Boeing history chronology

PRE-1910 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010–
1985 Hughes Helicopters, now a subsidiary of McDonnell Douglas, is first renamed McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Co. and
later McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems.
Feb. 25:
March:
June 29:
Nov. 22:
Dec. 31:
Frank Shrontz is elected president of The Boeing Company.
Boeing begins preliminary designs for the International Space Station.
The first Rockwell (North American) B-1B is delivered to Strategic Air Command (SAC) at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas.
The first McDonnell Douglas EF-18 for the Spanish Air Force is delivered.
Air Force awards McDonnell Douglas a contract for full-scale development of the C-17.
1986 McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems formally opens the company’s new 1.9 million-square-foot headquarters in
Mesa, Ariz. The company announces it will relocate major ordnance program operations and test range to Mesa by
late 1987 and will relocate light helicopter assembly operations from California to Arizona in the first quarter of 1988.
An OH-6A, equipped with the NOTAR system, the first conventional rotorcraft to fly without a tail rotor, successfully
completes an advanced flight-test program, proving the system is viable for application to future helicopter designs.
Jan. 28:
Feb. 21:
March 10:
April 26:
May:
May:
Dec. 11:
Dec. 17:
The Rockwell-built Space Shuttle Challenger and its seven-member crew are lost 73 seconds after launch, when a
booster failure causes it to break up before the eyes of the world. This tragedy brings the program to a halt as the
causes of the accident are examined and re-examined.
Viking, Sweden’s first scientific satellite, is successfully launched aboard a Boeing-built platform. Viking studies the
interaction between solar winds and the Earth’s magnetosphere causing the aurora borealis.
The U.S. Navy selects the F/A-18 Hornet as the official airplane of the Blue Angels.
Frank Shrontz is elected chief executive officer by the Boeing board of directors.
Boeing and Bell Helicopter Textron start building six prototypes of the V-22 Osprey, a tiltrotor aircraft.
McDonnell Douglas delivers the 1,000th F-15 Eagle.
The McDonnell Douglas F-15E dual-role fighter version of the Eagle makes its first flight.
The 4,000th McDonnell Douglas Harpoon anti-ship missile is delivered.
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