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William Edward Boeing's birthday

William Edward Boeing (October 1, 1881 – September 28, 1956) was an American aviation pioneer who founded The Boeing Company.

During the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909, he saw a manned flying machine for the first time and became fascinated with aircraft. He soon purchased an airplane from the Glenn L. Martin Company, and received flying lessons from Martin himself. Boeing soon cracked up the plane. When he was told by Martin that replacement parts would not become available for months, Boeing blew up. He angrily told his friend Cdr. George Conrad Westervelt (USN), "We could build a better plane ourselves and build it faster". Westervelt agreed. They soon built and flew the B & W Seaplane, an amphibian biplane that had outstanding performance. Boeing decided to go into the aircraft business and bought an old boat works on the Duwamish River near Seattle for his factory.



In 1916, Boeing went into business with George Conrad Westervelt as B & W and founded the Pacific Aero Products Co. The company's first plane was the Boeing Model 1. When America entered the First World War in April 1917, Boeing changed the name of Pacific Aero Products Co. to Boeing Airplane Company and obtained orders from the United States Navy for 50 planes. At the end of the war, Boeing began to concentrate on commercial aircraft, secured contracts to supply airmail service and built a successful airmail operation and later passenger service that evolved into United Airlines.

Boeing was maker of famous WWII bombers, B-17 Flying Fortress and B-29 Superfortress.

William Boeing died on September 28, 1956, at the age of 74, just three days before his 75th birthday.

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