The Engines of Pratt & Whitney: A Technical History

recounts the role played by Pratt & Whitney (P&W) in the evolution of aircraft engines from 1925 to the present time—for the most part as told by the engineers who made the history. A technical reference of all P&W engines and their applications, the book describes the evolution of piston engines and gas turbines, and offers young engineers a wealth of insights about design, development, marketing, and product support efforts for customers at home and abroad. The first three chapters introduce the contributions of Frederick Rentschler, George Mead, and Leonard Hobbs, with stories of how each new piston engine came into being. From 1940-1945 P&W committed its engineering efforts to winning World War II, but when the war was over, P&W found itself on the outside of the gas turbine market, which was capably being served by General Electric and Westinghouse. How P&W emerged from being five years behind the competition in 1945 to a position of dominance ten years later is an exciting story of technical risk-taking and "betting the farm" on success. Frederick Rentschler, who founded P&W with George Mead, believed that 75 percent of the progress in aviation was due to engine technology. This book shows how P&W gave credibility to such a statement.