The 'United Aircraft and Transport Corporation' was formed In 1929, when
William E. Boeing teamed up with
Frederick Rentschler of
Pratt & Whitney.
With headquarters at
Hartford, Connecticut, the holding company controlled the stock of the
Boeing Airplane Company of
Seattle, the
Chance Vought Corporation, the
Hamilton Aero Manufacturing Company (a
propeller manufacturer) and the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company, the well known engine manufacturer.
Sikorsky Aviation Corporation, the
Stearman Aircraft Company of
Wichita, Kansas, and the Standard Steel Propeller Company were added to United's empire shortly thereafter, followed by several more
airlines brought into the fold. The airline interests were soon grouped under a new management company known as
United Air Lines, Inc. However, the individual airlines (as well as the individual companies held by United) continued to operate under their own names.
In 1934, the
U.S. government concluded that such large holding companies as United Aircraft and Transport were anti-competitive, and new
antitrust laws were passed forbidding airframe or engine manufacturers from having interests in airlines. United Aircraft and Transport was broken up. Its manufacturing interests east of the
Mississippi River (Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky, Vought and Hamilton Standard Propeller Company) were organized into a new 'United Aircraft Corporation' (now
United Technologies Corporation). Boeing acquired the western manufacturing interests. United Airlines became a separate company.
Reference
★
The Age of Giant Corporations: a Microeconomic History of American Business, 1914-1970, , Robert, Sobel, Greenwood Press, 1972,