If you’ve ever flown on an airplane, there is a good chance you were on a Boeing. The  Boeing Company, a global powerhouse, is one of the world’s largest aerospace manufacturers. With over 10,000 Boeing commercial airplanes in service today, the company’s global influence is felt. Founded on January 15th, 1916, it designs, produces and sells airplanes, rockets, missiles, and satellites worldwide. 

William Boeing, a graduate of Yale University, is the visionary who laid the foundation of what we now know as the Boeing Company. He founded the company in Seattle, Washington, initially known as “B&W,” and created his first aircraft, the “Boeing Model 1,” in late 1916. His entrepreneurial spirit and dedication were evident when, amid WWI, Boeing was commissioned to build 50 planes for the US Navy. He subsequently changed the name of B&W to The Boeing Airplane Company, and his business began to boom. The company grew enormously over the century, and its present-day version resulted from a merger with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. 

Today, Boeing is organized into three groups: Defense, Space and security, and Global Services. Boeing is the current global leader in aviation, the largest exporter in the United States by dollar, and a household name. William Boeing was posthumously inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1966, 10 years after his death.