William E Boeing

William Edward Boeing (Detroit, Michigan, October 1, 1881-Puget Sound, Washington, September 28, 1956) was an aviation pioneer who founded the Pacific Airplane Company in 1916, which a year later was renamed The Boeing Company, now the largest exporter in the United States by dollar value and among the largest aerospace manufacturers in the world. William Boeing's first design was the Boeing Model 1 (or B&W Seaplane), which first flew in June 1916, a month before the company was founded. He also helped create the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation (now known as United Airlines) in 1929 and served as its president. He received the Daniel Guggenheim Medal in 1934 and was posthumously inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1966, ten years after his death.

Biography

He studied at Yale University (Sheffield Scientific School) graduating in 1903 and began his entrepreneurial adventure taking advantage of the opportunities that arose in the adventurous and cyclical world of the lumber industry in the US Northwest.

In 1910, Boeing attended an air show in California and has since discovered an interest in the world of aeronautics. Five years later, he managed to learn to fly in Los Angeles and bought his first plane, a Martin seaplane. These first amateur flights gradually became professionals. Boeing and his friend G. Conrad Westervelt designed parts of the plane that they found could be improved on the initial design.

Years later, in 1916 Boeing founded the company Pacific Aero Products, just one year before the United States entered the First World War (1917). The building that constituted the first aircraft factory was located next to the Duwamish River and was a barn made of wood called the "red barn" (Red Barn). Boeing changed the company name to the Boeing Airplane Company and began taking orders from the US military.

Family

In 1921, Boeing married Bertha Marie Potter Paschall (1891-1977). She had previously been married to Nathaniel Paschall, a real estate broker with whom he had two children, Nathaniel & # 34;Nat & # 34; Paschall Jr. and Cranston Paschall. The couple had a son of their own, William E. Boeing Jr. (1922–2015). [8] The stepsons pursued aviation manufacturing as a career. Nat Paschall was a sales manager for competitor Douglas Aircraft that later became McDonnell Douglas. Bill Jr. became a private pilot and industrial real estate developer.

Bertha Boeing was the daughter of Howard Cranston Potter and Alice Kershaw Potter. Through her father, she was a descendant of the founders of Alex. the commercial bankers of Brown & Sons Alexander Brown, James Brown, and Brown's son-in-law and partner Howard Potter; and through her mother, the granddaughter of Charles James Kershaw and Mary Leavenworth Kershaw (a descendant of Henry Leavenworth).

The name Boeing comes from the German name Böing and has Welsh origins as a patronymic of Owen. The prefix and suffix were added later.

Boeing Aircraft Foundation

In 1916, Boeing went into business with George Conrad Westervelt as the "B & W" and founded Pacific Aero Products Co. The company's first aircraft was the Boeing Model 1 (B & W Seaplane). When the United States entered World War I on April 8, 1917, Boeing changed its name to the Boeing Airplane Company and obtained US Navy orders for 50 aircraft. At the end of the war, Boeing concentrated on commercial aircraft to service airmail contracts.

In 1934, the United States government accused William Boeing of monopolistic practices. The same year, the Airmail Act forced airlines to separate flight operations from development and manufacturing. William Boeing divested of the property when his holding company, the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation, was split into three separate entities.

The Boeing Airplane Company, while a major manufacturer in a fragmented industry, did not succeed until the start of World War II.

Private Life

He dedicated the rest of his life to breeding the thoroughbred horse. He became one of the most renowned breeders in America. It can be said that he never lost interest in aviation, and during World War II he volunteered as a consultant to the company.

He lived until 1956, long enough to see the company he created usher in the jet age.