Northwest Aerospace News PNAA 2021 ADVANCE | Page 20

Nearly 50 percent of those workers were women , collectively known as “ Rosie the Riveter .” Over the hill in Renton , Washington , Boeing employees were working on the most vital program in the U . S . war effort — the B-29 Superfortress . By July 1945 , Renton was producing 160 B-29s per month .
After the war , Boeing focused on designing jet bombers , the first of which was the revolutionary B-47 Stratojet . The B-47 , which first flew Dec . 17 , 1947 , pioneered the combination of swept wing and podded jet engines hanging below the wings — the basic design of all Boeing and Airbus commercial jets today . Next came the venerable B-52 Stratofortress . All early models of the B-52 bomber were built at Plant 2 and tested at Larson Air Force Base in Moses Lake , Washington .
On July 15 , 1954 a jet transport prototype called the “ Dash 80 ” made its first flight from Renton , Washington and changed Boeing and air travel forever . Boeing CEO William Allen took a tremendous business risk when he authorized 16 million dollars to build the prototype . Boeing test pilot Tex Johnston made the Dash 80 famous after performing two barrel rolls over the 1955 Seafair Gold Cup race at Lake Washington . The Dash 80 paved the way for the world ’ s first successful commercial jet — the 707 , which marked the beginning of the Boeing commercial jet business that continues in the Pacific Northwest today .
Boeing Rosie the Riveters on the Boeing Plant 2 flight line with the 5,000th Boeing built B-17 Flying Fortress . ( Lower ) The photo flight over Mount Rainier has been a Boeing tradition since the 1920s .
The 707 was quickly followed by the 727 and 737 , making a family of commercial jets , and by the end of the 1960s , the Queen of the Skies — the pioneering 747 — rolled out of the new Boeing site at Paine Field in Everett , Washington . First flying on Feb . 9 , 1969 , the 747 was the world ’ s first widebody jet , twice the size of any other jet at the time of its introduction . While tens of thousands of Boeing employees were focusing on the future of commercial air travel , others were focusing on the future of space travel .
20 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS