Nationality United States Name Charles Lawrance | Role Engineer | |
Significant advance air-cooled aircraft engine Died June 24, 1950, East Islip, New York, United States Significant awards Elliott Cresson Medal (1928) | ||
Significant projects Lawrance J-1 | ||
Amazing Grace Calvary Shreveport
Charles Lanier Lawrance (September 30, 1882 – June 24, 1950) was an American aeronautical engineer and an early proponent of air-cooled aircraft engines.
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Early life
Lawrance was born on September 30, 1882 in Lenox, Massachusetts, the son of Francis Cooper Lawrance Jr. (1858-1904) and his first wife, Sarah Eggleston Lanier (1862-1893). Lawrance's maternal grandfather was Charles D. Lanier (1837-1926), who was a close friend of Pierpont Morgan. His great-grandfather was James F. D. Lanier (1800-1881), who founded Winslow, Lanier & Co. Lawrance's sister, Kitty Lanier Lawrance (1893-1936), was raised by their grandfather, as their parents died when she was still young. In 1915, Kitty married W. Averell Harriman (1891-1986), the Governor of New York. They later divorced in 1928. His paternal grandfather was Francis Cooper Lawrance (1830-1911) of Paris and Pau, France. After his mother's death in 1893, his father married Susan Ridgeway Willing. Willing's sister was Ava Lowle Willing, who married John Jacob Astor IV. They had a daughter, a half-sister to Lawrance, Frances Alice Willing Lawrance, who married Prince Andrzej Poniatowski (1899–1977) of the House of Poniatowski in 1919. In 1885, his paternal aunt, Frances Margaret Lawrance, married George Venables-Vernon (1854–1898), the 7th Baron Vernon.
Lawrance attended and graduated from Yale University in 1905, where he was a member of Wolf's Head. Shortly thereafter, he joined a new automobile firm that went bankrupt by the financial panic of 1907. He then went to Paris, where he studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts, experimenting with aeronautics at the Eiffel Laboratory.
Career
Lawrance returned to the United States in 1914 and in 1917, he founded the Lawrance Aero Engine Company in 1917. He designed the Lawrance J-1 air-cooled aircraft engine, the direct ancestor of the extremely successful Wright Whirlwind series of engines. Long-distance flights of Admiral Byrd, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart and Clarence Chamberlin were all made possible by the Whirlwind series of engines, which could operate continuously for 33.5 hours. Despite sensational publicity that Lindbergh's flight attracted, Lawrance himself remained in relative obscurity. In discussion with Harry Bruno about his need for publicity to attract funds, he complained, "Who remembers Paul Revere’s horse?"
In May 1923, Lawrance's company was purchased by Wright Aeronautical, as the United States Navy was concerned that Lawrance couldn't produce enough engines for its needs. Lawrance was retained as a vice president. In 1925, after Wright's president, Frederick B. Rentschler, left the company to found Pratt & Whitney, Lawrance replaced him as company president.
Personal life
In 1910, he married Emily Margaret Gordon Dix, a daughter of Rev. Morgan Dix (1827–1908), the rector of Trinity Parish. They lived at 153 East 63rd Street, in the National Register of Historic Places listed Barbara Rutherford Hatch House, and together, their children were:
Lawrance died on June 24, 1950.