Out of this episode grew the Boeing Air Transport Company’s profitable operation, the ultimate consolidation of Boeing and Pratt and Whitney, to form the nucleus for the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation, and such a profit for Pratt and Whitney on the first order that Rentschler finally came to the Engine Section for advice as to what should be done with the profit. Not the least important factor in this achievement was the breathtaking daring which Rentschler showed in tooling up his shop before the engine had passed its tests and before he had received the contract. This intelligent risk paid such dividends that Rentschler later agreed with Kraus to return what might have been called “excess profits,” and in so doing thus established a principle of voluntary profit control that finally became the established policy of the company. The original suggestion for this came from the Engine Section. The development of the new engines and the creation of new aircraft around them came just in time to ease a serious situation in connection with the outfitting of the new carriers _Saratoga_ and _Lexington_. The ships were scheduled for completion in about two years and their squadrons were even then being assembled at the Fleet Air Stations at Hampton Roads, Virginia, and San Diego, California. And while the Wasp put us on easier schedules for the fighters, we were still up against it for the big torpedo-bomber scouts. Our SC’s, designed originally around the Wright T-3, had proved cumbersome and heavy and, while operable on twin floats, had lacked the performance desired for carrier use. The large engine had introduced a propeller problem, too—one that for a while had given us a lot of concern. One of the SC’s, equipped with a standard propeller made of laminated woods glued together and finished to form, had let go on take-off at Hampton Roads and the engine had nearly jumped out of the plane. In response to an excited call from Norfolk, I had flown down in company with Charles J. McCarthy, then our stress expert, to see what could be done. Fortunately, about this time the Army Engineering Division at McCook Field had brought along an experimental development, under the supervision of Frank Caldwell, in which a new aluminum alloy called “duralumin” had been introduced as a substitute for wood. So far it had not been fully proved in service but we were in such a right spot that I now authorized the procurement of the first production order for 100 of them.