Engineer William Boeing and Conrad Westervelt built their first
airplane in Seattle in 1916. In 1917, the company began contracting with the
United States Navy to produce training airplanes. Struggling to develop a
market after the First World War, Boeing delivered the first international
airmail in 1919 from Vancouver, B.C., Canada, to Seattle, Washington, and later
started Boeing Air Transport to ferry mail from San Francisco to Chicago.
During the 1920s the company continued to build military and transport
designs.
By 1928, Boeing was one of the largest airplane manufacturers in the
country. Antitrust legislation in 1934 forced Boeing to break up its air
transport division, Canadian subsidiary, and East Coast businesses. The
remaining company focused on large, long-range passenger and military designs.
During the Second World War, Boeing designed, and was the chief builder of,
such significant military aircraft as the B-17 and B-29 bombers. After the war,
Boeing's hopes for growth in civil air transport did not quickly materialize,
but military contracts continued to sustain the company until the advent of the
commercial jet airplanes that Boeing is known for today throughout the
world.
The collection consists of publicity photos of Boeing designs
throughout the history of the company, from 1927 through the early 1960s. It is
divided into the following series: Commercial Airplanes, Military Airplanes,
Production, and Research and Development. The commercial section includes
several key designs, such as the Boeing 247 transport on which Boeing's United
Airlines was based, and the post-war Stratoliner. The military section includes
several famous planes such as the B-17 and B-29 bombers, as well as the first
jet bomber, the B-47. The production section and the research and development
section show the first plant and the later Seattle plants, post-war production,
and modern facilities such as the Boeing Wind Tunnel.
Collection compiled from existing transportation-related subject
photographs file.
Processed by Tim Held, July, 2002.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
| Folder |
Item
|
Date
|
| | Commercial Airplanes | |
| 1 | 1 | | Boeing 40-A
Mail/Passenger Biplane | May 25, 1927 |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| Flew as the first contract transcontinental airline. |
| 2 | 2 | | Boeing Stearman
airplane | |
|
Photographer: Fred Milkie
Photographers (Seattle, Wash.) |
| 3 | 3a | | Boeing 80-A
Trimotor 18-passenger airplane | Aug. 14,1929 |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 3b | | Boeing 80-A
Trimotor over Mt. Rainier | |
|
Photographer: Boeing System
|
| 4 | 4 | | United Airlines
Boeing 247 Transport airplane | |
| 5 | | United Airlines
Boeing 247-D airplane | 1934 |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| The nation's first all-metal, low-wing twin-engine production
transport aircraft. |
| 6-11 | | United Airlines
Boeing 247-D airplane at airport terminal
 | |
| 5 | 12 | | Boeing 314
Clipper airplane | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 6 | 13 | | TWA Boeing
Stratoliner airplane | 1938 |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| The world's first pressurized commercial airliner. |
| 7 | 14 | | Boeing
Stratocruiser airplane with unique double-deck design, and stewardesses
"modeling" the figure eight design of the fuselage center section | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 15 | | Boeing
Stratocruiser airplane and large crowd surrounding Stratocruiser in plant for
event
| |
|
Photographer: [Boeing Airplane
Company?]
|
| 16 | | Boeing
Stratocruiser airplane | |
|
Photographer: [Boeing Airplane
Company?]
|
| 17-19 | | Boeing
Stratocruiser airplane | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 20-22 | | Pan Am Boeing
Stratocruiser airplane over San Francisco Bay
| |
| 8 | 23 | | Boeing 707
airplane | |
|
Photographer: [Boeing Airplane
Company?]
|
| 9 | 24 | | Boeing 747
airplane | |
|
Photographer: [Boeing Airplane
Company?]
|
|
| |
| Folder |
Item
|
Date
|
| | Military Airplanes | |
| 10 | 25 | | Boeing XB-9
airplane, model 215 | April 28, 1931 |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 11 | 26 | | Boeing P-26
Peashooter airplane
| |
| 12 | 27 | | Boeing B-17G
Flying Fortress airplane | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 13 | 28 | | Boeing B-29
Superfortress airplane | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 14 | 29 | | Boeing B-50
airplane being refueled by a Boeing KB29P tanker airplane | May 18, 1950 |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 30 | | Boeing B-50
airplane | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 15 | 31 | | Boeing C-97A
Stratofreighter airplane, cargo version of the Stratocruiser | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 16 | 32 | | Boeing XB-47
Stratojet airplane, second one built, first flight | July 21, 1948 |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 33-35 | | Boeing B-47
airplane | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 36 | | Boeing B-47A
airplane | August 11, 1950 |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 37-40 | | Boeing B-47
airplanes in formation | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 17 | 41 | | Boeing C-135
airplane taking off from Boeing Field | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 42 | | Boeing Airplane
Company | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
|
| |
| Folder |
Item
|
Date
|
| | Production | |
| 18 | 43 | | Boeing Airplane
Factory
| ca. 1920s |
| 44 | | Boeing Airplane
Factory
| Dec. 1, 1928 |
| 45 | | Aerial view of
Boeing Airplane Company Plant 2, Seattle, Washington | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 46 | | Production area
for Boeing C-97 airplane | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 47 | | Boeing B-50 wing
assembly production | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 48 | | Final assembly
area for Boeing B-50 Superfortress | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 49 | | Final assembly
area for Boeing 707, Transport Division Plant, Renton, Washington | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 50 | | Boeing B-50D
Superfortress and KC-97E Stratofreighters being rolled from the final assembly
line at the Boeing plant, Renton, Washington | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
|
| |
| Folder |
Item
| |
| | Research and Development | |
| 19 | 51 | | Draftsmen at
work | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 52 | | Boeing Wind
Tunnel | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 53 | | Model in the
Boeing wind tunnel | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
| 54 | | Control room in
the Edmund T. Allen Laboratories | |
|
Photographer: Boeing Airplane
Company
|
|
Subject Terms |
|
Organizations:
|
| Boeing
Airplane Company. |
| Boeing
Company. |
| Boeing
Scientific Research Laboratories--Photographs. |
| Boeing Airplane Company, photographer. |
|
Subjects:
|
| Aircraft
industry--Washington (State) |
| Airplane
factories--Washington (State)--Photographs. |
| B-17
bomber--Photographs. |
| B-29
bomber--Photographs. |
| Boeing
airplanes--Photographs. |
| Boeing
bombers--Photographs. |
| Boeing 247 (Transport
plane)--Photographs. |
| Boeing 307 Stratoliner
(Transport plane)--Photographs. |
| Boeing airplanes--Design
and construction--Photographs. |
| Transport
planes--Photographs. |
|
Genre Headings:
|
| Publicity
photographs. |
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