Boeing's Former CEO `T' Wilson Dies At 78

SEATTLE - Thornton Arnold "T" Wilson, Boeing's former chairman and chief executive officer responsible for producing the 747 jetliner, died in his sleep early Saturday morning at his home in Palm Springs, Calif., according to friends and Boeing officials. He was 78.

Mr. Wilson became company president in 1968 and chief executive officer a year later. He became chairman in 1972. He retired in 1986.

Under his leadership, Boeing also developed and produced the 757 and 767 jetliners. He also consolidated Boeing's business and helped establish the company as the leading supplier of commercial jetliners.

Mr. Wilson joined Boeing in 1943 after graduating from Iowa State University with a degree in aeronautical engineering. He joined a team of engineers designing a radically new swept-wing for the B-47 bomber and went on to become project engineer for the B-52 bomber program.

He also headed the Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile

program.