Page 24 - May 2015 Volume 9, Number 5

“We learned how to develop engines from Torrell,” a PWC colleague recalled, emphasizing that Torrell kept a tight rein on the project. He quickly abandoned the “one-shift-a day” agenda and replaced it with a round- the-clock work schedule to accelerate testing. “When he was in town,” another engineer remembered, “he could be found in the plant at all hours. He was known to show up in the middle of the night wearing a raincoat over his pajamas.”4
In the wake of Torrell’s arrival, progress was being made but development work also faced serious opposition from, much to the team’s surprise and dismay, within
The revolutionary Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 was initially tested on a Beechcraft C45 “Expeditor,” occupying the nose section of the aircraft. Development of the PT6 was a massive gamble for the New England-based engine manufacturer, but paid huge dividends as its advantages over piston powerplants became increasingly obvious to business aircraft operators.
(DE HAVILLAND CANADA, PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA ARCHIVES)
By the late 1950s, the cabin-class Beechcraft Model 65 Queen Air had replaced the Model 18 as the company’s flagship business aircraft. Featuring a larger cabin, improved performance and economy of operation, the Queen Air was built in a number of versions that kept pace with the competition and the changing demands
of corporate flight departments.
(EDWARD H. PHILLIPS COLLECTION)
PWC itself. Thor Stephenson, who served as president of the company from 1959-1975, said, “The early days of the PT6 program were not encouraging, technically or sales- wise.” He recalled that James Young, Pratt & Whitney Canada founder, accompanied by his friend on the board, Hubert Welsford, traveled to Hartford to see Jack Horner, chairman of Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company, Limited. The two men argued not only for termination of the PT6 effort, but for Pratt & Whitney to transform PWC into a strictly sales and service organization, not an engine manufacturer. Horner rejected their pleas and development of the PT6 continued.5
22 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
MAY 2015