Classic Airliner: BOEING (IPC Publishing 9781907426759)

Category Aviation Books, Subcategory Aviation Magazin, ISBN/Box 9781907426759, Publisher/Brand IPC Publishing, Format a4, No. Pages 102, Version sb, Language English

WILLIAM BOEING BECAME interested in aircraft after seeing early examples at an event in California. He established his business and successfully sold aeroplanes to the United States Armed Forces, as well as forming an air transport operation which used aircraft of his own making. This led other airlines to buy Boeing aircraft and in the years before World War Two Boeing produced some advanced designs, which included a pressurised airliner and a large long-range flying boat. The outbreak of war meant that air travel was seriously restricted and future designs were, naturally, placed on hold. Boeing forged ahead with their famous B-17 Flying Fortress bomber of which nearly 13,000 had been built by the time the war ended. They also produced the pressurised B-29 Superfortress, which has gone own in history as the aircraft that dropped the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War Two.

While Boeing were making bombers, Douglas and Lockheed had produced troop transports that were easily adapted as airliners for the post-war market. Boeing produced the Stratocruiser but it was not a success and left the Seattle company looking for an alternative. They were busy with the USAF jet bomber programme and using that experience were able to design and introduce what became the world's most famous airliner in the form of the Boeing 707. For a company that was not known as a commercial aircraft manufacturer they simply took over the market and dominated the airline scene which they compounded with the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet. Boeing's dominance has recently been challenged by Airbus with their range of airliners but Boeing still has a healthy share of the commercial airliner market and look set to continue to be part of the scene for many years to some.