Bob with Chuck Yeager

Bob's "Baby" - - the Boeing 737 Prototype - NASA 515

Bob  Bogash,  retired after more than 30 years with the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, spent the last 9 years of his career as  the  Director  of  Quality Assurance for the Materiel Division.  In this position, Bob was responsible for the on-time production and quality  of all the non-Boeing produced hardware and software used on Boeing commercial jetliners.  More than 3000 outside suppliers in more than 20 countries delivered more than one billion parts a year to Boeing  production lines.  Bob organized this function from a zero baseline, ultimately staffing more than 35 worldwide offices with over 330 highly skilled professionals.  This business unit required management of an annual budget of $44.5 million.  

Bob developed  an all new quality system (known as the Advanced Quality System - AQS - or Boeing document D1-9000) that resulted in reducing defective parts by more than 50% over a four year period.  This system was so successful, it was adopted by more than 20,000 companies, many not in the aerospace industry, and was taught in more than 24 colleges and universities in four countries.  It ultimately became the quality standard for the aerospace industry in the United States as AS9100.  Recognized as a quality expert, Bob has lectured widely on the subject of quality.  In his worldwide talks, he has addressed as many as 6500 business and quality professionals in a single session.  He has been visiting lecturer at many colleges and universities, including the University of Washington, State University of New York, and the Sloan School of Management at M.I.T.

Bob spent more than 13 years in Customer Support where he held Field Service assignments in numerous locations including New York, Montreal, Gander, Newfoundland, Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Honolulu.  Some of his Boeing in-plant assignments have included 737 Factory Liaison  Engineering,  Flight  Test Engineering,  Engineering  Configuration Manager  for  the 757 airplane, Renton Division  Special  Projects  Manager,  and  Marketing Manager  for  Used  Airplane  Sales.  Bob took three different new model Boeing jetliners on extensive worldwide sales tours as the Tour Director.  He played a key role in gaining approval for two  pilot  flight  decks  and  the  use  of  twin-engine jetliners for extended operations (ETOPS.)  Immediately prior to  his final assignment,  he  was  Director of Technical  Quality  Assurance  for all of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, where he helped begin the transition of Boeing into a continually improving Total Quality system.    

Bob  graduated  from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a B.S.M.E., and is a licensed fixed wing pilot and flight engineer.  Long active  in  the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Bob was honored in September 1997 by being elected as an Associate Fellow.   He was nominated for this recognition by Alan Mulally, then President of Boeing's Commercial Airplane Group (subsequently famous as CEO of Ford Motor Co.).   He is also a Full Member of the International  Society of Air Safety Investigators.   His nominators for membership were Jerry Lederer, "Father of Aviation Safety" and John Purvis, long-time chief of Boeing's Air Safety Investigation.  Bob has participated actively in numerous aircraft accident investigations.  He continues his professional activities consulting with numerous aerospace companies.  

Bob has been an active Volunteer at the Museum of Flight in Seattle since its beginnings in 1965.  He has been both Chairman and Member of the Aircraft Acquisition Subcommittee of the Museum for many years, and has managed numerous major projects for the institution.  Important aircraft Bob was able to obtain for the Museum include the Number One 727 and 747 airplanes, a de Havilland Comet 4C, a NASA Lockheed F-104, a USAF Boeing B-52 bomber, and a US Navy Douglas A-4 Skyhawk flown by the Blue Angels.  Bob is extremely proud of his acquisition, in November 2003, of the British Airways Concorde G-BOAG, after a 19 year effort.  Bob has participated in the restoration of numerous historical aircraft including the Museum's B-17, N17W, and the Confederate Air Force's B-29 "Fi Fi".  Since retirement, Bob has become even more active in restoration and maintenance of many of the Museum's airplanes. Bob was responsible for restoring the Number One 727 (in Everett, Washington) to flying condition - the airplane was successfully flown to Boeing Field in Seattle on 2 March 2016 after sitting for 25 years; and restored and maintained the Number One 737 airplane in an airworthy condition for 6 years at Moses Lake, Washington, until it too was successfully flown to the Seattle Boeing Field Museum location on 21 Sept 2003. [ 4-part video series here.]

In February 2004, Bob (very reluctantly) accepted the position of then Airpark Manager (another volunteer job!) responsible for the care and maintenance of the Museum's collection of large transport airplanes, including the first 737, first 747, an American Airlines 727-200, the first jet Air Force One (a Boeing 707,) and the British Airways Concorde.  See Volunteer Page for detailed airplane descriptions.  The Air Park has since been superceded by a huge new building - the Aviation Pavilion - placing the Museum's collection of large airplanes under cover at last.   He is an active member of the Experimental Aircraft Association and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

From 2005 to 2010, Bob guided the acquisition of a Lockheed Super G Constellation, first in Toronto, later in restoration at Rome, New York, and currently on display at the Museum.  Details here.

Beginning in 2006, Bob started hunting for a Lockheed Model 10 Electra, from 1934 - Kelly Johnson's first airplane design, to bookend with his last - the SR-21 Blackbird.  (Bob is a big Kelly Johnson fan, and has been instrumental in bringing eight of Kelly's best designs to the Museum.) The airplane he found was a Model 10E  identical to the airplane in which Amelia Earhart disappeared in 1937 - right down to having flown around the world replicating her famous flight.  This airplane arrived at the Museum in September 2013.  The complete story of its acquisition and move to the Museum can be found here.

He's also on the hunt for a Douglas DC-4, and, most ambitious of all, a Boeing Model 314 Clipper - see here.

On Bob's front burner for several years  was building, certifying, and then flying of his own airplane - a Vans Model RV-12.  The building was one of his greatest challenges, and the First Flight, on 3 April 2013,  one of the most exciting days of his  life.  In the last 4 years, he has flown the airplane extensively for his Museum activities, accruing about 1000 flights.   All of the details of the build, test, and subsequent flying adventures can be found here.

After 28 years on a farm in Western Washington, where he and his  wife  Dot raised Suffolk sheep and Belgian draft horses for many years,  Bob and Dot moved to their waterfront house on Puget Sound which he continues to remodel as a retirement home.  He is a diligent photographer, genealogist and an avid amateur radio operator. ( W7DDD )

Click here for a You-Tube TV show on Bob's Activities

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Last revised  19 Apr 2006
                  29 Jul 2006
                  17 Dec 2007
                  15 Jul 2008
                  19  Apr 2010
                  29 Oct 2010
                  15 Jun 2014
                  16  Apr 2016
                   3 Mar 2017