Randy's Journal: Archives

16 July 2006

They say it's your birthday

LONDON - I can't think of a more fitting way to kick-start the Farnborough Air Show, which begins tomorrow, than to celebrate a big milestone for The Boeing Company. Call it a birthday, call it an anniversary, but 90 years ago this weekend Bill Boeing began this company on a humble site along the Duwamish River in Seattle.

The company was called Pacific Aero Products. Just 21 employees and two airplanes. A year later, in 1917, the company would take on the name Boeing Airplane Company.

As Boeing historian Mike Lombardi puts it, in a story in this month's issue of our employee magazine, Frontiers, Bill Boeing saw past the dogfights in the skies over Europe in World War I, and imagined a future where airplanes would serve the planet for transportation and commerce.

Mr. Boeing even put this vision into the original articles of incorporation which had provisions for not just building airplanes but "...to act as a common carrier of passengers and freight by aerial navigation...operate schools of aviation, and for teaching of all branches of knowledge and of the arts and sciences in any way connected with or useful to the operation of aeroplanes..."

In 1929, Boeing and a number of companies combined to form United Aircraft and Transport Corporation (UATC). The corporation built planes and engines, constructed airports, trained pilots, and managed passenger and freight carriers. In effect, Boeing and his partners helped create the national aviation infrastructure in the U.S. Besides The Boeing Company itself, some other parts of Bill Boeing's UATC survive today as United Technologies, and United Airlines.

The Boeing Company is still guided by Bill's vision. And over the years, he was joined in the company legacy by other pioneers such as Donald Douglas, James McDonnell, Dutch Kindelberger, Howard Hughes, Lloyd Stearman, Frank Piasecki and Elrey Jeppessen.

And as we get ready to celebrate the aviation industry of 2006 in a big way, at the biggest show of the year, it's the right time to reflect on this heritage.

In his article, historian Mike Lombardi lists a number of legendary Boeing employees - those he describes as "a who's who" of aviation history: Ed Wells, Tex Johnston, William Allen, Ed Heineman, Arthur Raymond, Harrison Storms, Scott Crossfield, Lee Atwood. And as he points out, millions of others may not be legends, but aviation history would not have been built without them.

So this is a salute to all the men and women who have come to their factories and offices every day across the globe. They are the ones who have made this a great company and a great industry.

And on that note, being that I'm in the British capital tonight and not all that far from Abbey Road, I'd just like to sing, as Lennon and McCartney might put it, "Boeing, I'm glad it's your birthday. Happy birthday to you!" 90 years young.