Airbus and Boeing: a rivalry began 40 years ago, when one was David and the other Goliath (Part 1)

Forty years ago, the world was abuzz over the Boeing 747 and the BAC-Aerospatiale Concorde both whom had just made their first flights just a few months before. Within months of the 1969 Paris Air show the European aerospace companies created Airbus Industries which would take on the industry leaders of the day Boeing, Lockheed, and McDonnell Douglas. Today Airbus and Boeing are the two survivors battling it out in an intense global duopoly.

In 1969 was clearly for Boeing. Its 747 Jumbo Jet reigned for more than 36 years as the Queen of the skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide body ever produced. The latest version of the aircraft, the 747-8, is in production and scheduled to enter service in 2010 but the project is highly delayed.

France and Germany, the founders of the consortium, were later joined by Spain and the United Kingdom set up the Airbus Industries consortium in 1970 and launched their first plane, the A300. The first twin engine wide-body aircraft, the A300 entered service in 1974 with Air France. The A300 was the first airliner to use just-in-time manufacturing techniques. Complete aircraft sections were manufactured by consortium partners all over Europe. These were airlifted to the final assembly line at Toulouse-Blagnac. Incidentally, today Boeing uses the same technique, ferrying the wings and other parts of the 787 Dreamliner from production facilities in the far east.

To counter the Airbus A300 and Boeing launched development of its twin-engine wide-body the 767 in 1978 which entered service in 1982. The 767 was conceived and designed in tandem with the narrow-body Boeing 757 twin-engine jet with both aircraft sharing common design features and flight decks. The 767 was followed the A300 cockpit and became the first Boeing wide-body airliner to enter service with a two-person crew flight deck, eliminating the need for a flight engineer. The first 767 entered service in 1982. Though orders started tapering off in the 1990s, updated versions of the plane are still in production, including the 767-400ER (extended range) model. American Airlines has outfitted many of its 767s with the Aviation Partners winglets in a bid to improve the fuel efficiency. There have been over 1,000 767s ordered with over 900 delivered as of 2009. The -300/-300ER models are the most popular variants, accounting for approximately two-thirds of all 767s ordered. As of 2009, Delta Air Lines operates the largest 767 fleet of any airline.

Airbus next widened its product offering and offered a replacement for the venerable Boeing 727 three-engine jet, the most popular aircraft at the time. At the same time the A320 also targeted Boeing's best seller the narrow-body 737. After the oil price shocks of the late 1970s, the new Airbus would be of the same size, yet offer vastly improved operating economics and significantly quieter engines. The digital technology in the A320 would herald a two generation technological leap over the all-analogue Boeing 727 and a generation ahead of the hybrid Boeing 737-300/-400/-500 series. The new Airbus was also wider than the 737s by almost eight inches providing passengers that crucial extra inch of shoulder space in the same six abreast seating layout. In 1984 Airbus launched the A320 and again Air France was the launch customer, The airliner became the best selling aircraft for Airbus, who quickly developed two shorter and smaller versions, the A319 and A318, and the longer and larger A321. The Boeing 737 is the best selling commercial airliner of all time, with the 6,000th aircraft being delivered very recently. 

Goaded by the runaway success of the modern Airbus A320 Boeing initiated development of an updated series of 737, now called the 737 Classic, with the 737 Next Generation or Next Gen (737NG) program encompassing the -600, -700, -800 and -900 was announced on November 17, 1993. The first NG, the 2,843rd 737 built, to roll out was a -700, on December 8, 1996. The 737NG is essentially a new aircraft retaining important commonality from previous 737 models. The wing area is increased by 25% and span by 16 ft (4.9 m), which increased the total fuel capacity by 30%. Coupled with the new, quieter, fuel-efficient CFM56-7B engines range is increased by 900 NM. Boeing also bridged the generational gap with the A320 bringing in the full "glass cockpit" with six LCD screens and modern avionics. The passenger experience was also spruced up with improvements similar to those on the Boeing 777, featuring more curved surfaces and larger overhead bins. To compete with the A321 on April 27, 2007, Boeing delivered the first of the newest 737 variant, the 737-900ER, to launch customer Lion Air. Seating capacity is increased to 180 passengers in a 2-class configuration or 215 passengers in a single-class layout. Additional fuel capacity and standard winglets improve range to that of other 737NG variants.

