A Boeing Century

The Boeing Company turned 100 years old.  My son got a nice plaque from them, since he works as a machinist for them ... don't ask me, I have no idea how someone so math challenged can machine anything!

So, they threw a big wing-ding over the weekend - and rolled out one of everything they have ever built!  (- almost, their flying boat continues to be a wreck search in process!)  And I love the concept of flight!  Whether it be motorized kites or rockets - they all draw my attention and thought!

But, the highlight for me was the World War II fighting aircraft.  Why?  Because they are so stinking SMALL!  I can not even imagine sitting in something so small, so slow, so un-manueverable, such an each target!  It is amazing anyone survived the war in things like this!  (I should note that the pictured P-51 was about as good as old technology aircraft got!)

And then think of flying one of these windup toys, dropping an atomic bomb and then trying to outrun the blast zone!  I shudder to think.  I know I am not that brave, I know that when the chips are down - I have stepped up to the plate, but ... I am awed by the quality of the men whom came before me in the prior generation!

And Boeing is one hundred years old ... given the quality of their product, I suspect they will last another 100 - but only if bean counters can be stifled, otherwise like most once great companies it will fade into the past, a victim of its management's greed.