Pratt and Whitney Canada assembled a team of 12 talented young engineers after studies showed a market opportunity for 500 shp (shaft horsepower) class turboprop engines in the aircraft market then powered by piston engines. Pratt and Whitney Canada channeled some of the profits from its piston engine spare parts business toward the development of gas turbine engines smaller than those made by its U.S. parent. About a decade and a half later, ag aircraft embraced the technology. —Image: Twelve key men aiding on the design of the first ag turboprop engine, the Pratt and Whitney Canada PT6: Gordon Hardy, Jim Rankin, Fernand Desrochers, Fred Glasspoole, Ken Elsworth, Allan Newland, Pete Peterson, Hugh Langshur, Jean-Pierre Beauregard, Elvie Smith, Dick Guthrie and Thor Stephenson. © Library and Archives Canada. Reproduced with the permission of Library and Archives Canada. Source: Library and Archives Canada/Credit: Bruce Moss/Weekend Magazine collection/PA-167966.