Following the success of the A320, Airbus next introduced the four engined A340 and twin-engine A330 mid-sized aircraft in 1987. While the A340 was designed to compete in the long distance over-water intercontinental routes, Airbus intended the A330 to compete directly in the ETOPS (Extended-range Twin-engine Operation Performance Standards) market, the Boeing 767, but airlines purchased it to replace the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 since the A330 is 38% more fuel efficient.

The A330's fuselage and wings are virtually identical to the A340 thus offering a common rating for both aircraft a'laing 767/757. Both the A340 and A330 borrow heavily from the A320 fly-by-wire and flightdeck, thus offering airlines the ability to move pilots between the narrow and wide-bodies with minimal training, again like the Boeing 767/757. But the A340 was not as successful the A330 was.

Boeing responded the best way it could; by introducing the world's largest twin-engined jet the 777, commonly referred to as the "Triple Seven" The 777 can carry between 283 and 368 passengers in a three-class configuration and has a range from 5,235 to 9,380 nautical miles (9,695 to 17,372 km). Designed to bridge the capacity difference between the 767 and 747, the original 777-200 model first entered service in 1995 with United Airlines, and was stretched by 33.3 ft (10.1 m) as the 777-300 introduced in 1998. The 777-300ER (Extended Range) and 777-200LR (Long Range) variants entered service in 2004 and 2006, respectively, while a freighter version, the 777F, first flew in 2008. It's ease of use, passenger comfort, and operating economics have made it a favourite of airlines, and the 777 has blow the bottom out of the Airbus A340.

WILLIAM BOEING & DONALD DOUGLAS: AERONAUTICAL PIONEERS

The history of The Boeing Company and the Douglas Aircraft Company is, in essence, the history of commercial aviation.

The year was 1915  America had not yet entered World War I, Prohibition was still four years away, and a significant but unremarked event was taking place in suburban Los Angeles:

William Boeing journeyed from Seattle for flight instruction at the Glenn Martin flying school, and Donald Douglas arrived from the East to join the Martin Company as chief aeronautical engineer.

Within five years, the two men had formed their own companies and were soon competing head-to-head in one of the most significant business rivalries of the 20th century. 

Boeing Company and the Douglas Aircraft Company is, in essence, the history of commercial aviation. The two companies led America and the world in airplane development, challenging each other decade by decade, and marking the progress of flight from open-cockpit biplanes to jumbo jets. The uniquely American spirit evinced by the two companies -- a sense of imagination and daring combined with Yankee ingenuity.

William Edward Boeing, born in 1881 and christened "Wilhelm," was one of three children, the son of an educated German immigrant. Little is known of William Boeing's early life apart from the fact that he was just eight when his father died, that he was sent to Switzerland for part of his education, and that at some point he anglicized his first name and asked friends to call him "Bill." He entered Yale University to study engineering but left one year short of graduation in 1903, bound for the Pacific Northwest.

Boeing established himself in Grays Harbor and began trading and selling timber lands on the Washington coast. Like his father before him, he swiftly made his fortune in this enterprise. In 1910, he traveled to Los Angeles to witness the first American air meet, featuring the French ace Louis Paulhan. Fascinated, Boeing tried to obtain a ride in one of the planes, but circumstances prevented it.

By 1914, he was quartered in Seattle, where he frequented the University Club, smoking cigars and discussing the issues of the day. There he met Conrad Westervelt, a Naval engineer with a strong interest in aviation who was temporarily assigned in the Northwest.

According to an interview with its founder, The Boeing Company began as a holiday lark on a hot Fourth of July morning in 1914. Boeing and Westervelt celebrated Independence Day by purchasing rides in a seaplane flown by a barnstorming pilot off Lake Washington. Flying machines were still a novelty in 1914, and their design had advanced very little from the box kite prototype the Wright brothers had launched from Kitty Hawk 11 years earlier.

Bill Boeing went first -- exchanging his rimless eyeglasses for a set of goggles and taking his position beside the pilot. The two sat on the front edge of the lower wing, in front of a backward-facing pusher propeller. Boeing braced his feet against the footrests, his hands gripping the edge of the wing. There were no seat belts.

The pilot revved the engine, the frail craft raced across Lake Washington -- then lifted off into the air. Boeing was absolutely thrilled by the experience. The plane touched down, he exchanged places with Westervelt, then immediately went back up again when Westervelt landed. The two men spent the rest of the day repeating the experience. Between flights, they closely examined the construction of the rickety airplane. By mid-afternoon, they were already planning how to design a better craft.

