The William E. Boeing Story - A Gift of Flight is the first-ever full-length biography of William E. Boeing; the father of commercial aviation. Boeing’s story is an exciting one complete with bootleggers, kidnappers and a disastrous run-in with President Franklin Roosevelt and future Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. Boeing’s story covers every aspect of early aviation starting with his first ride in a balloon in 1896 to the christening of the revolutionary jet-powered Dash-80 / 707 in 1955. Along the way, Boeing developed some of the world’s most iconic airplanes including the P-26 Peashooter, the Boeing 247, the B-17 Flying Fortress and the mighty B-29 Superfortress. The Boeing Family gave author David D. Williams unprecedented access to the Boeing Family Archives which contained thousands of never before seen photos, diaries, and personal letters. This treasure trove of primary sources allowed Williams to create an extraordinarily vivid and accurate portrait of this influential yet private man.

In the early years of the 20th century William Edward Boeing summed up his new company’s mission: "To let no new improvement in flying and flying equipment pass us by." And sure enough, in the century since, nothing and no one has outflown Boeing. The Story of the Boeing Company, plane-maker to the world, unfolds on a fittingly grand scale in this book that is at once the history of one company and the story of an industry. Aviation author Bill Yenne follows Boeing from its modest beginnings in 1916 as Pacific Aero Products, with a single two-seater floatplane, to its present lofty position as the largest aerospace company in the world. Lavishly illustrated, it showcases historic aircraft that made the company’s name—the B-17s and B-29s of World War II to the 707 jetliner that revolutionized commercial flight; and the mammoth 747 to the B-52 Superfortress that still soldiers on over 50 years after its debut. All the moves and mergers are chronicled. 2nd ed.

A biography of Bill Boeing, a pioneer in the development of aviation and the founder of the Boeing Company, which started out building military and transport airplanes and now builds most of the world's passenger jet aircraft.

The name Boeing evokes vivid images, from the B-17 Flying Fortresses of World War II to the 707 and 747 jet transports that revolutionized air travel. Less well known: The Boeing Company built the first stage of the Saturn rocket that started men on the way to the moon, developed the Minuteman missile system, and is now designing America's space station. Boeing jets, in service around the globe, carry 675 million passengers annually--the equivalent of twelve percent of the world's population. Behind the statistics and the awe-inspiring aircraft is a company of paradoxes, a vast organization nimble enough to take daring market risks that have kept it at the top of its industry. Robert J. Serling, forty-five years an award-winning aviation writer, takes the reader behind the scenes with humor, objectivity, and abundant anecdotes: Boeing once went seventeen months without seeing a single domestic jetliner and came close to bankruptcy. One of its legendary test pilots unexpectedly barrel-rolled a prototype jetliner, into which the company had sunk one-quarter of its net worth, because he thought the stunt would help sell the airplane. Legend and Legacy, Robert J. Serling's most ambitious work to date, reads like a novel, complete with memorable characters who, despite occasional stumbles, helped win the war and conquer the commercial skies: The salesman who almost traded a used 727 for $12 million worth of underwear. The vice president who worked in a darkened office illuminated by a single, low-wattage light bulb. The gifted, driven engineers who did the impossible, by yesterday. Never in its seventy-five years has Boeing been so revealingly profiled. This book is must-reading for anyone fascinated by the history of aviation.

NEW YORK TIMES BUSINESS BEST SELLER • A suspenseful behind-the-scenes look at the dysfunction that contributed to one of the worst tragedies in modern aviation: the 2018 and 2019 crashes of the Boeing 737 MAX. An "authoritative, gripping and finely detailed narrative that charts the decline of one of the great American companies" (New York Times Book Review), from the award-winning reporter for Bloomberg. Boeing is a century-old titan of industry. It played a major role in the early days of commercial flight, World War II bombing missions, and moon landings. The planemaker remains a cornerstone of the U.S. economy, as well as a linchpin in the awesome routine of modern air travel. But in 2018 and 2019, two crashes of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 killed 346 people. The crashes exposed a shocking pattern of malfeasance, leading to the biggest crisis in the company’s history—and one of the costliest corporate scandals ever. How did things go so horribly wrong at Boeing? Flying Blind is the definitive exposé of the disasters that transfixed the world. Drawing from exclusive interviews with current and former employees of Boeing and the FAA; industry executives and analysts; and family members of the victims, it reveals how a broken corporate culture paved the way for catastrophe. It shows how in the race to beat the competition and reward top executives, Boeing skimped on testing, pressured employees to meet unrealistic deadlines, and convinced regulators to put planes into service without properly equipping them or their pilots for flight. It examines how the company, once a treasured American innovator, became obsessed with the bottom line, putting shareholders over customers, employees, and communities. By Bloomberg investigative journalist Peter Robison, who covered Boeing as a beat reporter during the company’s fateful merger with McDonnell Douglas in the late ‘90s, this is the story of a business gone wildly off course. At once riveting and disturbing, it shows how an iconic company fell prey to a win-at-all-costs mentality, threatening an industry and endangering countless lives.

Welcome to the world of corporate decision-making, workplace gambles, and a myriad of human interactions. This is a story that affirms the traditional values of hard work, fidelity, and building the human alliances necessary for achieving enduring success. John Andrew, a retired Boeing executive, offers a unique insider look at the profound changes Boeing experienced in the 1960s as the product mix shifted from military hardware to the first generation of jet-powered airliners. The requirement for more factory space was fueled by new models and a surging worldwide demand for air travel. Massive construction projects were launched, including a newly constructed 747-sized factory on 760 acres at Paine Field in Everett, Washington. These cathedrals of airframe assembly remain vital to Boeing's ongoing operations today.