The United Aircraft Corporation was an American

aircraft manufacturer An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology industry. ...

formed by the break-up of

United Aircraft and Transport Corporation The United Aircraft and Transport Corporation was formed in 1929, when William Boeing of Boeing Airplane & Transport Corporation teamed up with Frederick Rentschler of Pratt & Whitney to form a large, vertically-integrated, amalgamated firm, ...

in 1934. In 1975, the company became

United Technologies United Technologies Corporation (UTC) was an American multinational corporation, multinational list of conglomerates, conglomerate headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut. It researched, developed, and manufactured products in numerous are ...

, which in 2020 merged with

Raytheon Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. Founded in 1922, it merged in 2020 with Unite ...

to form Raytheon Technologies, later renamed

RTX Corporation RTX Corporation, formerly Raytheon Technologies Corporation, is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by reve ...

History

Pre-1930s

1930s

The

Air Mail scandal The Air Mail scandal, also known as the Air Mail fiasco, was a political controversy that erupted in 1934 following a United States Congress, congressional investigation into the awarding of airmail contracts to select airlines. The scandal inte ...

of the early 1930s resulted in a rebuilt air mail system, under the

Air Mail Act of 1934 The Air Mail scandal, also known as the Air Mail fiasco, was a political controversy that erupted in 1934 following a congressional investigation into the awarding of airmail contracts to select airlines. The scandal intensified when the U.S. ...

, in which carriers and their equipment manufacturers (e.g., of airframes and engines) could no longer be owned by the same company.. The

was broken up on September 26, 1934, as a result of this new law. The corporation's airline interests went on to become

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois that operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and six ...

. Its manufacturing interests east of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

—

Pratt & Whitney Pratt & Whitney is an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of RTX Corporation (formerly Raytheon Technologies). Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation (especially ...

, Chance Vought, and

Sikorsky Sikorsky or Sikorski may refer to: * Sikorsky (comics), a Marvel Comics character * Sikorsky (crater), a lunar crater * Sikorsky Aircraft, an American aircraft manufacturer People with the surname * Brian Sikorski (born 1974), Major League Basebal ...

—remained together as the new United Aircraft Corporation, headquartered in

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

with

Frederick Rentschler Frederick Brant Rentschler (November 8, 1887 – April 25, 1956) was an American aircraft engine designer, aviation engineer, industrialist, and the founder of Pratt & Whitney Aircraft. Rentschler created and manufactured many revolutiona ...

, founder of Pratt & Whitney, as president. All manufacturing interests west of the Mississippi became part of a revived

Boeing Aircraft The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

. The latter half of the 1930s saw military procurement buildups around the world as governments foresaw possible war on the horizon. United Aircraft sold to both the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

and the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

, but the Navy's

requirement In engineering, a requirement is a condition that must be satisfied for the output of a work effort to be acceptable. It is an explicit, objective, clear and often quantitative description of a condition to be satisfied by a material, design, pro ...

s for

carrier-based aircraft A carrier-based aircraft (also known as carrier-capable aircraft, carrier-borne aircraft, carrier aircraft or aeronaval aircraft) is a naval aircraft designed for operations from aircraft carriers. Carrier-based aircraft must be able to launch i ...

, with maximized

power-to-weight ratio Power-to-weight ratio (PWR, also called specific power, or power-to-mass ratio) is a calculation commonly applied to engines and mobile power sources to enable the comparison of one unit or design to another. Power-to-weight ratio is a measurement ...

s for minimized takeoff runway length, were always more in tune with the specialties of United's subsidiaries (Pratt & Whitney, Chance Vought, and Sikorsky). United Aircraft became a component of the

Dow Jones Industrial Average The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow (), is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. The DJIA is one of the oldest and most commonly followed equity indice ...

on March 4, 1939, when United Aircraft and

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

were added to replace

Nash Motors Nash Motors Company was an American automobile manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin from 1916 until 1937. From 1937 through 1954, Nash Motors was the automotive division of Nash-Kelvinator. As sales of smaller firms declined after 1950 in ...

and

International Business Machines International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

. United Aircraft, subsequently known as United Technologies, has remained a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since that time.

1940s

For the subsidiaries of United Aircraft, and for countless other manufacturing firms,

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

was an exercise in how to attempt to meet limitless demand for production (as well as for R&D). The U.S. government encouraged corporations to build up their physical plant, but the corporations knew that there would be a postwar glut of overcapacity if they did so. In many cases a compromise was reached in which the government paid partially or fully for the expansions in the form of tax breaks and accelerated depreciation. United Aircraft ranked sixth among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. Peck, Merton J. & Scherer, Frederic M. ''The Weapons Acquisition Process: An Economic Analysis'' (1962)

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

p.619 At the close of the war,

jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine, discharging a fast-moving jet (fluid), jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition may include Rocket engine, rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and ...

s and

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

s were both big new things whose coming growth many companies hoped to get in on. United Aircraft entered both industries, via Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky, respectively.

1950s

Pratt & Whitney feared the head start that Rolls-Royce and General Electric would have in jets, based on their jet programs during the war and the late 1940s. But its jet team, led by Leonard S. Hobbs, successfully developed the

Pratt & Whitney J57 The Pratt & Whitney J57 (company designation: JT3C) is an axial-flow turbojet engine developed by Pratt & Whitney in the early 1950s. The J57 (first run January 1950) was the first 10,000 lbf (45 kN) thrust class engine in the United State ...

