Boeing is among the largest
airplane manufacturers and
continues to develop some of the biggest
and most advanced aircrafts in the world!
But let’s go back to when Boeing’s story began,
and their airplanes weren’t anything like we see today.
This is the Evolution of Boeing!
On December 17, 1903,
the wright brothers made history
when they invented the first successful airplane, the Wright Flyer.
Only 6 years later, in 1909,
William Edward Boeing saw his first airplane when he was 28 years old.
He was fascinated by flying and airplanes,
and this moment would change his life forever.
In 1916, William founded Aero Products company,
and one year later, he changed it to Boeing Airplane Company.
In the same year as the company was founded,
he developed his first aircraft,
the B&W Seaplane,
a small seaplane with a length of 8.4 meters
and a wingspan of 15.9 meters.
It was made from wood, linen, and wire.
On June 15, 1916,
William Boeing himself carried out
the maiden flight with his first aircraft.
The airplane, which he called Bluebill,
could carry 2 passengers.
Once in the air, it could go 75 miles per hour,
and it even set a one-day record,
flying 306 miles.
In total, only 2 units were ever built.
The second aircraft Boeing designed was the Model C.
It was an incredibly important airplane
since it led to the company’s first financial success.
At the time, the United States lagged far behind Europe in the technology
and number of military airplanes;
Great Britain had 400 military airplanes,
Germany 1,000,
and France even 1,400,
while the United States only had 23.
This led to a contract for Boeing to make 50 Model C airplanes.
These were bought for $116,000 dollars,
which would be, due to inflation,
more than $2 million today.
However, when World War 1 ended,
the U.S. military had no use for more aircraft.
So, Boeing started developing commercial airplanes.
Fun Fact
the final Model C, named the C-700,
was the first airplane to deliver international airmail in the United States.
It flew from Vancouver to Seattle.
On December 27, 1919, the B-1 seaplane,
the first Boeing-designed commercial aircraft,
made its first flight.
It could carry a pilot and two passengers,
as well as mail or cargo.
Only 1 B-1 model was ever made.
Nonetheless, it had a successful career.
The aircraft covered 350,000 miles,
which was remarkable for the time.
In 1923, Boeing entered into competition with a company named Curtiss
to develop a fighter aircraft for the U.S. Army.
Eventually, both designs were accepted,
and Boeing continued to develop its PW-9 fighter.
The original engine was a 300 horsepower Wright-Hispano,
but when a 435 horsepower engine became available,
the aircraft was redesigned.
It was the fastest aircraft the company had ever built,
with a top speed of 159 miles per hour.
In total, 157 PW-9 models were built.
The PW-9 was the start of Boeing becoming a leading manufacturer of
fighters over the course of the next decade.
Hundreds of fighters were made,
including the P-12 and the F2B,
which became famous because of the
U.S. Navy aerobatics team, called
“The Three Seahawks.”
In 1925, the Model 40 mail plane was designed for the U.S. Post Office.
They wanted to replace the Airco DH4,
which was an ex-military plane.
The Model 40 became the first Boeing airplane to carry passengers,
with room for two people in a tiny cabin,
as well as cargo space for mail.
Between 1925 and 1932,
77 of these mail planes were built.
In 1928, Boeing introduced
America’s first airliner designed
specifically for passenger comfort
and convenience.
The Model 80 carried 12 people
and was followed by the larger Model 80A,
which could carry 18 passengers.
It had powerful Pratt & Whitney Hornet engines,
which led to a top speed of 138 miles per hour
and a range of 460 miles.
Fun Fact
A nurse convinced Boeing managers that
women could work as flight attendants.
This led to unmarried nurses serving aboard the Model 80,
and they became the first female flight attendants.
In 1930 Boeing made a revolutionary airplane,
the Monomail.
It made traditional biplanes
that had two pairs of wings a design of the past.
The lower all-metal wings and retractable landing gear
made it very aerodynamic.
The design of the Monomail laid the foundation for
many later Boeing models.
The Boeing YB-9 was an enlarged alteration of the Monomail.
