Evening star., 1943-07-07

were expanded. The orders placed at that
time by foreign governments provided the
first opportunity to get into quantity produce
ton. 1t was a dress rehearsal for the big
show still to come.
The third phase developed when the fall
of France in June. 1910, brought into being
vast American aircraft program. The need
Tor engines became greater than any one
manufacturer could possibly handle. Pratt
K Whitney, therefore, suggested that the au-
tomobile industry be enlisted to help meet the
demand by building engines under license at
no profit to Pratt & Whitney Aircraft. In the
meantime, it and the other established engine
builders would hold the line.
Auto Companies Now Building Wasps
As result of this step, Ford and NASH
Kelvnator today are building the mighty
Z,OOO-hp. Double Wasp. Buick and Chevrolet
are building the l.20O-hp. Twin Wasp. Com
tinental the 6OO-hp Wasp and Jacobs the
4oO-hp Wasp Junior. To make possible
greater speed in production, each 1icensee
company is concentrating upon a single type.
The American aircraft program has been
spped time and again since then. Now Pratt
4 Whitney itself has gone into a fourth
phase to step up its own vast production even
more. This is taking two forms.
great engine arsenal is being rushed to
completion at Kansas CITY. Mo, which will
concentrate upon the Double Wasp. 1t is to
be operated at neither profit nor loss bv the
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Corporation Of
Missouri, new subsidiary of United Air.
craft Corporation.
Pratt 4 Whitney has also enlarged the
capacity of the main plant by development of
system of satellite plants in neighboriny
communities. They supply engine parts to be
assembled at East Hartford. This satellite
system provides great expansion in facili.
ties, without concentrating operations unduly
at one spot and further comp1icating the
housing and transportation problems.
Teamwork Builds Engines Fast
The wholehearted cooperation which has
marked relations between the automotiye
group and Pratt & Whitney makes their
teamwork one OF the industrial epics of the
war. While Pratt & Whitney itself was de-
livering all types of its engines in ever grow
ing numbers and was working at top speed
to engineer changes dictated by battle ex-
perlence, it was also helping bring the auto
companies into production. 1t supplied its de-
signs and the know how gained over a long
period of years.
The rigid system of mass production to
which the auto companies were accustomed
was not applicable to aircraft engine produce
ton. The hcensee companies therefore
adopted the flexible methods of quantity pro-
drcton as developed by Pratt & Whitney.
AS volume has grown, new technique for
quantity production of complicated aircraft
engine building is evolving with all compan-
les contributing their ideas and experience.
SO perfectly have the designs been fol-
lowed that parts built by Pratt Whitney and
its licensees can be assembled to make a per-
fectly functioning engine. Inasmuch as some.
thing over half of all higher-powered aircraft
engines built in the United States will bear
the Pratt & Whitney emblem, this inter.
changeability of parts becomes vital neces-
sty for maintenance the world over.
ADvERTISEMENT.