Frederick Brant Rentschler

Frederick Brant Rentschler was an engine designer and the founder of the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company. He was made a U.S. Army captain and assigned to oversee production of aircraft engines during World War I. 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.

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 he contacted the Pratt & Whitney Machine Tool Company about a partnership and they lent him money, work space, and their name to use for his aeronautical engines. In 1929 he ended his agreement with the company but was allowed to keep the name Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company.

Pratt & Whitney's former company airfield, located in East Hartford, Connecticut, was named Rentschler Field in his honor. The airfield was decommissioned in the 1990s, and donated to the state of Connecticut in 1999. A stadium, also called Rentschler Field, was built on the site and opened in 2003 as the home field for the University of Connecticut football team.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Uses material from the article Frederick Brant Rentschler.