A reserved man with a strong sense of privacy, Boeing was nonetheless possessed of great foresight and daring, and believed utterly in the future of aviation. In 1916, when the company's first test flight was scheduled and the pilot was inexplicably late, Boeing climbed into the cockpit and took the plane up himself -- explaining later that he "did not want to endanger anyone else." When a glut of ex-military planes forced a slump in the market following the close of World War I, he depleted his personal fortune to keep Boeing workers employed.

The Boeing Company was parted from its founder in 1934, when the Roosevelt administration dictated the divestiture of aircraft companies and airline carriers. But the company retained his stamp -- daring to make great leaps forward when it introduced jetliners in the 1950s and becoming a pillar of American technological leadership in the process.

Donald Wills Douglas, born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1892, was the younger son of William and Dorothy Hagen-Locher Douglas. As a young man, his interests centered on writing verse poetry, ocean sailing, and the new science of aviation.

In 1908, only five years after Kitty Hawk, Wilbur and Orville Wright announced the trial demonstration of a flying machine built to the U.S. Army's specification at Fort Meyers, Virginia. Captivated by the news, the 16-year-old Douglas persuaded his mother to accompany him to Virginia to witness the trials. This event appears to have cemented his desire to become involved in aviation.

A banker by profession, however, William Douglas insisted on a rigid, formal education for both his sons. Accordingly, Douglas enrolled in the Naval Academy in 1909, following his brother, Harold, who was already a sophomore. The younger Douglas spent much of his free time building airplane models powered by rubber-banded propellers. In one instance, he attempted to build a rocket-powered model -- the resulting smoke causing a panic when he launched it from the window of his room.

After three years at Annapolis, Douglas resigned as a midshipman, seeking to continue his studies at an institution with a greater emphasis on aero-nautical engineering. He enrolled at MIT, finishing the four-year mechanical engineering course in two years and graduating in 1914. He remained at MIT the following year as an assistant in aeronautical engineering, working on wind tunnel design and consulting on a dirigible for the U.S. Navy.

In August 1915, at the recommendation of his instructors at MIT, Douglas accepted the position of chief engineer for the Glenn L. Martin Company in Los Angeles. He was 23 years of age.

In 1916, Douglas accepted a position with the War Department as the head of the Aeronautical Branch of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. By 1920, he had established his own company. In 1924, the U.S. Army Aviation Service mounted the first around-the-world flight, commissioning Douglas biplanes for the journey. Upon the successful completion of this feat, Douglas united his Scottish family crest -- the winged heart -- with a globe-encircling design to form the Douglas Aircraft Company logo.

A man of many interests, Donald Douglas won the silver medal in sailing (six-meter class) at the 1932 Olympics. It was his passion for flight that burned the brightest, though; he led his company by example, inspiring all who worked with him. 

Women in the sky.

Women have been impacting the history of aviation since the first hot air balloon crested the horizon, yet their accomplishments have gained little recognition in the memories of people worldwide. 

Throughout history, women have routinely faced obstacles along the road to aviation success. Since the first woman tried to go up in the first aircraft built, women aviators have been looked upon as a novelty at best, inferior at worst. Nevertheless, women viewed this male-dominated field with a sense of  adventure and a willingness to rise to the challenge. The generalized lack of familiarity of aviation career opportunities remains the single most prominent barrier to diversifying the aviation workforce today. But that¹s not to say women haven't faced other problems throughout their struggle to be seen as successful aviators.

The opinion that great muscular strength was a necessity to fly an airplane has long since been dispelled. Women during World War II met this challenge with ingenuity, and it was later found that during emergency situations, the burst of adrenaline women experienced allowed them to do whatever was necessary, regardless of strength or size.

Another problem women faced was a lack of money. In 1940, women¹s incomes averaged $850 a year and it cost $750 for a pilot¹s license. In general, for a wife taking flying lessons in 1940, the husband would have had to relinquish half of his annual salary. The economic factor continues to be an obstacle - the cost of tools and lessons has discouraged many women from attempting to pursue their dreams. Nevertheless, despite these obstacles, women have challenged the field of aviation to accept them and watch them succeed. Succeed they have, and succeed they will continue to do!

Today, women pilots fly for the airlines, fly in the military and in space, fly air races, command helicopter mercy flights, haul freight, stock high mountain lakes with fish, seed clouds, patrol pipelines, teach students to fly, maintain jet engines, and transport corporate officers.

