This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Saturday, August 22nd in Tampa, witnessing MMA Legends final fight. Chris Cyborg, one of the greatest in history. She's an absolute pioneer in the sport.
Defends her PFL world title. One last time. Unforgettable and got you, Margaret. To an unforgettable career. Saturday, August 22nd, live from Benchmark International Arena.
For tickets, visit pfl.info/slash tampa. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter.
Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at let's getreal about skincancer.com. Whether it's help with hormone therapy, weight management, or sexual health, every woman should have access to affordable prescription medication and personalized care that understands the whole woman. Join me, Dr. Doug Lucas, Clinical Lead of Hormone Optimization and Longevity at LifeMD.
along with other leading experts on the podcast. Here's something good on women's health and longevity. To learn more, go to lifeemd.com slash iHeart. This is how eBay Live usually goes. You tune into a stream just to browse.
Then something rare pops up for a total steal, like a vintage handbag or a rookie baseball card. The bids start flying, and browsing quickly turns into, I have to have this. And guess what? You win. And it's a rush because everyone else wanted it too, but you got it.
On eBay Live, you don't just watch the action, you're in it. Download the eBay app to watch live and shop live. eBay Live, things people love. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people, coming to you from the city where the West begins. Fort Worth, Texas.
Our next story is about an American logger, miner, cattle rancher, and philanthropist, but that's not why his name is recognized all over the world. Let's take a listen to a story put together by our own Greg Henko. In the summer of 1889, Eight-year-old Wilhelm Edward Bowie. has no way of knowing that one day he will be running the biggest aviation company in the world. His father, who is also named Philhelm, emigrated from Germany to what was seen as the Eldorado for timber merchants.
Detroit, Michigan. He was twenty two and penniless. yet saved every cent and became a millionaire through the timber and mining industries. More specifically, from the iron cult taconite. Yeah.
Here's William Edward Boeing, Jr. And his father was a very fast learner. I mean, to come to this country and live here. Uh just 20 some years. and be successful as it was.
I find that most remarkable. The son adores his father and sees him as a role model. Suddenly, catastrophe enters young Wilhelm's world. Unfortunately, he died of influenza. at the age of 41 or so and I mean, having his father die at such an early age was certainly most difficult for the family.
For Wilhelm, life becomes even harder when his mother remarries. The boy withdraws into his own world. and openly refuses to accept his stepfather. Stepfathers and stepsons don't always mesh perfectly right off the bat and he may have Felt that this was good for young William to get a little more discipline in his life and so on. And so he was packed off to school.
Yeah, yeah. Young Wilhelm Boeing, who just turned 13. is about to embark on a journey into more of the unknown. Yeah. Since his father's death five years ago, the boy has become more and more of a loner.
His new family sees him as a troublemaker. His mother sees no other option but to send him halfway around the world. to a Swiss boarding school near Lake Geneva. Wilhelm was left to cope on his own. for uh a young boy from Detroit.
and going to Switzerland at that time, it was really an undertaking. And but uh apparently uh he did quite well. Tens of thousands of people who have experienced that and survived it. I think in Boeing's case, you have to wonder if it didn't make him a very sort of self-contained. and stronger person that, I mean, he was in Switzerland after all, having to cope with foreign culture and a foreign language, or several foreign languages being Switzerland.
Many years later, the hard years at boarding school are over. and Wilhelm Buhn finally sees the Statue of Liberty appear on the horizon. After all the lonely and authoritarian years in Switzerland, One thing is clear for Wilhelm. He's an American. He signs his name as William Boeing.
William enrolls at the Elite University, Yale. But one year before graduation, He drops out and takes a steamship west. to Washington State. Yes. Mr.
Boeing, your whiskey. Thank you. Stuart, at what time do we arrive in Grace Harbor? We arrive tomorrow morning. Is there anything else?
No, thank you. That's all. Have a good evening. For Boeing, it's another venture into the unknown. yet he follows in the footsteps of his Father.
He wants to go into the timber business. It really was the Wild West. Only instead of cowboys and cattle, you had timber and loggers.
So there were lots of saloons, hotels, all the kind of places that. Lumberjacks would want to go to spend their hard-earned money. It would have been quite a shock. Oh very very different. than what he was used to.
