AVIATION,GOVERNMENT: Boeing Needs 9,000 Men

AVIATION

In September 1939, burly, tireless Philip Gustav Johnson became president of Boeing Airplane for the second time in his life. His first term ended in 1934, when Boeing was part of United Aircraft, and Johnson, as United president, became a scapegoat in the U.S. Government's abortive 1934 airmail contract cancellation. When Boeing recalled him from Canadian exile five years later, the company was suffering from two interrelated problems: 1) sales were small, its profit & loss statement soaked in red ink; 2) production was painstakingly perfectionist and inefficient.

Boeing's worst feature was...

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