In 1916, with a first plane barely off the drawing boards, William E. Boeing hired two new engineering graduates, Clairmont Egtvedt and Philip Johnson. Both rose to top management, the first in a line of UW alumni who helped build a global industry. In 1917 Bill Boeing made a personal gift of $6,000 to the UW to construct a wind tunnel to test plane models. In return, the university committed to offer aeronautics courses to train engineers for work at his fledgling company. This act of generosity and foresight was the first courtship gesture in a long relationship now honored through the naming of the department. In a headline news event in August 1954, test pilot Tex Johnston put the Boeing Dash-80 prototype for the 707 passenger jet into two dramatic, slow, and unauthorized barrel rolls over the Seafair crowd on Lake Washington. Boeing president William Allen asked an industry guest for one of his heart pills at that moment, and called Johnston into his office the next day for a stern reprimand.īill Boeing's own heart probably fluttered in June 1916 during testing of the first plane he and a friend designed. The test pilot was late arriving at Lake Union, so an impatient Boeing hopped into the plane and took it for a brief flight skimming over the water. Over the next few days, under Boeing’s orders, the pilot taxied the plane around the lake to test the controls. Tiring of little hops, he gunned the engine, lifted the craft into the sky and flew over the city to Lake Washington. A stunned Bill Boeing rushed to the lake and chastised the pilot: "Don't ever do that again unless I authorize it!" … followed quickly by "How was it?"Ī month later Boeing incorporated the Pacific Aerospace and Manufacturing Company. Boeing, Jr., recalls his father as a visionary who didn’t just dream about flying, but early on foresaw the huge potential for commercial aviation and set high standards and goals for his enterprise. "He knew the hallmark of a good engineer was to never do anything less than perfectly, and also never discount any novel idea, but try it out," Boeing said.īill Junior's first flight at age 5 was a buzzing over the family home in one of the rugged Boeing Model 40-series planes that won the 1927 U.S. Postal Service contract to carry mail from Chicago to San Francisco. A small compartment for two people turned it into the company’s first plane for paying passengers, in addition to mail. "Egtvedt and Johnson did a tremendous job overseeing design and manufacturing they built 24 planes in only six months, which was an almost impossible feat for that time." Education and Research Collaboration "The Model 40 was the company's foundation for commercial success," said Boeing Jr.
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