In many ways, it must have been very similar to Wilhelm Boeing's experiences back. In Michigan, when he first came over as an immigrant. I mean, for a kid who had been raised in luxury, sent to boarding schools, had gone to Yale, there must have been a shock. At about the same time, on the east coast of America, thousands of miles away from William Boeing. and at first unnoticed by the world, A technical quantum leap.
A revolution that would change the world is taking place. Brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright have been studying flying devices for years. On December 17, 1903, The two bicycle mechanics finally succeed in performing the first motorized flight in the history of mankind. This feat would soon change William Boeing's life too. In fact, In the deep woods of Washington, Boeing manages to achieve things that nobody thought him capable of.
Within a short period of time, he started the Greenwood Timber Company.
So he had his own logging business that he had started. He also started Boeing and McCrimmon, which was a land holding company.
So he would purchase land so that he could log it and possibly for the mineral rights. But once he was done logging it, this holding company then sold the land.
So he was very successful in the few years that he stayed in the Grays Harbor area. In all of his pictures, he's always well dressed. Part of that is just the time, but part of it was just who he was. You see photographs of him out in the woods, and yes, he's wearing rough clothes, heavy wool slacks, but they were always. Nicely made.
You can tell when you look at the pictures that it's high-quality material. Always presented himself as a well-dressed, well-heeled businessman. And you've been listening to the story of one William Boeing. And my goodness, gets into Yale, quits, heads west to replicate what his father had done in Michigan. And that is build up a successful timber business.
When we come back, what happens next with the advent of flight? The story of William Bowing continues Here on our American stories. This is Lee Habib, host of Our American Stories. Every day, we set out to tell the stories of Americans past and present, from small towns to big cities. But we truly can't do this show without you.
Our shows are free to listen to, but they're not free to make. If you love what you hear, go to ouramericanstories.com and make a donation to keep the stories coming. That's our American stories. Dot com. Saturday, August 22nd in Tampa.
Witness an MMA Legends final fight. Chris Cyborg, one of the greatest in history. She's an absolute pioneer in the sport. Defends her PFL world title. One last time.
Unforgettable and got you. To an unforgettable career. Saturday, August 22nd, live from Benchmark International Arena. For tickets, visit pfl.info/slash tampa. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer.
Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at let's get real about skincancer.com.
Your first sip should do more than simply start the day. Elevate your scoop with Vital Proteins, Collagen Peptides Advanced, featuring collagen plus hyaluronic acid and vitamin C. It helps support healthy hair, skin, nails, bones, and joints. Adding extra wellness support to your daily routine so your wellness stays effortless wherever the day takes you. Vital Proteins.
Stay vital. Visit vitoproteins.com to get started. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. IceCube's Big Three season has come down to this.
The Big Three Championship is coming to Charlotte, who will be crowned the Big Three Season 9 Champion. Plus the Big Three All-Star Game, the biggest names in the game, all on one court one more time. Two games of the most physical, competitive, and non-stop three-on-three action. The game played the way you love. Watch live Saturday on CBS at 1 p.m.
Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific, and catch replays Monday on BET. Presented by iHeart. And we continue with Our American Stories and the story of William Boeing. Let's pick up where we last left off.
Boeing is a wealthy bachelor who has achieved great success. And in 1909, at the World's Fair in Seattle, he sees a manned airplane fly for the first time. This sparks a fascination with aircraft. And in 1910, his life takes a new turn when he travels south to the Los Angeles International Air Meet to see the first aviation show in the United States. Fixated by the thought of flying.
Boeing returns to Seattle. His conversations keep revolving around aviation. then four years after his visit to Los Angeles. Boeing is introduced to U.S. Navy Lieutenant.
Conrad Vestervelt. Westerlt was a well-educated East Coast young man. Who was in the US Navy? He comes from a very similar background from Boeing. Boeing finds a friend in Westervelt.
Who sees the airplane as something more than the widely held belief that it was nothing more than an expensive toy? To affirm that the aeroplane is going to revolutionize the future is to be guilty of the wildest exaggeration. trumpeted the Scientific American magazine that year. On the morning of July 4th, 1914, Boeing and Vestervelts celebrate the 4th of July by purchasing tickets for a ride on a push-prop Curtis Sea plane on Lake Washington. Boeing goes first.
Sitting on the lower wing of the plane, Boeing's feet dangle over the front of the wing. while his hands grip the edge of the wing. And there is no seatbelt. He spent the afternoon taking turns with his friend. And they became more and more interested.
