On August 1, 1997, McDonnell–Douglas merged with Douglas's old rival, Boeing Aircraft, to form the world's largest aerospace company. It was one of the few aviation pioneers still in business in the twenty-first century and was one of only two major commercial aircraft manufacturers in the world in 2003. The newly combined company primarily competed with the Airbus Industrie, a European consortium, for major projects.

William Boeing, a Seattle, Washington, timber magnate and ship manufacturer, believed he could build a better plane than what he saw in 1914. At that time, he flew as a passenger in an early Curtiss Flying Boat off nearby Lake Washington. In 1916 he and a partner, Conrad Westervedt, produced the B&W floatplane. It performed well enough for them to incorporate their new business as the Pacific Aero Products Company. The company was contracted to manufacture airplanes during World War I (1914–18). It would continue...