Page 25 - Volume 15 Number 1

Boeing Aircraft Company’s Wichita division created the X-100, X-120 and X-90 monoplanes
that were state-of-the-art in their day, but whose wings were clipped by the frenetic pace of wartime combat aircraft design.
by Edward H. Phillips
The invasion of Poland by Germany in September 1939 gave the world its first glimpse of the bludgeoning power of the Nazi Blitzkreig – “lightning war.” After only 48 hours of fighting the Luftwaffe had largely succeeded in shooting the Polish air force out of the sky, while the Wehrmacht swiftly vanquished the Polish army. Hitler’s aggression, however, was quickly met by declarations of war from England and France. World War II had officially begun.
In Wichita, Kansas, few people were concerned about the growing conflict across the vast Atlantic Ocean. America, and its leader, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, held firmly to a policy of isolationism and wanted nothing to do with Europe’s war. The only threat facing Julius Schaefer as he led Boeing Aircraft Company’s Stearman Division into the final months of 1939, was how to create
more floor space to build airplanes for the United States Army Air Corps, the United States Navy and customers in Latin and South America. Only three weeks before Hitler struck Poland, the United States War Department had issued contracts worth more than $680,000 for training aircraft, along with an option for more that could drive the price upward toward $2 million.
JANUARY 2021
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 23