Amelia Earhart

If we think who is the most important woman pilot we think of Amelia Earhart, but not everyone knows that Women have made a significant contribution to aviation since the Wright Brothers' first 12-second flight in 1903. Blanche Scott was the first women pilot, in 1910, when the plane that she was allowed to taxi mysteriously became airborne. In 1911, Harriet Quimby became the first licensed woman pilot. And later in 1912, Harriet became the first women to fly across the English Channel.

Bessie Coleman became the first African-American woman pilot in 1921. Because of the discrimination in the United States towards women as pilots, Bessie moved to France and learned to fly at the most famous flight school in France, the Ecole d'Aviation de Freres Caudron. Bessie returned to the United States and pursed a barnstorming career until 1926.

Blanche Scott

Katherine Chngeu, in 1931 in Los Angeles, CA was the first woman of Chinese ancestry to earn a license. Anne Morrow Lindbergh, wife of Charles Lindbergh, was the first U.S. woman glider pilot and first woman recipient of the National Geographic Society's Hubbad Award. And, Phoebe Fairgrave Omelie was the first woman transport pilot. Phoebe, considered to be one of America's top women pilots in the 1920s and 1930s, developed a program for training women flight instructors and was appointed as Special Assistant for Air Intelligence of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (the forerunner of the NASA), and was active in the National Air Marking and Mapping program to paint airport identification symbols on airports or nearby buildings.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Willa Brown was the first African-American commercial pilot and first African-American woman officer in the Civil Air Patrol. In her hometown of Chicago, IL, she taught aviation courses in high schools and founded a flight school at Harlem Airport. In 1939, Willa helped form the National Airmen's Association of America whose purpose was to get African-Americans into the U.S. Armed Forces as aviation cadets. Willa also was the coordinator of war-training service for the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA), and more importantly, was the director of the Coffey School of Aeronautics. The school was selected by the Army and CAA to "conduct the experiments" that resulted in the admission of African-Americans into the Army Air Forces. Later, Coffey became a feeder school for the Army Air Forces' program for African-American aviators at Tuskegee Institute.

Most women who learned to fly during World War II, got instruction through the CAA's Civil Pilot Training Program. More than 935 women gained their licenses by in 1941 with 43 serving as CAA-qualified instructors. Mills College in Oakland, CA was one of the participating training colleges for women.

As World War II progressed, women were able to break into many aspects of the aviation world. They served as ferry and test pilots, mechanics, flight controllers, instructors, and aircraft production line workers. At the beginning of 1943, 31.3 percent of the aviation work force were women. World War II was very beneficial to the movement of women into aviation fields. The history of aviation during these years is immense.

 Nancy Harkness Love

The Women's Auxiliary Ferry Squadron (WAFS), founded by Nancy Harkness Love, and the Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD), founded by Jacqueline Cochran, were fused together by President Roosevelt to become the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). The new organization was a vital part of the history of women in military aviation. Although these women were civilians and outnumbered by women in the regular military service of World War II, their experiences present a paradigm for the service of WWII military women. 

The years since World War II have brought down many more barriers for women pilots and records continue to be broken. Jackie Cochran went on to be the first woman pilot to break the sound barrier, with Chuck Yeager acting as her chase pilot, on May 20, 1953.

Geraldine Cobb

Women got their first step closer to space in 1959, when Geraldine Cobb, a talented young pilot, became the first woman to undergo the Mercury astronaut physiological tests. "Jerrie" was 28 years old, had 7,000 hours of flight time, and held three world records. Cobb successfully completed all three stages of the physical and psychological tests that were used to select the original seven Mercury astronauts. Although thirteen women finished this first round of testing, NASA refused to authorize the completion of the tests for fear that such action might be taken as approval of female astronauts.

Valentina Tereshkova

Not even the Soviet Union's launch of Valentina Tereshkova into space in 1963, nor the 1964 Civil Rights Act broke ground for women in space. It was not until June 17, 1983, that Dr. Sally Kristen Ride, NASA astronaut and a South Central Section 99, made history as the first U.S. woman in space, serving as a specialist for STS-7 on the six-day flight of the orbiter Challenger. In 1995, the first woman pilot in the U.S. Space Shuttle program was Lt. Col. Eileen Marie Collins.

 Lt. Col. Eileen Marie Collins

there have been other women pilot less known but that have achieved a lot of important succes for their career, and their life.

People become pilots for the same reasons. First, they love flying, and they love using their talents and being respected for them. And mostly, they love the feeling of belonging to this strong family called aviation, and women have earned the right to belong to this family.