Richard Coar was a pioneer in aerospace propulsion during more than 40 years following World War II. He was a leader in the advances that enabled dominant US military airpower, reliable access to space, and transformation of commercial travel by jet aircraft. His career with Pratt & Whitney Aircraft spanned a period of intense technical, performance and commercial innovation in the industry; it began with his initial assignments in World War II supporting the company’s manufacturing activities for engines powering the majority of the military aircraft flown by the US.

At the end of the war, he was one of the key individuals who led Pratt & Whitney into gas turbine engine design and development, and was involved with every major P&W engine program.

He had technical responsibility for the design and development of breakthrough propulsion systems, including the J58 Mach 3+ turbojet for the CIA’s A-12 and USAF SR-71 “Blackbird” airplanes; the revolutionary RL-10 hydrogen-fueled rocket engine; high pressure rocket research; and the initial development of the jet engines powering many of the country’s frontline military aircraft.

Later, he became responsible for commercial as well as military engine development, and oversaw the introduction of the powerful turbofan engines that made jumbo jets possible and revolutionized commercial air travel.

He was named President of Pratt & Whitney, and then Executive Vice President of United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney’s parent corporation. He retired in 1986.

Coar was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and a distinguished life member of the American Society for Metals. He served on the National Research Council's Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board. Additional honors include the Society of Automotive Engineers' Franklin W. Kolk Air Transportation Award in 1985 and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ prestigious George Westinghouse Gold Medal in 1986. He received the Daniel Guggenheim Medal in 1998 for notable achievement in the advancement of aeronautics. He held more than a dozen patents.