The Boeing is a legend in world aviation. It began its story that day when the wealthy Seattle lumber merchant William Boeing, arriving at a trade show, saw an airship. At that moment, he was overcome by an indestructible desire to fly.
For several years he, languishing in desire, tried to get the aviators to take him on a flight. And when his
dream came
true, William Boeing could not imagine himself without aviation and decided to build his business in the field of aircraft construction. In 1916, the first seaplane was developed and assembled. It was built in an old boat shed near Seattle, on the island, the future major industrialist, self-taught engineer Verba Monter and enthusiast Conrad Westervelt - lieutenant of
the US Navy. The first Boeing aircraft took off in July 1916. The device was successful and on it they arranged air walks for those who wanted it for money. William Boeing did not stop there. A month later, for $ 100,000, he bought the company Pacific Aero Products Co, which was soon renamed the Boeing Airplane Company and immediately received a large order from the US Navy to build 50 hydroplanes for use in the
First World War.
William Boeing was not only a gifted engineer and aviator, but also a major entrepreneur. In addition to aircraft construction, his company won in 1927
tender by the United States Federal Post Office and became the first airmail carrier in the world thanks to a specially designed A-40 model. In 1929, a Boeing model 80-A took off 12 passengers, a crew and two stewardesses. These were the first stewardesses in the world. The very next year, William Boeing presented the Monomail Boeing to the American public. It was a utility vehicle. In design, streamlining and architecture, it resembled modern Boeings. From that moment, William Boeing’s company turned into a huge corporation with divisions and branches that produced engines, constructed airplanes, trained pilots and technical personnel, and carried out aviation services. The enterprise was so large-scale that the US government issued a law in 1934 stating that aircraft manufacturers are not allowed to carry out postal and transport transportation. It was a fiasco. The corporation had to break up into several companies, and William Boeing himself, having handed over the board to friends and colleagues, resigned.
The company, however, continued to stay afloat. During the Great Patriotic War, it produced the famous Douglas attack aircraft and Kaydet fighters. In the 60s, participated in NASA's Apollo program. And in 1967, a real masterpiece from the Boeing Airplane Company - the Boeing-737 — took off into the sky. In the history of aircraft manufacturing, this is the best-selling and most popular car. It was bought more than 2 thousand units. And a year later a giant came off the assembly line of the company - the Boeing 747-400. The wingspan of this aircraft was greater than the distance that the pioneers of aviation, the Wright brothers, flew in their first flight. Since then, a lot of glorious cars were produced at the Boeing Airplane Company, but alas, there were no such successes. Today, the corporation is the largest in the United States in the aerospace industry, supplying its products to more than 80 countries.