Dependable Engines: The Story of Pratt and Whitney

Dependable Engines: The Story of Pratt and Whitney by Sullivan, Mark P.. paperback edition. ISBN: 9781563479588.

Pratt & Whitney engines helped to win World War II by powering much of the U.S. fighter fleet as well as many British planes. They also powered 98 percent of all transport planes used by the military during that war.Since then, theyve powered such record-breaking aircraft as the Boeing B-50, the first airplane to fly nonstop around the globe, and the Air Force F-100 Super Sabre becoming the first aircraft to break the speed of sound in horizontal flight. In July 1976, Pratt & Whitney J58 engines powered an SR-71 spy plane to a world altitude record of 84,069 feet (25,624 kilometers) and a second Blackbird to a world speed record of 2,193 miles per hour (3,529 kilometers per hour).These dependable engines are also responsible for powering the first generation of commercial jet transports bringing the world to our front doors - the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8. Pratt & Whitneys JT8D, powering the Boeing 727 and 737, as well as the Douglas DC-9, has totaled more than half a billion hours