THIS MONTH IN AIR & SPACE POWER HISTORY: Happy Birthday, Boeing!

July 15, 1916: Timber merchant William Edward Boeing (1881–1956) incorporated a company to manufacture a single-engine, float-equipped biplane, opening a small factory in a former boat house on the Duwamish River near Seattle, Washington. Thirty-eight years later, also on July 15, the Boeing Airplane Company launched the commercial jet age with the first flight of the Boeing 707 prototype 367-80.