Schoolboy aged 12 becomes youngest Briton to develop an iPhone app

A 12-year-old whizzkid has been hailed as the youngest person in Britain to develop an iPhone app.

Thomas Goodenough developed an application which gives users a tour of an air ambulance and even allows them to become virtual 'pilots'.

The app - which is free but encourages users to donate to the charity - has become so successful it is being downloaded around 150 times a day.

Young inventor: Thomas Goodenough's air ambulance app is being downloaded 150 times a day

Users get a virtual tour of the helicopter of the Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance (WNAA) along with photos and videos of the rescues.

Thomas, from Collingtree, Northampton, said: 'I am really pleased with the finished app. I have put a lot of work into making it just right.

'It is great to be able to support my local Air Ambulance - because I come from Northampton and they need so much money to keep it going. It is good to be able to support such a worthy cause.

'The helicopter is faster than a car and this means that they can save someone's life."

App fan: The ambulance app is the sixth one that Thomas has created for the iPhone

Incredibly, the air ambulance app is the sixth one the schoolboy has created using his computer at home.

Thomas's other apps include one about an Aston Martin, a Porsche, a Virtual Supercar as well as a virtual cricket game and one to create a number plate.

He said, 'Within a month of receiving my Mac computer I was making apps.

'I taught myself using both tutorials and podcasts. I picked it up as I went along, finding it quite easy.

'It is good fun and I really enjoyed designing it. Seeing it available to download on the app store is very rewarding.

'I have learnt a lot from when I first began building apps, not just about IT and technology, but about business.

'It is like having my own business at the age of 12 - like the business side of The Apprentice."

Thomas' father Richard, 42, said: 'I am very proud of what Thomas has achieved. He has learned so quickly and has always had a natural talent for technology.

'He was only seven when he had his first computer and he has always enjoyed computing. It is great to see that at his age he is having fun and making money doing something he loves.'

Thomas is the youngest app developer in Britain while the youngest in the world is nine-year-old Lim Ding Wen from Singapore.

He is the latest young developer to create a popular iPhone app, following the success of American teenager Robert Nay with his Bubble Ball game.

The physics-based puzzle game, created by the 14-year-old from Utah, has been downloaded by more than two million iPhone users since it was released on December 29, even outselling the adventure game Angry Birds.