, which, being the most powerful jet engine on the market for some years, brought Pratt & Whitney profitability in the jet field. Vought was spun off as an independent business in 1954. Rentschler died two years later.

1960s

The 1960s brought new challenges, from more complex technology and bigger, more expensive aircraft to more mature markets with stiffer competition from GE, Rolls-Royce, and

SNECMA Safran Aircraft Engines, previously Snecma (''Société nationale d'études et de construction de moteurs d'aviation'') or Snecma Moteurs, is a French aerospace engine manufacturer headquartered in Courcouronnes and a subsidiary of Safran. It d ...

. The competitions for the requested aircraft that would become the

Lockheed C-5 Galaxy The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed, and now maintained and upgraded by its successor, Lockheed Martin. It provides the United States Air Force (USAF) with a heavy ...

and the

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the Boeing 707, 707 in October 1958, Pan Am ...

were some of the financially riskier episodes. Pratt & Whitney ended up building the engines for the 747, producing the

Pratt & Whitney JT9D The Pratt & Whitney JT9D engine was the first high bypass ratio jet engine to power a wide-body airliner. Its initial application was the Boeing 747-100, the original "Jumbo Jet". It was Pratt & Whitney's first high-bypass-ratio turbofan. Deve ...

, but the program was rocky. For several years Boeing and Pratt & Whitney struggled with an aircraft that was too heavy and underpowered. Eventually, after a lot of continued development work, the 747 redeemed itself. On the military side of the business, the TFX joint-procurement program led to the

General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark is a retired supersonic, medium-range, multirole combat aircraft. Production models of the F-111 had roles that included attack (e.g. interdiction), strategic bombing (including nuclear weapons capabiliti ...

Pratt & Whitney TF30 The Pratt & Whitney TF30 (company designation JTF10A) is a military low-bypass turbofan engine originally designed by Pratt & Whitney for the subsonic F6D Missileer fleet defense fighter, but this project was cancelled. It was later adapted with ...

. UAC acquired

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis Potter Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Rich ...

designed

UAC TurboTrain The UAC TurboTrain was an early high-speed, gas turbine train manufactured by United Aircraft that operated in Canada between 1968 and 1982 and in the United States between 1968 and 1976. It was one of the first gas turbine-powered trains to en ...

to compete in the DOT's Northeast Corridor Demonstration Project. Two trainsets were built in 1967-1968 by Pullman for use by

Penn Central Transportation Company The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals, the Pennsylvania Railroad, ...

and later

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

for service from 1968 to 1980. Five seven car sets were built by MLW for

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

Early 1970s

In the 1970s the jet engine manufacturers found that their products for the commercial (airline) market had been commoditized to a greater extent than in previous decades.. Leaving behind a tradition of mating airframes to particular engines (which linked the profitability of an airframe model to that of its exclusive engine supplier), the airframe builders began offering multiple brands of engines.. Producers had to compete on service, warranties, and eventually even by buying entire aircraft and then leasing them to the airlines.

Diversification and M&A

In 1974,

Harry Jack Gray Harry Jack Gray (November 18, 1919 – July 8, 2009) was an American business manager and philanthropist, best known as CEO and chairman of United Technologies. He was born Harry Jack Grusin in Milledgeville Crossroads, Georgia. His mother, Bertha ...

left

Litton Industries Litton Industries, Inc., was an American defense contractor that specialized in shipbuilding, aerospace, electronic components, and information technology. The company was founded in 1953 and was named after inventor Charles Litton Sr., who was ...

to become the CEO of United Aircraft. He pursued a strategy of growth and diversification, changing the parent corporation's name to

United Technologies Corporation United Technologies Corporation (UTC) was an American multinational corporation, multinational list of conglomerates, conglomerate headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut. It researched, developed, and manufactured products in numerous are ...

(UTC) in 1975 to reflect the intent to diversify into numerous

high tech High technology (high tech or high-tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the state of the art, cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the ...

fields beyond aerospace..

Business units

* Chance Vought — spun-off in 1954 *

Hamilton Standard Hamilton Standard was an American aircraft propeller (aircraft), propeller parts supplier. It was formed in 1929 when United Aircraft and Transport Corporation consolidated Hamilton Aero Manufacturing and Standard Steel Propeller into the Hamilto ...

Norden Systems Norden Systems was an American manufacturer of radar systems. History The Norden Laboratories Corporation was founded in New York City in 1943 to conduct research, while the separate Carl L. Norden Corporation built Norden bombsights. In 194 ...

— established 1958 *

Pratt & Whitney Canada Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC or P&WC) is a Canada-based aircraft engine manufacturer. PWC's headquarters are in Longueuil, Quebec, south of Montreal. It is a division of the larger US-based Pratt & Whitney (P&W), itself a business unit of RTX ...

Sikorsky Aircraft Sikorsky Aircraft is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Stratford, Connecticut. It was established by the Russian-American aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky in 1923, and was among the first companies to manufacture helicopters for civilian ...

References

Footnotes

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

UTC−United Technologies Corporation website
{{United Technologies Corporation United Technologies Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Hartford, Connecticut American companies established in 1934 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1934 Technology companies established in 1934 Technology companies disestablished in 1975 1934 establishments in Connecticut 1975 disestablishments in Connecticut Defunct companies based in Connecticut Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1975