MANAGEMENT IN AVIATION HISTORY BENCH MARKS
high school, young Rentschler followed his passion and nat- ural abilities for technology at Princeton University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1909. H.O.R. was successful in producing gas, oil and steam turbines; and between 1909 and 1914, also built the 4 and 6-cylinder Republic Motor car. It was here while working through school breaks that Rentschler learned to appreciate engines. Returning to Hamilton after college, it was assumed that
he would take an office job in his father’s company. In- stead, the work ethic handed down through generations of European craftsmen influenced his choice to work with his hands as a molder and machinist. Friends later recalled that he worked “ten hours a day, six days a week, as a puddler in the family foundry.” The job required almost super-human endurance, which Rentchler possessed in a robust constitu- tion at over six feet tall. He was remembered as “all hands and feet; quiet, subdued, yet quick as a cat.” Technological advancements entirely eliminated the labor intensive job as a foundry “puddler” during the 1970s. However, prior to WWI at H.O.R., amid intense heat and the dangers of toxic gases and molten ore, Rentschler’s job was to lift heavy loads of unfinished product from furnaces onto areas where it was rolled into steel bars. One historian estimated that a factory puddler was not expected to live past 40 years of age.
Rentschler left Hamilton and joined the Army Signal
Corp in 1917, where he gained experience with aircraft and engines. In 1919 he became a design engineer for Wright Aeronautical Corporation. Ignoring his father’s assessment that “Aviation is a damn fool business, mostly for sports- men,” the son quickly advanced to the position of president. Between 1919 and 1924 Rentschler returned home for vacations, and in 1921 he married his Hamilton sweetheart, Faye. Their union lasted until her death in 1953. Throughout his entire life, Rentschler equally addressed
a lawyer, merchant, boilermaker or apprentice as “Mister” and expected the formality in return. Nevertheless, his pas- sion for engines caused his co-workers to refer to him as “Horsepower.”
YANKEE ENGINE-UITY Intimate observations from those who remembered him at Wright Aeronautical describe a man who “had fit in well with the civilian workers.” The Wright company newspaper joked, “The only thing he takes seriously, other than his work here, is eating…a bully fellow…with a leaning toward the movies.” Throughout his career, Rentschler looked ahead, priori- tized his choices – and his opportunities. During his presidency at Wright Aeronautical, Rentschler
was often in conflict with the company’s board of directors because he chose to spend research and development funds
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