Mukilteo Beacon - Your Hometown News Source

It started with a handshake between two men. Bill Allen, Boeing's head of production, and Juan Trippe, the president of Pan American Airways, were on a fishing trip in 1965. The agreement was to build a bigger passenger jet, much larger than the Boeing 707. "If you build it, I'll buy it," said Trippe. "If you buy it, I'll build it," Allen replied.

At the time, Boeing's passenger jets were the 707 and 727. The 707 was launched in 1957 and the 727 was launched in 1960. These were manufactured at their facilities in south Seattle. The new plant near Boeing Field in Renton was yet to be built....