Everett Daily Herald, August 09, 2015

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Improv concerts coming to a street near you D1 SUNDAY, 08.09.2015

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Ferries leader setting course Lynne Griffith has brought a renewed sense of mission and direction to the agency, but challenges lie ahead. By Jerry Cornfield Herald Writer

OLYMPIA — Lynne Griffith had no designs on running Washington State Ferries. Now, the 65-year-old Tacoma resident can’t imagine leaving. “I’m having a ball,” she said this week as she reflected on 11 months at the helm of the fleet of vessels that is one of the state’s most recognized icons. “It is a wonderful, fascinating transportation mode. Lynne Griffith This is the most fun I’ve had in a long time.” And her impassioned leadership is lifting the spirits of Washington State Ferries’ employees beaten down by years of internal conflict and stinging public rebukes. See FERRIES, Page A7

MAN IN SPANDEX

PHOTO BY GUY LONGSHORE / U.S. ARMY AIR CORPS, COURTESY NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM ARCHIVES

Dozens of Boeing B-29 Superfortresses wait to refuel on Iwo Jima en route to their base on Saipan following a bombing raid. The B-29 was, in many ways, the most advanced plane of World War II. Boeing continued to build B-29s and variations after the war, which kept the company busy while it transitioned to the jet age.

THE WAR THAT

MADE BOEING

Thanks to wartime expertise, the airplane maker was able to fuel a strong push into commercial markets as WWII ended 70 years ago

W

orld War II ended nearly 70 years ago after two Boeing bombers dropped, on separate days, two atomic bombs that devastated two Japanese cities — Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Boeing’s bombers had already become icons of the war. But despite the company’s prominent role in American war efforts, its future was far from certain when the shooting ended. Before the war was even over, Boeing considered making cars and washing machines to augment its airplane business. Ultimately, Boeing’s wartime experiences were key to its dominance in the jet age. The war brought the company

By Dan Catchpole Herald Writer

newfound regional significance and political clout, fostered a company culture capable of weathering postwar ups and downs, and helped Boeing’s technical expertise leapfrog ahead. Before the war, Boeing largely had been pushed out of the commercial market by Douglas Aircraft. In 1939, 90 percent of the world’s commercial air traffic was flown on Douglas aircraft, according to the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission. Boeing tried to elbow its way back into the market with its 307 Stratoliner, the first commercial airliner with a

pressurized passenger cabin. The plane was a flop. First delivered in 1940, Boeing sold 10 of the aircraft. Instead, Boeing depended on military contracts. It faced fierce competition from Douglas, Lockheed, North American Aviation, Vought and Consolidated Aircraft, among other airplane makers. Like others, it rapidly expanded during the war. It ramped up production. In 1942, Boeing made 60 planes a month. In March 1944, it churned out 362 planes. “They put them out really fast,” former Boeing worker Hildred Piel told The Daily Herald in a 2007 interview. She was one of the thousands of See BOEING, Page A6

A month-long adventure in Finland, from the seat of a bike. Sports, C1

HIGH COUNTRY

PHOTO COURTESY EVERETT PUBLIC LIBRARY

Dear Abby. . . .D6 Horoscope . . .D6

Lottery . . . . . .A2 Movies . . . . . .D5

NW Wine . . . .D7 Obituaries. . . . B3

Success . . . . . .A9 Viewpoints . . . B7

Possibilities 76/58, C10

VOL. 115, NO. 178 © 2015 THE DAILY HERALD CO.

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42963 55555 1375040

Classified . . . . E3 Crossword . . .D6

COURTESY BOEING CO.

After touring a captured German research center, Boeing engineer George Schairer wrote a colleague in Seattle, outlining how swept wings greatly improve performance. Boeing used the breakthrough in its B-47 bomber.

SUNDAY

Rainy Lake: the best of mountain recreation, via your car. Outdoors, E1

Boeing’s North Everett Plant 682 opened in a former garage on the southwest corner of Grand and California avenues in October 1943. Workers assembled bulkheads and radio operator sections for use in Boeing B-17 bombers, as well as parts for the B-29. Like many of Boeing’s subassembly plants, it shut down as America shifted back to peacetime.

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