Chapter 16: The North Pacific Coast

This chapter actually talks about Seattle and its metropolitan area. Like my other blogs, it talks about how abundant the state is with businesses. The chapter talks about how Boeing helped the state's economy. I will delve more into the history of the company and how it played a role during the World Wars.

The Boeing Company was founded in Seattle, Washington on July 15, 1916 by William E. Boeing as a multinational aerospace and defense corporation.

On May 9, 1917, the company became the "Boeing Airplane Company" and later supplied training seaplanes to the US Navy when World War I started in 1917. Boeing shipped 2 new Model C planes to Florida, which the Navy liked very much and they ordered 50 more of.



Boeing seaplane Model C

When the war ended in 1918, there had been a surplus of cheap, used military planes, which prevented airplane companies such as Boeing to sell brand new planes. This caused some airplane companies to close down, but Boeing used this opportunity to branch out and build dressers, counters, furniture, and flat-bottom boats called Sea Sleds.

 

In 1923, Boeing began a competition against Curtiss Aeroplane to capitalize on government air mail contracts. They were competing to build a larger and faster aircraft. Curtiss finished its design first and was awarded the contract by the U.S Army Air Service. Boeing continued to develop its PW-9 fighter.

 



PW-9



In 1925, the company built its Model 40 mail plane for the US government to use in airmail routes. Model 40A was the improved version of the Model 40 and won the U.S. Post Office's contract to deliver mail between San Francisco and Chicago.

 

 During World War II, Boeing built a large number of B-17 and B-29 bombers. Many of the workers were women whose husbands had gone to war.

 



B-17 Flying Fortress



B-29 Superfortress



Other aircraft companies in the US cooperated in building the Boeing-design B-17 bomber to cope with the high demands of the war. After the war, most orders of the bombers were cancelld and 70,000 people lost their jobs at Boeing.

 

As a result of these layoffs, Boeing delved into the development of jet-engine technology.

 

Sources:

"Boeing." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 01 May 2011. h<ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing>.

"Boeing Company." United States History. Web. 01 May 2011. <http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1832.html>.