Pratt and Whitney: The Wasp Radial Engine, the GTF Recall and Tarmac Washes

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In 1925 Frederick Rentschler left Wright Aeronautical with a plan for a new aircraft engine. Through his brother Gordon and Edward Deeds, he won backing from Niles-Bement-Pond, a machine tool giant left with idle factories after World War I, which lent him $250,000, space in Hartford, Connecticut, and the Pratt & Whitney name. Designer George J. Mead built the R-1340 Wasp, an air-cooled radial engine that aced Navy tests in 1926 by dropping the heavy, fragile radiators of liquid-cooled designs. In 1929 Rentschler merged the company with Boeing and other firms into the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation, until 1934 legislation that followed an airmail contract scandal banned common ownership of plane makers and airlines.

The breakup left Pratt & Whitney focused on engines. It builds the F100, F119 and F135 for the F-15, F-16, F-22 and F-35, powers 27 air forces, and won a $4.4 billion Defense Department contract in late 2022. Its PW1000G geared turbofan, introduced in 2016, puts a planetary gear between the fan and turbine so each can spin at its best speed. In July 2023 contaminated powder metal used in turbine disks led to inspections of roughly 3,000 engines and grounded A320neo and A220 jets. Pratt & Whitney Canada admitted in 2012 to export violations tied to China's Z-10 attack helicopter, and in 2017 ten employees, including the head of the F135 program, left over 2012 hosting expenses for South Korean officials.

• At the 1967 Indianapolis 500, the STP-Paxton Turbo Car ran on an adapted Pratt & Whitney aircraft turbine.
• Wasp engines powered Amelia Earhart and Wiley Post, and some Wasp and Wasp Junior engines still fly in crop dusters.
• The Engine Alliance with General Electric powers the Airbus A380, and International Aero Engines with Rolls-Royce served the A320.
• The company built high-pressure turbopumps for the space shuttle main engines and was involved with RD-180 boosters for Atlas rockets.
• Its EcoPower service pressure washes baked-on grime from engine blades in about an hour, saving airlines fuel.