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The Boeing Company

A giant American maker of passenger jets and military hardware, Boeing builds the familiar 737, 767, 777, and 787 airliners flown by airlines worldwide, plus fighter jets, weapons, satellites, and maintenance services for governments and carriers. It began in 1916 when Seattle lumberman William Boeing, tired of waiting months for a seaplane part, built his own plane in a boathouse with a Navy engineer, naming the company Pacific Aero Products before renaming it after himself a year later. Their first aircraft, the "B&W" seaplane, was named for the founders' initials.