The History and Story Behind the Boeing Logo

In the early 20th century, there was a man named William E. Boeing. Said individual had started out in the lumber industry, where he had made his fortune before he became interested in building airplanes, which were still a new invention at the time. However, this time was not wasted, seeing as how Boeing had picked up a number of things that would prove useful for his new line of business. For example, Boeing had an excellent understanding of wood, which proved to be very important in an era when it still saw use in building airplanes. Furthermore, Boeing was based out of Seattle, which proved to be a useful source of material as well. As a result, it wasn’t long before Boeing’s business produced the B&W Seaplane, which would be the first in a series of airplanes bearing the Boeing name.

Due to this, a significant number of Boeing’s earliest airplanes were seaplanes. In fact, when World War One broke out, Boeing shipped a couple of its seaplanes to the United States Navy, which was in need of seaplanes for training purposes at the time. As it turned out, the United States Navy was impressed enough that it went on to buy 50 more seaplanes, which was a considerable number that caused Boeing to move its operations to a bigger set of facilities situated elsewhere in the state of Washington.

Unfortunately, Boeing was hit by the same problem as a lot of other airplane manufacturers in the wake of World War One, which was that a huge number of used military airplanes hit the market all at once. As a result, prices for new airplanes plummeted, which is why many airplane manufacturers either went out of business or started selling other products to make ends meet. However, while other airplane manufacturers went out of business, Boeing persevered, which is why it has managed to continue to exist into the present time.

How Has Boeing’s Logo Changed Over Time?

Initially, Boeing’s logo was the letters of its name arranged in a vertical manner while being flanked by a pair of wings. As a result, there are some people who have compared it to a winged totem pole. In fact, there are some who have outright suggested that it was based on totem poles, which is not particularly unbelievable. After all, while totem poles have often been used by people as an element of a generic Native American culture that never actually existed anywhere, they were actually a cultural practice of the Native American peoples who inhabited the northwestern coast of the continent. In other words, Boeing was situated in a region home to Native American peoples who created totem poles, meaning that it is not impossible for said peoples to have been a source of inspiration for its own logo.

Regardless, Boeing saw another upsurge in its production numbers during World War Two, when it was one of the airplane manufacturers responsible for churning out airplanes for the war effort. However, it was once again affected by the end of the war, though this time, it managed to make a smoother transition into making commercial airplanes under its new leadership. Moreover, it was under this new leadership that Boeing acquired its new logo, which happened to be a simple and straightforward statement of its name. Of course, the logo saw some minor changes over the course of its use, but for the most part, it remained what it was, which might have been simple in nature but nonetheless made the right impression on countless occasions.

It wasn’t until 1997 that Boeing picked up its current logo. What happened then was a merger between Boeing and McDonnell Douglas. As a result of said merger, the Boeing logo was combined with the McDonnell Douglas logo, which was a sphere with a ring around it. Something that resulted in the current Boeing logo that has been symbolic of one of the most prominent airplane manufacturers that can be found on the entire planet. On the whole, while the Boeing logo is much-changed from how it started out, it retains something of that same uncomplicated nature, which enables it to make its point in a simple and straightforward manner.