American timber salesperson, William E. Boeing, partnered with a US Navy Engineer named George Conrad Westervelt in 1916 and founded the Pacific Aero Products Co. The company’s first plane was the Boeing Model 1. In 1917, the name was changed to Boeing Airplane Company and it was successful at obtaining orders from the U.S. Navy for 50 planes.

After the end of the First World War, Boeing began to concentrate on building commercial aircrafts.