
On a foggy morning at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio on October 30, 1935, a flight competition was held for the top airplane manufacturers to win a tender from the U.S. Army Air Corps for the next-generation long-range bomber.
Boeing Corporation’s Model 299, a cutting edge aluminum-alloy plane that could fly faster, farther and carry five times as many bombs as the army had requested, was sure-fire to win. Nicknamed the “flying fortress”, historians stated this competition was held as a mere formality, with Boeing almost guaranteed to secure an order of at least sixty-five aircraft.








