The Age of Aerospace: Boeing sponsors TV series looking back at 100 years of high-flying history

This year marks the Boeing Co’s 100th anniversary, and the company is using the centennial as an opportunity not only to celebrate its own history, but the history of aerospace as well.

That celebration takes the TV spotlight starting tonight, in the form of “The Age of Aerospace,” a five-part documentary series that’s airing on the Science Channel on Mondays. The series, sponsored by Boeing, will be shown on Saturdays on the Discovery Channel. Eventually it’ll be available for online streaming as well.

Check your local listings and/or search engines, and check out this preview as well.

The first episode focuses on how Bill Boeing, Donald Douglas, James McDonnell and their contemporaries turned the Wright Brothers’ invention into an industry. The following two episodes delve into the role that America’s airplanes played in World War II and the rise of commercial air service.

The fourth episode expands the scope of the story to take in the space effort, the race to the moon, the space shuttle program and the future of space travel. And the finale provides an inside look at the development of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.

In addition to “The Age of Aerospace,” Boeing has put together a series of online video clips looking back at the company’s history. Boeing is sponsoring a traveling exhibition called “Above and Beyond,” which is scheduled to make its Seattle stop at the Museum of Flight in May. It has also worked out a deal with Aviation Week and Space Technology to provide free access to a magazine archive going back to 1916.

The official date of the Boeing Co.’s 100th birthday is July 15, and you can bet there’ll be even more goodies for aerospace geeks between now and then. Check out Boeing’s centennial webpage to keep track of it all.