PRATT & WHITNEY, WYMAN-GORDON FORM JOINT VENTURE IN AUSTRALIA WITH WESTERN AEROSPACE

           PRATT & WHITNEY, WYMAN-GORDON FORM JOINT VENTURE
                  IN AUSTRALIA WITH WESTERN AEROSPACE
    PERTH, Australia, March 6 /PRNewswire/ -- United Technologies Corporation's (NYSE: UTX) (UTC) Pratt & Whitney and Wyman-Gordon Company (NASDAQ: WYMN) in the United States, together with Western Aerospace, Ltd. of Australia, have formed a joint venture to produce nickel-based superalloys for use in aerospace manufacturing.
    The new company, Western Australian Specialty Alloys (WASA), will be built on a 10-acre tract at Canning Vale near Perth.  It will convert raw materials principally mined and processed in Australia to superalloy metals used to produce parts primarily for jet engines.
    Nickel-based superalloys are highly durable, corrosion resistant and can withstand the high temperatures generated in jet engines.
    Pratt & Whitney, through UTC 's wholly owned United Technologies International Corporation (UTIC), and Wyman-Gordon each will have 25 percent interest in the venture, and Western Aerospace will maintain a 50 percent share.
    Initial production is planned for 1993 and will increase to a level of about 7.5 million pounds of superalloy per year by 1996. Projected sales volume for Western Australian Specialty Alloys is over $400 million (US) over the next decade.
    The Australian shareholder, Western Aerospace, Ltd., is headquartered in Perth, Australia.  As the major equity investor, Western Aerospace will be responsible for construction, staffing and management of the WASA facility.
    Wyman-Gordon Company, headquartered in Grafton, Mass., is the world's only single source manufacturer of engineered forgings, investment castings and composite structures for the aerospace industry. Wyman-Gordon operates forging facilities in Massachusetts and investment castings facilities in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Nevada and
California.   In addition to being an equity shareholder, Wyman-Gordon will provide technical assistance in the start-up of the new Australian facility as well as direct production of the high temperature, nickel-based superalloys.
    Pratt & Whitney, the world leader in the design and manufacture of dependable jet engines for commercial, military and general aviation aircraft, is a major operating unit of United Technologies Corporation of Hartford, Conn.  Besides making an equity investment in the venture, Pratt & Whitney will purchase castings and forgings made from the super-alloy metals produced by the joint venture company.
    The chairman of Western Australian Specialty Alloys is Stuart L. Morgan, chairman of Western Aerospace.  Other directors include F. Kyle Abbott of Western Aerospace, James M. Manninen of Pratt & Whitney and Wallace F. Whitney, Jr. of Wyman-Gordon Company.
    -0-                      3/6/92
    /CONTACT:  Peg Ford of Pratt & Whitney, 203-565-9600 or Jim Walnista of Wyman-Gordon Company, 508-756-5111/ CO:  Pratt & Whitney; Wyman-Gordon; Western Aerospace Ltd. ST:  Connecticut, Massachusetts IN:  ARO SU:  JVN

TM-PB -- NE002 -- 5794 03/06/92 10:34 EST