posted 07-10-2003 12:29 PM               

The book details the stories of the companies that today make up The Boeing Company -- Boeing, Douglas, McDonnell, North American Aviation, and Hughes Space & Communications -- beginning with the birth of the company in 1916, just 13 years after the Wright brothers' first flight, and continuing through nine decades of innovation in commercial, defense and space flight. Nearly 300 pages of exhaustively researched text and rare archival photographs tell the remarkable saga of the people and products that built a company that is still exploring new frontiers.

Written by renowned aviation author Bill Yenne, "The Story of The Boeing Company" contains many never-before-seen photographs from company archives. The story of Boeing mirrors the story of flight, and the company has been responsible for a Who's Who of aviation achievements, including the Boeing B-17, B-29, 707 and 747; the Douglas World Cruisers and DC-3; the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II; the North American P-51; and the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo spacecraft.

Yenne is a San Francisco-based author of more than three dozen books on aviation and other historical topics. He previously authored highly regarded histories of Boeing, North American and McDonnell Douglas.

"The Story of The Boeing Company" was produced and published by AGS BookWorks, a division of American Graphic Systems, Inc., San Francisco, and is distributed exclusively by Boeing Stores, Inc. The 11- by 11-inch, 288-page hardbound book contains more than 300 photographs and illustrations. The book (ISBN 0-9727382-2-3) retails for $45.00 and is available from the Boeing Store; visit the web site at http://www.boeingstore.com for store locations or online ordering.