When Boeing had asked us to develop an engine for their 747, we declined. Now that we had the resources and the engine to do the job in our CF6-50, Pratt & Whitney had captured the initial market. Unfortunately for them, the problems they were having with their engine were not winning them many friends at the airlines. Potential new customers for the 747 were asking Boeing if they could have the airplane with GE or Rolls-Royce engines. Boeing's response was that, while that was possible, it would mean recertifying the airplane with the new engine combination an extremely costly and time-consuming proposition. No one wanted to bear that cost for a small order, and there were no large-volume orders on the horizon that might be able to make that cost acceptable.

T. Wilson, the new chairman of Boeing, and Jack Parker from GE met and talked about it. They decided that each company would put up half the money toward retrofitting a 747 with GE engines and certifying the airplane. The 50,000 lb of thrust of GE's CF6-50 would be 8000 10,000 lb more than Pratt & Whitney's engine, significantly increasing the 747's capacity. So we put four engines on the airplane, and it really performed well. We expected that we might sell about 25 aircraft in this configuration, but we still did not have a customer.

Fortunately for us, the U.S. government wanted to replace Air Force One, the president's aging 707 executive jet, with a...