Powering the World's Airliners by Reiner Decher

Author:Reiner Decher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: TRANSPORTATION / Aviation / General
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Published: 2020-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

New Business for Pratt & Whitney

The post-war period would determine who, among companies, was going to be in the jet engine development business. While the entry route into the jet engine business by GE and Rolls-Royce is relatively clear, Pratt & Whitney’s history is more complicated. They had not participated in development work on these new engines because the US government thought that their continued focus on producing reciprocating engines was necessary for the war effort. After the war, the company made the financial commitment to participate in the switch to jets. Pratt & Whitney gave itself five years to get into the business and do it with engines that leapfrogged the competition.

The company navigated the post-war period in interesting ways. For example, GE and Westinghouse were eager to secure production capacity for their radial-flow (GE J33) and axial-flow engines (Westinghouse J30) that these companies had sold to the US military. They approached Pratt & Whitney for their production capability as licensee for the engines. Frederick Rentschler and Leonard Hobbs (corporate vice president) turned them down because they wanted Pratt & Whitney participation in engineering development to be part of the deal and a pure manufacturing contract had less value for developing Pratt & Whitney’s future business. In the negotiations it was important to consider the needs and views of the ultimate customers, aeroplane manufacturers and the US military. The US Navy’s need for the J30 engines ultimately led Pratt & Whitney to accept an agreement to produce these engines. The benefit was customer relations with the Navy and the opportunity to learn about axial-flow compressors that Pratt & Whitney believed were the better compressors for future engines.

The aeroplane builder Grumman was a good customer for Pratt & Whitney engines and they needed engines for a fighter jet that ultimately became the F9F, Panther. Grumman wanted the Rolls-Royce Nene engine for this aeroplane. Pratt & Whitney was approached by Rolls-Royce to manufacture and ‘Americanize’ it. Naturally, Rolls-Royce interests were rooted in entering the US market. Pratt & Whitney should have categorically turned them down. However, Navy and Grumman considerations as well as a Rolls-Royce commitment to involve Pratt & Whitney in the development of advanced versions of the Nene allowed the licensed production of the Nene as the J42 to proceed. The follow-on development engine became the J48. The experience gained by the production of these engines (J30, J42 and later J48) helped establish Pratt & Whitney as a competent producer of jet engines.

The Korean War (1950–53) was a time to test the capabilities of jet engines in military combat. An important aeroplane in the US arsenal at that time was the Lockheed F-80 powered by the radial flow Allison J33 engine. The time was, however, to be the end of engines with radial-flow compressors used by the US military for first line combat aircraft. The US Air Force was already using the Republic F-84 with the Allison J35 and Wright J65 engines and the North American Aviation F-86 with GE J47 engines.

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