David Williams - The William E. Boeing Story: A Gift of Flight

In this episode of A Book with Legs, hosts Cole Smead, CEO and Portfolio Manager, and Bill Smead, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer at Smead Capital Management, sit down with author David Williams to discuss his book, “The William E. Boeing Story: A Gift of Flight.”

The conversation traces Bill Boeing’s path from a wealthy heir working timberland in Hoquiam, Washington, to founding both Boeing and United Airlines almost by accident, chasing a hobby with no clear business model at the time. Along the way: a prohibition-era wiretapping scandal that helped shape modern privacy law, a government breakup of his company in the 1930s that was reversed within a decade when Roosevelt needed thousands of bombers built for WWII, and the origin story of the modern flight attendant through Ellen Church, a woman who was told no when she asked to be a pilot and created an entirely new profession instead.

David is a former executive director of the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum near Seattle and has written 10 books on motorsports and aviation. For this project, the Boeing family gave him unprecedented access to their private archives, thousands of never-before-seen photos, diaries, and personal letters, making this the first full-length biography of the father of commercial aviation.

“The William E. Boeing Story: A Gift of Flight,” is available now on https://www.hydromuseumstore.org/books-and-magazines/

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