This is 1914. The short of it is that they looked at it and they said, we can build a better airplane. And that was the beginning of Pacific Arrow Products that eventually became the Boeing Company. A small shipyard situated on Lake Union in Seattle, an ideal spot for building water planes, becomes the nucleus of the Boeing Airplane Company. On June 15, 1916, William Boeing has his new 26-foot-long seaplane, Bluebill, pushed out onto the lake.
His test pilot is unaccountably late. Growing impatient, Boeing climbs into the cockpit. Yeah. takes the controls. and taxis out into Lake Uni.
Determined to perform the first flight. As the late pilot rushes up to the hangar, he's just in time to see Boeing turn the plane into the wind. Gun the engine and lift off. My father hadn't had a lot of experience. He'd had a little bit this Martin C plane.
But that's was about all he had. You know, it's quite a performance to get in an airplane brand new. that actually he and Westerfeld had and constructed and take off. Boeing's maiden flight is a success. flying over 900 feet.
The following morning, Boeing and his plane are the talk of the nation. For the last two years since nineteen fourteen, World War I has been raging in Europe. For the first time in history, aircraft are deployed in battle. Yet America fails to see the importance of aviation in war. Boeing sees an opportunity.
Boeing was not only a believer in aviation and an enthusiast, but he was also, in his way, he was a patriot, and he thought America was asleep at the switch, that the war in Europe was already showing. that aviation had a role and it was a role that was increasing almost week by week as aircraft improved and as their uses were diversified. When the war began in 1914, the American Army had 55 Aircraft on its rolls. 55. I mean, Belgium had a more thriving military aircraft.
presence in 1914 in the United States did. Boeing wants to wake the military up with a spectacular event. He flew over the city. And dropped fake bombs, cardboard missiles that, with the message in them, you know, in a sense saying, wake up. We need to be, our aviation needs to be prepared.
You know, we're vulnerable. And the story goes that one of the places he dropped them was at a football game between the University of Washington and the University of California. And I've checked and there was a game here in November when this flight took place.
So I believe that part of it is in fact true also. Today, Boeing's headquarters in Chicago, the workplace of company historian Michael Lombardi. is home of the company's most important document, which is kept in a safe. multiplayer insured and protected. This is the document that Bill Boeing Put together when he decided to start the company.
It's a wonderful document when you're trying to examine the genius and the vision of Bill Boeing. And keeping in mind at the time, the airplane in the United States was just a curiosity. Nobody really saw a use for it. But Bill Boeing. in these articles of incorporation, put down what his business should be.
And you see some amazing things, such as having airports and the ideas of which was completely unheard of at the time, of people flying on airplanes and using the airplane for travel. It really shows the genius and the vision that Bill Boeing had. Because of the war in Europe, the Navy is looking to order 50 training planes. Boeing is very keen on getting this contract. All his hopes lie in his new seaplane, the Model C.
Boeing received a contract for 50. of these Navy trainers.
So it was our first government contract. And the first production order that Boeing received.
So, this really. was the the beginning. of the company. The son of a German immigrant is awarded the sought-after contract for planes to be used in the war against Germany. Boeing's people work in three shifts around the clock to complete this order.
November 1918 World War I is over and America celebrates its victorious soldiers. Like all Americans, William Boeing is relieved that the killings on the battlefields in Europe have stopped. But he's anxious too. Surely there won't be any more defense contracts in times of peace. Boeing suffered at the end of the First World War, as all aircraft manufacturers did.
It was an industry that had really not existed in any significant sense before the war. Suddenly, it was called into life by the needs of the war. Boeing immediately had to lay off people. Boeing, who went into the aviation business with so much passion, is suddenly faced with enormous financial difficulties. This was in part because a surplus of cheap used military aircraft flooded the market.
and many aircraft manufacturers, including Boeing, were unable to sell new aircraft. And you've been listening to the story of William Boeing. And he first gets an interest in planes by just seeing one fly overhead with a man powering that plane for the first time. That peaks his interest. But then he does what entrepreneurs do.
He goes down to Los Angeles to see an air show. and then well air travel and airplanes become his absolute fixation In 1914, he spent an afternoon riding on a plane. as did his partner, Navy Lieutenant George Conrad Westervelt. And during those rides he realized one thing. he and his pal could build a better plane.
And of course, the company they had bought was on a lake. What better place to build a seaplane? And he did. The Model C sea plane was so impressive. That it soon landed a military contract, World War I being the first war.
where planes mattered and America had a terrible deficit. And off to work Boeing went, landing those military contracts and helping Americans in the end. Win World War I and end it. And there went the demand. For the sea plane.
What would happen next?
Well, layoffs happened next, but opportunity for Boeing and his partner beckoned. as entrepreneurs do. They take adversity and they turn it into opportunity. When we come back, more of the story of William Boeing here. on our American stories.
Saturday, August 22nd in Tampa, witnessing MMA Legends final fight. Chris Cyborg, one of the greatest in history. She's an absolute pioneer in the sport. Defends her PFL world title. One last time.
Unforgettable end. To an unforgettable career. Saturday, August 22nd, live from Benchmark International Arena. For tickets, visit pfl.info/slash tampa. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer.
Non-melanoma skin cancers or NMSCs including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at let's get real about skincancer.com.
Your first sip should do more than simply start the day. Elevate your scoop with vital proteins, collagen peptides advanced, featuring collagen plus hyaluronic acid and vitamin C. It helps support healthy hair, skin, nails, bones, and joints. Adding extra wellness support to your daily routine so your wellness stays effortless wherever the day takes you. Vital Proteins.
Stay vital. Visit VitalProteins.com to get started. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. IceCube's Big Three season has come down to this.
The Big Three Championship is coming to Charlotte, who will be crowned the Big Three Season 9 Champion. Plus the Big Three All-Star Game, the biggest names in the game, all on one court one more time. Two games of the most physical, competitive, and non-stop three-on-three action. The game play the way you love. Watch live Saturday on CBS at 1 p.m.
Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific, and catch replays Monday on BET. Presented by iHeart. And we continue with our American stories and the story of William Boeing. Let's pick up where we last left off.
knowing that the business would continue sometime in the future. He wanted to hold on to his people. And the thing to remember at this time, these were very skilled craftsmen, woodworkers, seamstresses, and the engineers that he'd brought in. These people were hard to find, and it would be very difficult to find them again. Boeing had two choices: they could collapse, and simply he could say, well, it was fun, and now I'm going to do something else.
Or he could keep it going with money out of his own pocket. Boeing puts $390,000 of his private money into his ailing company. In order to survive and keep from closing, Boeing is forced to diversify. And start selling, among other things, furniture, countertops, phonograph cases, and flat-bottom boats called sea sleds. One worker that came up to them and wanted to know if they're going to make it or not.
And I think father said, we get by this summer, we'll never look back. Yeah. In 1927, chances for a lucrative business opportunity arise for Boeing. One of the major leaps in the business for Bill Boeing really put him on the national stage. was the idea that they would try to win one of the mail contracts, the air mail contracts that the United States Post Office had put out for bid.
The airplane did beat the competition, and it was critical to the success of Mr. Boeing winning this contract. Actually, the biggest contract, which was flying mail from San Francisco to Chicago. Bowen's move displayed incredible foresight. He won the bid for the contract by deciding to use an air-cooled engine rather than a traditional water-cooled engine in his Model 40 malplanes.
The Model 40, in addition to carrying mail, also had an enclosed cabin that could carry two passengers.
So for this venture, William founded a new business. an airline company called Boeing Air Transport. later to be called United Airlines. In the first year of operation, it delivered an estimated thirteen hundred tons of mail. and carried six thousand passengers.
It was a new concept of aviation, of blending passengers and airmail, everything together. This was the first time in this country. that passengers, freight and mail were carried on a route. This route was two thousand miles long. from San Francisco to Chicago.
Uh The Boeing Airplane Company had some success building military planes, but nothing on the commercial side. And this airplane really established the Boeing company. as a commercial airplane company as well. Boeing started to show a profit from his airmail endeavor. The rule was that the male came first.
And so if they had more mail, passengers got bumped. But carrying those passengers actually is what made it prosperable even the first year. And that is very unusual when you start something as new as this to have it successful the first year. As his company begins experiencing new success, So does William personally. as he meets and marries Bertha Paschel.
