Mead worked for well over a year at Sterling Engine Company of
Buffalo, NY. His next job was with the
Simplex Automobile Company of New Brunswick, NJ, builders of the
Crane-Simplex 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 upon the resignation of Henry Crane. In late 1924, internal disagreements at Wright resulted in the resignation of President
Frederick Rentschler. In 1925, Rentschler obtained financing to start
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Corporation in the existing factory of the
Pratt & Whitney Tool Company in
Hartford, Connecticut, 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. In 1929, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft was merged with a number of other aviation-related corporations, including
Boeing,
Sikorsky, and
Vought, as part of the new
United Aircraft and Transport Corporation (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 [capable] of 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." Brown appointed
Leonard S. Hobbs as engineering manager for Pratt & Whitney, and Mead stayed on as an engineer reporting to Hobbs. a federal research agency which later evolved into
NASA. In 1940, even though the United States had not yet entered
World War II, a massive military buildup was underway. In May 1940, President Roosevelt called for development of the industrial capacity to produce 50,000 airplanes per year (almost thirty times the total US aircraft production in 1938). The responsibility for overseeing this daunting task fell to Mead whom Roosevelt, acting on
William S. Knudsen's recommendation, appointed head of the aeronautical section of the National Defense Advisory Commission. Mead sold his United Aircraft stock to avoid
conflict of interest in his new government procurement position. United, which lacked plant capacity to satisfy the demand, licensed manufacturing of many of its designs to the automakers in Detroit. ==Awards==