A shipyard that built aeroplanes
1 min read . Updated: 17 Feb 2020, 10:03 PM ISTOn this day in 1977, the first orbiter of the Space Shuttle system, Enterprise, went on its maiden flight sitting on top of a Boeing 747
You may have heard of startups starting from garages (Apple, Disney, Harley-Davidson, Amazon, etc.,) but have you heard of aeroplane manufacturers starting from a shipyard? Well, in 1910, William Boeing bought a shipyard in Seattle, Washington, that later became his first aeroplane factory.
Boeing was founded by William Boeing in Seattle with the assembly of the B&W seaplane in his Lake Union boathouse in 1916. After a few months, he took Bluebill, the first B&W, on its maiden flight, and later sold it to New Zealand. ‘Red Barn’ building, one of the two structures that remains at the original site, is now part of Seattle’s Museum of Flight.
In 1918, The Boeing Airplane Co. started delivering the Model C trainers to the Navy. The next year, George Bolt, the company’s pilot, set a New Zealand altitude record of 6,500 ft on the Boeing B&W. But most interestingly, on this day in 1977, the space shuttle Enterprise went on its maiden flight, sitting atop a Boeing 747.
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