It was a massive aircraft with a wingspan of more than 76 feet
and was the first all-metal monoplane bomber aircraft designed for the U.S. Army.
With a top speed of 186 miles per hour,
it could even outrun the fighters of its day.
Multiple variants were made,
and in total, 7 units were built.
The bomber was able to carry a 2,400-pound bomb load.
Fun Fact
In 1930, Boeing merged together
with major aircraft companies, like
United Airlines,
Pratt & Whitney,
Hamilton Standard, and many others,
to form United Aircraft.
These companies served all aviation markets,
including civilian,
cargo,
airmail,
and military aviation,
which led to a huge monopoly by the company.
Four years later, under the Air Mail Act of 1934,
these airline companies were prohibited
from being under the same corporate umbrella.
So, the company had to split into three smaller companies.
This breakup also resulted in William Boeing selling his shares
and leaving the Boeing company.
The P26 Peashooter was the first American production
all-metal fighter aircraft.
Since it was inspired by the design of the Monomail
it was 27 miles per hour faster than biplane fighters.
The wings were braced, which made it lighter and gave it less drag.
The Peashooters were also known for
their flight formations throughout the United States.
In total, Boeing built 151 Peashooters.
The Boeing Model 247 is a revolutionary airplane developed in 1933.
It took the world’s first modern passenger airliner only 20 hours,
with seven stops,
to fly between New York and Los Angeles.
This may seem like a lot now,
but this was more than 7 hours shorter than any previous airliner!
Two powerful 500 horsepower engines
made the airplane go to 200 miles per hour.
According to Boeing quote
In total, 75 Model 247 units were built.
The Boeing 314, nicknamed the “Clipper,”
has to be one of the coolest airplanes ever.
It was a huge flying Boat produced in 1938.
It was made to fly the Atlantic and Pacific oceans
and saved a lot of time compared to ocean liners.
The Clipper was a massive airplane of its time, with a length of 106 feet.
The aircraft was made for Pan Am,
who turned it into luxury air travel.
It had 40 bunks for overnight accommodation,
dressing rooms,
and a dining salon
that could even be turned into a lounge or bridal suite.
The Clipper was a travel option for the super-rich
with a price of $675 dollars from New York to Southampton,
which would be equivalent to $13,000 dollars today.
Even President Franklin D. Roosevelt
traveled aboard the Boeing Clipper
to meet Winston Churchill.
On his way home, he celebrated his birthday aboard the huge flying boat.
Four massive 1,500 horsepower engines made it
possible to reach a top speed of 199 miles per hour
and even more impressive; it had a range of 5,200 miles!
It had accommodation for as many as a crew of 10 and 74 passengers.
Sadly though, in 1943,
a fatal accident happened in a landing,
and 24 passengers and crew lost their lives.
Fun Fact
In total, Boeing made 12 Clippers.
One of those known as the California Clipper
had accumulated more than a million miles.
Boeing began a design study for the U.S. Army
to see if it was possible to build a heavy bomber
with a 5,000 mile range.
When it first flew in 1937,
it was the largest and heaviest airplane ever built in the United States.
In fact, it was so big that flight engineers could enter the wing and make repairs in flight.
It set a number of records,
including carrying a 31,000 pounds payload to 8,200 feet in 1939.
While it could reach the 5,000-mile range the military was asking for,
only 1 unit was built as an experimental airplane.
It was never used as a bomber
and became a cargo aircraft instead,
with the nickname “Grandpappy.”
The aircraft was difficult to fly.
It even had two fires
and a complete failure of the electrical system
while in midair.
Nonetheless, it stayed in service until 1944.
In 1938, Boeing designed a revolutionary airplane
named the Model 307 Stratoliner.
It was an American commercial transport aircraft
that was the first to have a pressurized cabin.
This allowed the plane to fly much higher,
above many weather disturbances to an altitude of 20,000 feet.
The Model 307 had a capacity of 33 passengers.
In total, 10 units were made.
The last remaining Stratoliner was stored in the Arizona desert for 20 years
until it was restored and placed at a museum.
Fun Fact
Multimillionaire Howard Hughes
bought a Stratoliner for himself
and transformed it into a “flying penthouse.”
It had a master bedroom,
two bathrooms,
a bar,
and a large living room.
Later it was turned into a Florida houseboat.
When World War II started,
Boeing became incredibly successful
since the United States needed many more military aircrafts
than ever before.
In fact, in 1944,
production had been scaled up to 350 planes built each month.
Prior to World War II, the Boeing B-17 made its first flight.
It was more commonly known as the
“Flying Fortress,” and for good reasons.
It carried bombs and had five .30 caliber machine guns.
It was the first Boeing military aircraft
with a flight deck instead of an open cockpit.
The Boeing B-17 was capable of going 287 miles per hour.
As World War II intensified,
more bombers were made with additional armor and weapons.
The B-17E was the first mass-produced model of the Flying Fortress
and carried a whopping 9 machine guns
and had a 4,000-pound bomb load.
The B-17 received a deadly reputation with the Japanese,
who dubbed them the “four-engine fighter.”
It became a legendary aircraft
that was able to stay in the air even after brutal poundings.
An 88-year old veteran sent Boeing a letter
explaining how his B-17 aircraft was heavily fired upon,
and only two out of the four engines still worked.
He wrote,
General Carl Spaatz even said quote
In total Boeing built as many as 6,981 B-17 units
and another 5,745 were built by a collaboration of Douglas and Lockheed.
It is unbelievable that over 12,000 of these massive bombers were made.
One of the most technically advanced airplanes of World War II was the B-29.
It had many new features,
including a gun that could be fired by remote control.
The B-29 was designed to be a massive long-range heavy bomber.
It became the world’s heaviest production plane,
because of the increases in range,
bomb load,
and defensive requirements.
It could reach an impressive range of 5,830 miles.
The B-29 became known as the Superfortress,
far exceeding the B-17 in basically every way possible.
It had as many as 12 .50-caliber machine guns,
a cannon,
and a massive 20.000-pound bomb load.
The Superfortress was heavily used to bomb Japan.
As many as 1,000 Superfortresses at a time bombed Tokyo.
On August 6, 1945, a B-29 dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
Three days later, another B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
One month later, World War II had ended.
It is unbelievable how important the Superfortress became during World War II.
In total, Boeing built 2,766 units of the Superfortress.
Fun Fact
The Boeing B-29 became the only aircraft
that has ever used nuclear weapons in combat.
Let’s hope it stays that way.
After the war, Boeing continued developing new bombers,
including the B-47 Stratojet
B-50 Bomber
And the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.
However, the company was in trouble
because the United States wasn’t in need of that many military aircrafts anymore,
and 70,000 people lost their jobs.
Boeing decided to reenter the commercial market
with a new long-range airliner,
the 377 Stratocruiser.
The aircraft was based on the C-97 Stratofreighter,
which was a military transport plane built during the Second World War.
The Stratocruiser could carry up to 100 passengers.
In 1945, Pan Am placed the largest commercial aircraft order in history,
paying $24.5 million for 20 Stratocruisers.
The Stratocruiser set new standards for luxurious air travel
and had bunk units for sleeping.
Multiple accidents happened,
of which the worst was in 1952
when a Stratocruiser crashed into a jungle.
All 50 passengers and crew died.
Unfortunately for Boeing, though,
sales were not as expected.
In total only 56 Stratocruisers were built.
In 1954, the Boeing 367-80,
known simply as the Dash 80,
was made to demonstrate the advantage of
jet propulsion for a passenger jet.
Boeing took an enormous risk and spent $16 million,
which was two-thirds of the company’s net profits from the post-war years,
developing this aircraft,
while the company had no committed customers.
However, only 1 unit was eventually built.
This aircraft had made 1,691 flights
before it was donated to a Museum.
But then, in 1956,
the Boeing 707 was developed.
This started a new,
very successful era for Boeing
by creating commercial jetliners
for passenger air transport.
We’ll discuss the Boeing 707
and some of the largest
and most advanced passenger airplanes in the world
in the next episode.
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Subtitles done by Emir Kahvecioglu