From now on, she hardly ever leaves his side. Boeing gives the love of his life a gift, The Taconite. A yacht named after the iron ore his father once found that had brought great wealth to the family. But turbulence hits Boeing's flight of success with the Wall Street crash of 1929. It will become the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States.
The mood swings against Boeing and the thriving airmail companies. When the Depression happened, and actually in some of the darkest days of the Depression. The aviation industry was doing quite well despite the depression.
So, this, of course, caught the attention. of politicians in Washington. Politicians look for a scapegoat. In February 1934, William Boeing is summoned to a government antitrust investigating committee. Boeing is accused of creating a monopoly.
And getting his government contracts only through secret agreements. The government cancels all contracts. In the future, they want to nationalize all the routes. Boeing desperately tries to refute these charges. Sir, I did not create a monopoly.
Nor did I cheat anyone. I simply had the foresight to bid low and take a loss the first couple of years with a long view in mind. The only thing I am guilty of is running a successful company. That's all. It was very unfair hearings.
Uh they weren't Interested in the facts. They're more interested in the conclusion that they've arrived at before the meeting started. And so this basically was more a political vendetta. Boeing, a man of the deepest integrity, is so hurt by the accusations that he regrets ever getting into aviation. All the charges were dropped.
And the whole idea of being treated this way, that remembering that Bill Boeing was. Uh the epitome of a gentleman. that his word was was everything. He was honest, a man of integrity, open and fair business. These are the things that he believed in.
And to have that questioned. Was an affront to him. It affected him deeply, and he sold his interest. and moved on to private life. Uh William Boeing, who founded the Boeing Airplane Company 18 years prior to the investigation and then turned it into a booming business.
resigns as chairman and sells his stock. He spends most of his time with his wife on their yacht, the Taconite. He serves as an advisor to the Boeing Airplane Company during World War II. and is on hand again in 1954 for the rollout of the Boeing 707. Boeing Airplane Company's first jet and their first commercially successful jet airliner.
Then on September 1956, just two days before William Boeing's 75th birthday, Time stands still on board the Taconite. Here's the current owner of the Taconite. Gordon Levitt. I'm reviewing here the pilot house log. Of the yacht, and I'm looking at September the 28th, 1956.
With sincere regret, I record the death of the owner, mister William E. Bowing, at thirteen oh eight, from acute thrombosis. Signed Perth McIntyre, Master. William E. Boeing established a company that remains iconic in American industry.
With $96 billion in sales, Boeing has customers in more than 150 countries. and operations in 49 states that employ over 156,000 Americans. And a terrific job on the production, editing, storytelling, and scripting by our own Greg Hengler. And what a story you just heard. What Boeing does is, well, he writes a check, $390,000 of his own money to keep his company alive.
And they're selling furniture, doing anything they need to do to get through tough times and get to that next opportunity, which of course was the post office bid, which transformed the company. And thus was founded Boeing Air Transport, which would become United Airlines. And my goodness, that rule that mail comes first, but the passengers are the profit.
Well, that was the ruling formula that made Boeing Boeing. And then came the politicians. The Great Depression came, somebody had to be blamed, and so Boeing was that man. Boeing would go on to sell the interests in his firm, resign as chairman, and sell all the stock. But he would advise Boeing during World War II and during their rollout of their 707, the world's first commercial passenger jet.
the story of William Boeing, in the end the story of modern aviation. Here on Our American Stories. When I damaged my car, I was worried it could be a long process to take care of, like a landscaper's first day trimming a hedge maze. I've definitely already been here. But the Geico app let me file a claim in under two minutes.
It feels good to get help quick. It feels good to Geico. Saturday, August 22nd in Tampa, witnessing MMA Legends final fight. Chris Cyborg, one of the greatest in history. She's an absolute pioneer in the sport.
Defends her PFL world title. One last time. Unforgettable and got you, Mario. My unforgettable career. Saturday, August 22nd, live from Benchmark International Arena.
For tickets, visit pfl.info/slash tampa. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter.
Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at let's getreal about skincancer.com. Ice Cube's big three season has come down to this. The big three championship is coming to Charlotte, who will be crowned the big three season nine champion. Plus the big three all-star game, the biggest names in the game, all on one court, one more time.
Two games of the most physical, competitive, and non-stop three-on-three action. The gameplay the way you love. Watch live Saturday on CBS at 1 p.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific, and catch replays Monday on BET.
Presented by iHeart. Yeah.
