avon - the original RR Avon compressor design was not very successful !
As I previously mentioned the Axial Meteor crashed after 3 hours flying - killing Sqn Ldr Davie AFC
1943 On November 13, 1943, a prototype Gloster Meteor fighter equipped with F2 engines made a flight from Farnborough. These were installed in underslung nacelles. This was the first time that a jet propelled aircraft with axial-flow engines had been flown in the UK.
The engines were more powerful than the Whittle design, first delivering 1,800 lbf (8 kN) but soon scaling up to well over 2,000 lbf (8.9 kN). However, the engine suffered from a number of problems that cast doubts on its reliability. These were primarily due to hot spots building up on the turbine bearing and combustion chamber. The latter, in turn, caused warping and fractures of the turbine inlet nozzles.
Eventually the overheating problem was resolved in the F.2/3 during 1943 by replacing the original annular combustion chamber with can-type burners like those on the Whittle designs. Thrust was raised to 2,700 lbf (12,000 N) in the process.
Development of the F.2 continued on a version using a ten-stage compressor for additional airflow driven by a single stage turbine. The new F.2/4 initially developed 3,250 lbf (14.45 kN) and was test flown in Avro Lancaster before being installed in the Saunders-Roe: SR/A1 flying boat fighter. Thrust had already improved to 3,850 lbf (17.1 kN) for the third prototype, and eventually settled at 4,000 lbf (17.8 kN), making the engine one of the most powerful of its era. The production engine was known as the Beryl.
1944 Development of the F.2 but development of the concept continued, eventually leading to the considerably larger F.9 Sapphire.
1947 Metrovick sold its jet engine unit to Armstrong Siddeley Motors, and the design team moved there. The Sapphire matured into a successful design, initially beating the power of its Rolls-Royce contemporary, the Avon. Design features of the Metrovick line were incorporated in Armstrong Siddeley's own line of axial compressor turboprops.