In 1925, Pratt & Whitney began its long history of challenging expectations and creating powerful, reliable technologies that have changed the world.
During World War I, Captain Frederick Brant Rentschler was assigned to oversee production of aircraft engines for the U.S. Army. In the ensuing decades, that experience has helped make possible the profound wonders of space exploration, the lucrative opportunities of global commerce and the cutting-edge tools that help ensure military success in a volatile world.
How did this come to be? When Captain Rentschler left the Army, he became convinced that future aircraft would require lighter-weight engines with much greater power and higher reliability. His proposed design of an air-cooled engine flew in the face of conventional wisdom, which held that heavier liquid-cooled engines would power the future of aviation.
Ultimately, Rentschler was proven correct. In 1925, Pratt & Whitney—the company he founded—began its long history of challenging expectations and creating powerful, reliable technologies that have changed the world.