Dividing the Company

William Boeing still dreamed of a new, fast airliner. This dream came true in

1933 with the Boeing 247. The 247 is widely regarded as the first “modern” airliner. It was a low-wing, twin-engine monoplane, made completely of metal and with retractable landing gear. The 247 was flown by a pilot and copilot, while a flight attendant catered to the ten passengers. Two Pratt & Whitney Wasp radial engines gave the 247 a speed of 200 miles per hour (320 kilome­ters per hour), and it could fly for 745 miles (1,200 kilometers) before refueling.

By 1934, Boeing was operating an airline and manufacturing aircraft, which was prohibited by a new law (the

1934 Air Mail Act). The federal govern­ment ordered that Boeing be divided, and the company was split into United Aircraft, United Air Lines, and the Boeing Airplane Company.

О Workers install fixtures to the tail fuselage of a B-17 bomber in 1942.

In 1939 Boeing released the elegant 314 Clipper flying boat. Designed for passenger routes over the oceans, the Clipper had a range of 3,500 miles (5,630 kilometers). The same year, how­ever, World War II halted commercial flying between the United States and Europe and brought an end to the flying boat era.

Aircraft manufacturers had begun to design new warplanes some years before World War II began in Europe in September 1939. In May 1934 the U. S. Army issued a specification for a new bomber, and Boeing came up with the four-engine 299, which was first flown on July 28, 1935. Three weeks later, the 299 flew nonstop for 2,100 miles (3,380 kilometers) at an average speed of 252 miles per hour (406 kilometers per hour). Boeing’s delight at this success turned to gloom when, in October, the bomber crashed on takeoff. New prototypes were quickly in the air, however; the Y1B-17, first flown on December 2, 1936, became the B-17 Flying Fortress.