George J. Mead
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George Jackson Mead (December 27, 1891 Everett, Massachusetts – January 20, 1949
Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
) was an American aircraft engineer. He is best known as one of the chief founding team members, together 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 revolution ...
, of
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Pratt is an English surname. Notable people with the surname include: A–F * Abner Pratt (1801–1863), American diplomat, jurist, politician, lawyer * Al Pratt (baseball) (1847–1937), American baseball player * Andy Pratt (baseball) (born 197 ...
. Mead and Rentschler left Wright Aeronautical with the plan to start their own aviation-related business; they founded Pratt & Whitney Aircraft in July 1925.. Their first project was to build a new, large,
air-cooled Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. In all combustion engines, a great percentage of the heat ge ...
, radial
aircraft engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...
of Mead's design, which soon came to be named the Wasp. The first Wasp model was the R-1340, and a large series of Wasp models and Hornet models followed. Mead, as Vice President of Engineering, was the head of engineering for Pratt & Whitney from 1925 to 1935. He later left Pratt & Whitney and its parent United Aircraft. He served as the president of the U.S. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA),. and he served as head of the aeronautical section of the National Defense Advisory Commission during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, as a manager in the U.S. government's war
materiel Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context. In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the specifi ...
production effort.Herman, Arthur. ''Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II,'' p. 81, Random House, New York, NY, 2012. .


Early life

Mead was born in Everett, Massachusetts on December 27, 1891, to Dr. George Nathaniel Plumer Mead and Jennie Henrietta Mathilda LeMann Mead.. He graduated from the
Choate School Choate Rosemary Hall (often known as Choate; ) is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut, United States. Choate is currently ranked as the second best boarding school and third best private high ...
in Wallingford, Connecticut in 1911 and attended
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
, but left in 1915 without graduating, owing to health problems..


Career

Mead worked for well over a year at Sterling Engine Company of Buffalo, NY. His next job was with the
Simplex Automobile Company The Simplex Automobile Company was formed in 1907 to take over the manufacturer of the S & M Simplex. The Simplex was an American luxury Brass Era automobile manufactured from 1907 to 1918. Headquartered with a manufacturing plant in New York ...
of New Brunswick, NJ, builders of the
Crane-Simplex Crane-Simplex was the common name of the Simplex Crane Model 5 luxury automobile, produced by the Simplex Automobile Company in New Brunswick, New Jersey, from 1915 to 1918. Crane-Simplex Company was formed in 1922 in Long Island City, New Yor ...
automobile. Simplex later merged with the Wright-Martin Aeronautical Corporation where Mead was in charge of the experimental division of the engineering department.. In 1919 he became chief engineer of what was now the
Wright Aeronautical Corporation Wright Aeronautical (1919–1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer headquartered in Paterson, New Jersey. It was the successor corporation to Wright-Martin. It built aircraft and was a supplier of aircraft engines to other builders in the ...
upon the resignation of Henry Crane. In late 1924, internal disagreements at Wright resulted in the resignation of President
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 revolution ...
. In 1925, Rentschler obtained financing to start Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Corporation in the existing factory of the Pratt & Whitney Tool Company in
Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
, and Mead left Wright Aeronautical to join Rentschler as the Vice President of Engineering. At Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, Mead led the development program for their first engine, completed on Christmas Eve, 1925. The 425 hp (317 kW) R-1340 Wasp easily passed its official qualification test in March 1926, and the Navy ordered 200 engines. The speed, climb, performance, and reliability that the engine offered revolutionized American aviation. Subsequently, he led the development programs of the more powerful R-1690 Hornet and several other series of air-cooled radial
aircraft engines An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...
. In 1929, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft was merged with a number of other aviation-related corporations, including
Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...
,
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 ...
, and
Vought Vought was the name of several related American aerospace firms. These have included, in the past, Lewis and Vought Corporation, Chance Vought, Vought-Sikorsky, LTV Aerospace (part of Ling-Temco-Vought), Vought Aircraft Companies, and Vought Ai ...
, as part of the new
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, un ...
(UATC). Pratt & Whitney became a subsidiary. In 1930, Rentschler made a difficult decision about which engines to use for the Boeing 247. Mead insisted on the larger, more powerful Hornets; the pilots of United Airlines insisted on the less powerful Wasps. Fernandez says,. "When Rentschler stood by the pilots, Mead took the decision personally. €¦He agreed to try to develop a Wasp apableof powering the smaller version of his transport plane, but he never forgot the insult. He knew he was right, and within a year so did the rest of the United States." In 1934, the Air Mail scandal led to the breakup of UATC. Pratt & Whitney, along with UATC's other manufacturing interests east of the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
, became United Aircraft, with Rentschler as president. Rentschler decided to turn over the presidency of Pratt & Whitney to a subordinate as he concentrated on leading the parent corporation. Mead and Donald Brown were his two choices for his successor, but Mead did not want the job, and he refused to cooperate with Brown, who became the new president.. Brown appointed Leonard S. Hobbs as engineering manager for Pratt & Whitney, and Mead stayed on as an engineer reporting to Hobbs. It was not so much a demotion as a growing of distance and independence from United Aircraft. Mead was still a person of high authority at United Aircraft, but something like an officer who resigns his commission. He began to act something like a consultant or engineer emeritus, setting up a design office in his home and not coming to the headquarters as often. By 1939, Mead's policy disagreements with Rentschler had become so great that he declined reelection to United Aircraft's board of directors. In October 1939, he became president of the U.S. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). In May 1940, he was named head of the aeronautical section of the National Defense Advisory Commission by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
. A military buildup was underway. The
Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
program was still 18 months from being created, and the U.S. did not yet have any certainty of being a combatant in the new war that had erupted, but the program to build up
materiel Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context. In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the specifi ...
to send to Britain and France, and to augment the U.S.'s own armed forces, had begun. Roosevelt, acting on
William S. Knudsen William Signius Knudsen (March 25, 1879 – April 27, 1948) was a leading Danish-American automotive industry executive and an American general during World War II. His experience and success as a key senior manager in the operations sides of F ...
's recommendation, had appointed Mead to help coordinate aircraft production.Herman, Arthur. ''Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II,'' pp. 81, 94, 104, 159, 219, Random House, New York, NY, 2012. . Mead sold his United Aircraft stock to avoid
conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...
in his new government procurement position. He was now completely severed from his long tenure at United Aircraft and its predecessors. Fernandez describes the war years that followed as Knudsen and Mead, now materiel production czars for the U.S. government, interacted with Rentschler and Eugene Wilson of United.. United, which lacked plant capacity to satiate the demand, licensed manufacturing of many of its designs to the automakers in Detroit.


Awards

In January 1940, Mead received the Reed award for outstanding achievement in aviation. In 1946, Mead was presented the Medal for Merit for his efforts in the development and production of aircraft engines used in World War II.


References


Bibliography

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External links


U.S. National Air and Space Museum, information related to George J. Mead
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mead, George Jackson 1891 births 1949 deaths American aerospace engineers People from Everett, Massachusetts 20th-century American engineers