The Boeing Company

I

Introduction

The Boeing Company, world’s largest manufacturer of commercial airplanes and military aircraft. Boeing controls more than half of the global market for jet airliners and is the leading supplier of military jets and helicopters, missile systems, and aerospace technology. The company also is one of the leading exporters in the United States. Its headquarters is in Chicago, Illinois.

II

Early History

The company was founded in Seattle, Washington, by timber executive William Boeing and U.S. Navy engineer Conrad Westervelt. Although Boeing was not an engineer, he realized his true interest was in designing and making aircraft. In 1916 Boeing and Westervelt developed the B&W seaplane, a single-engine aircraft with a top speed of 120 km/h (75 mph). Two months later they formed the Pacific Aero Products Company, renaming their firm the Boeing Airplane Company in 1917. During World War I (1914-1918), the company made training aircraft and flying patrol boats for the U.S. Navy. Originally both a manufacturer and an airline, Boeing began the first international airmail service—from Seattle to Victoria, British Columbia—in 1919. Boeing developed its first commercial aircraft, the Model 40, in 1927 after winning a contract to fly mail for the U.S. Postal Service between Chicago, Illinois, and San Francisco, California.

In 1929 Boeing merged with engine-maker Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company to form United Aircraft and Transport Corporation. The new company subsequently purchased several regional airlines and in 1931 was renamed United Air Lines (see UAL Corporation). New federal antitrust guidelines in 1934 forced the manufacturing and transportation divisions to split, and the Boeing Airplane Company, Pratt & Whitney, and United Air Lines emerged from the dissolution as separate companies.

III

World War II

With the entry of the United States into World War II (1939-1945), Boeing began producing hundreds of B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. The B-17 was the most important strategic bomber in the American war effort. Production of the bomber peaked in March 1944, when Boeing’s Seattle plant made 362 B-17s. Boeing also produced B-29 Superfortress bombers, one of which, the Enola Gay, dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945 (see World War II). The company introduced the B-52 Stratofortress bomber in 1952.

---

---

IV

Commercial Jet Production

In the early 1950s Boeing began developing a commercial jet to compete with the popular propeller-driven planes of the Douglas Aircraft Company. Launched into service in 1958, the B-707 became the basis for Boeing’s hugely successful line of commercial airliners: the 727, the 737, and the 747. In 1961 the company changed its name from the Boeing Airplane Company to The Boeing Company, reflecting its expansion into fields beyond airplane manufacture. For example, Boeing designed and built the first stages of the Saturn rockets used to launch the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon (see Apollo program).

The 747, the first wide-body “jumbo jet,” entered service in January 1970 and seated as many as 490 passengers. Although the 747 would become the premier transcontinental jet in the world, its development pushed Boeing to the edge of bankruptcy. The company laid off about 60 percent of its workforce in the early 1970s before a new surge of commercial and military orders helped it recover. The smaller 737 became the world’s best-selling passenger jet.