A concise history of Boeing and the 2027 Supersonic Transport.
During this hour-long presentation Jeffry Culver, Boeing retiree and docent at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington, will focus on The Boeing Company’s role in building aircraft first for the US Military, then for commercial use. Through determination and shear will, the company focused on innovations to become successful in both markets.
Jeff will also touch on the cancellation of the 2707 SST (the Supersonic) contract with the federal government in 1971 that led to the near financial collapse of the company as well as the history of founder William E. Boeing, and the merger between Boeing and McDonnell-Douglas.
About the Presenter:
Jeff was raised in Bellevue, and became interested in airplanes and aviation at a young age. When he was in high school, he started his work with airplanes at Bellevue Airfield, Boeing Field, and Renton Airport. He served for 6 years in the US Navy, some of it on the USS Nimitz CVN-68. While he was in the Navy he qualified as a turbine engine technician.
After the Navy, he studied economics and worked in aircraft maintenance. Then he went to work for the Army as a civilian and then as an active reservist. With the Army, he worked in maintenance for both fixed and rotary wing craft. He spent time working as a flight engineer on CH-47 Chinooks.
He also worked for Boeing for 34 years in Experimental Flight Testing, as a customer airline QA rep, and as a customer training specialist. He has experience with 737, 747, 757, 767, and 787 airframes. He semi-retired from Boeing in 2020 and then became a contract instructor for Boeing. He fully retired in June 2023.
2026 A Novel Idea Book Selection:
Supersonic charts the rise of a boomtown city in the American West where ambition outpaces memory. In the present day, PTA president Sami Hasegawa-Stalworth is determined to rename her daughter’s elementary school after her late grandmother—a beloved music teacher and Japanese internment survivor. What begins as a symbolic family gesture spirals into a kaleidoscopic, multi-generational story of struggle—for and against change, and over who gets to define the future.
Through interwoven lives—an opioid-addicted 19th-century conman, a disgraced Navy seaman building a jet that will fly faster than sound, a stay-at-home dad turned weed entrepreneur, and a family haunted by the ghosts of progress—Supersonic reveals how each era tries to remake the same ground beneath its feet. At once intimate and panoramic, the story channels the restless energy that propels the West.
About the Author:
Thomas Kohnstamm was born and raised in Seattle. He still lives in the same house he grew up in—now with his wife and two children. A freelance writer for over twenty years, he’s been a Spanish & Portuguese translator, travel writer, video & animation producer and has covered subjects ranging from rainforest conservation to quantum computing to backcountry skiing. Supersonic is his third book.
Learn more about A Novel Idea
Questions? Contact lizg@deschuteslibrary.org
AGE GROUP: | Adult |
EVENT TYPE: | Adult Program |
