Tungsten carbide thermal spray coatings are important to the aerospace industry for reducing wear on jet engine components, fanblade mid-span dampers being one example. However, the fatigue life of a component is often reduced when a coating is applied and for some cases the coating can fail due to spallation and cracking. Coating failures can result in decreased engine performance and costly maintenance. To provide insight and possible explanations for the reduced service life of coated mid-span dampers, identify the best coating and application processes for future use, and to develop methods for improving coating performance, a comprehensive experimental research program was conducted. The program involved coating performance in jet engine tests, coating crack resistance in bending, low cycle fatigue properties of the coating and substrate, and microstructures for a wide range of coating compositions and application processes. Eleven coatings were ranked according to their performance relative to the other coatings in each evaluation category. Five of the coatings were selected for engine test runs. Results from the engine test runs for more than 800h (AMT-cycle) were compared to bend and low cycle fatigue evaluations and to meassured residual stresses. Strong correlation between engine performance and the residual stresses in the coating-substrate system was found. Results from the program were used for selecting a suitable coating system for final in-service use.