Donald Wills Douglas Sr.

For other people named Donald Douglas, see Donald Douglas (disambiguation).

Donald Willis Douglas Sr.
Douglas in 1935
Born(1892-04-06)April 6, 1892[1]
Brooklyn, New York
DiedFebruary 1, 1981(1981-02-01) (aged 88)
Palm Springs, California
NationalityAmerican
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology (B.S., Aeronautical Engineering, 1914)
Known forDouglas Aircraft Company

Donald Wills Douglas Sr. (April 6, 1892 – February 1, 1981) was an American aircraft industrialist and engineer.

An aviation pioneer, he designed and built the Douglas Cloudster. Though it failed in its intended purpose—being the first to fly non-stop across the United States—it became the first airplane with a payload greater than its own weight.[2][3][4][5]

He founded the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1921 (the company later merged with McDonnell Aircraft to form McDonnell Douglas Corporation, and which is now his then arch-rival's aircraft company following the latter's merger in 1997). Under his leadership, the company became one of the leaders of the commercial aircraft industry, engaging in a decades-long struggle for supremacy with arch-rival William Boeing and his eponymous enterprise. Douglas gained the upper hand, particularly with his revolutionary and highly successful Douglas DC-3 airliner and its equally popular World War II military transport version, the C-47; at the start of the war, his airplanes made up 80% of all commercial aircraft in service.[6] However, he lagged behind in the jet age and was overtaken and surpassed by Boeing. He retired in 1957.[7]

  1. ^ Francillon, 1988. p. 2.
  2. ^ "Donald Douglas". PBS. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
  3. ^ Herman, Arthur. Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II, pp. 202–3, Random House, New York, NY, 2012.
  4. ^ Parker, Dana T. Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II, pp. 7–14, Cypress, CA, 2013.
  5. ^ Borth, Christy. Masters of Mass Production, pp. 244, Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, IN, 1945.
  6. ^ Ralph Vartabedian (October 25, 1999). "A 40-Year-Long Dogfight for Aircraft Supremacy". Los Angeles Times.
  7. ^ Parker, Dana T. Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II, pp. 13–48, Cypress, CA, 2013.