McDonnell Douglas Corporation was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor. It was formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it produced well-known commercial and military aircraft, such as the DC-10 and the MD-80 airliners, the F-15 Eagle air superiority fighter, and the F/A-18 Hornet multirole fighter.
The corporation's headquarters were at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, near St. Louis, Missouri.
History
Background
The company was formed from the firms of James Smith McDonnell and Donald Wills Douglas in 1967. Both men were of Scottish ancestry, were graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and had worked for the aircraft manufacturer Glenn L. Martin Company.[3]
Douglas had been chief engineer at Martin before leaving to establish Davis-Douglas Company in early 1920 in Los Angeles. The following year, he bought out his backer and renamed the firm the Douglas Aircraft Company.[4]
McDonnell founded J.S. McDonnell & Associates in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1926 to produce a personal aircraft for family use. The economic depression from 1929 ruined his ideas and the company collapsed. He worked at three companies, joining Glenn Martin Company in 1933. He left Martin in 1938 to try again with his own firm, McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, this time based at Lambert Field, outside St. Louis, Missouri.[5]
Douglas Aircraft profited during World War II. The company produced about 10,000 C-47s, a military variant of the Douglas DC-3, from 1942 to 1945. The workforce swelled to 160,000.
Both companies suffered at the end of the war, facing an end of government orders and a surplus of aircraft. Douglas continued to develop new aircraft, including the DC-6 in 1946 and the DC-7 in 1953.[6][7] The company moved into jet propulsion, producing the F3D Skyknight in 1948 and then the more "jet age" F4D Skyray in 1951.[8] In 1955, Douglas introduced the U.S. Navy's first attack jet, the A4D Skyhawk.[9] Designed to operate from the decks of the World War II Essex-class aircraft carriers, the Skyhawk was small, reliable, and tough. Variants of it continued in use in the Navy for almost 50 years,[10] finally serving in large numbers in a two-seat version as a jet trainer.[11]
Douglas also made commercial jets, producing the DC-8 in 1958 to compete with the Boeing 707.[12][13] McDonnell was also developing jets, but being smaller it was prepared to be more radical, building on its successful FH-1 Phantom to become a major supplier to the Navy with the F2H Banshee and F3H Demon; and producing the F-101 Voodoo for the United States Air Force (USAF).[14][15] The Korean War-era Banshee and later the F-4 Phantom II produced during the Vietnam War helped push McDonnell into a major military fighter supply role.[16] Douglas created a series of experimental high-speed jet aircraft in the Skyrocket family, with the Skyrocket DB-II being the first aircraft to travel at twice the speed of sound in 1953.
Both companies were eager to enter the new missile business, Douglas moving from producing air-to-air rockets and missiles to entire missile systems under the 1956 Nike program and becoming the main contractor of the Skybolt ALBM program and the Thor ballistic missile program.[17][18] McDonnell made a number of missiles, including the unusual ADM-20 Quail,[19] as well as experimenting with hypersonic flight, research that enabled it to gain a substantial share of the NASA projects Mercury and Gemini. Douglas also gained contracts from NASA, notably for part of the enormous Saturn V rocket.[20][21]
The two companies were now major employers, but both were having problems. McDonnell was primarily a defense contractor, without any significant civilian business. It frequently suffered lean times during downturns in military procurement. Meanwhile, Douglas was strained by the cost of the DC-8 and DC-9. The two companies began to sound each other out about a merger in 1963. Douglas offered bid invitations from December 1966 and accepted that of McDonnell.[22] The two firms were officially merged on April 28, 1967, as the McDonnell Douglas Corporation (MDC). Earlier, McDonnell bought 1.5 million shares of Douglas stock to help its partner meet "immediate financial requirements".[23][24] The two companies seemed to be a good fit for each other. McDonnell's military contracts provided an instant solution for Douglas' cash flow problems, while the revenue from Douglas' civil contracts would be more than enough for McDonnell to withstand peacetime declines in procurement.
Formation
McDonnell Douglas retained McDonnell Aircraft's headquarters location at what was then known as Lambert–St. Louis International Airport, in Berkeley, Missouri,[25][26][27][28] near St. Louis. James McDonnell became executive chairman and CEO of the merged company, with Donald Douglas Sr. as honorary chairman.[22]
In 1967, with the merger of McDonnell and Douglas Aircraft, David S. Lewis, then president of McDonnell Aircraft, was named chairman of what was called the Long Beach, Douglas Aircraft Division. At the time of the merger, Douglas Aircraft was estimated to be less than a year from bankruptcy. Flush with orders, the DC-8 and DC-9 aircraft were 9 to 18 months behind schedule, incurring stiff penalties from the airlines. Lewis was active in
1970–1980
In 1977, the next generation of DC-9 variants, dubbed the "Super 80" (later renamed the MD-80) series, was launched.[37]
In 1977, the KC-10 Extender became the second McDonnell Douglas transport aircraft to be purchased by the U.S. Air Force, after the C-9 Nightingale/Skytrain II.
Through the Cold War, McDonnell Douglas had introduced and manufactured dozens of successful military aircraft, including the F-15 Eagle in 1974 and[38] the F/A-18 Hornet in 1978,[39] as well as other products such as the Harpoon and Tomahawk missiles.
The oil crisis of the 1970s was a serious shock to the commercial aviation industry. McDonnell Douglas was hit by the economic shift and forced to contract while diversifying into new areas to protect against more downturns.
1980–1989
In 1984, McDonnell Douglas expanded into helicopters by purchasing Hughes Helicopters from the Summa Corporation for $470 million.[40] Hughes Helicopters was made a subsidiary initially and renamed McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems in August 1984.[41] McDonnell Douglas Helicopters's most successful product was the Hughes-designed AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.[42][43]
In 1986, the MD-11 was introduced, an improved and upgraded version of the DC-10.[44] The MD-11 was the most advanced trijet aircraft to be developed.
1990–1997
Technical issues, development cost overruns, growing unit costs, and delays led to the termination of the A-12 Avenger II program on January 13, 1991, by Defense Secretary Dick Cheney. Years of litigation would proceed over the contract's termination: the government claimed that the contractors had defaulted on the contract and were not entitled to the final progress payments, while McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics believed that the contract was terminated out of convenience, and thus the money was owed. The case was contested through litigation until a settlement was reached in January 2014. The chaos and financial stress created by the collapse of the A-12 program led to the layoff of 5,600 employees.[52] The advanced tactical aircraft role vacated by the A-12 debacle would be filled by another McDonnell Douglas program, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.[39][53]
However the purchasing of aircraft was curtailed as the Cold War came to an abrupt end in the 1990s. This curtailment in military procurements combined with the loss of the contracts for two major projects, the Advanced Tactical Fighter and Joint Strike Fighter, severely hurt McDonnell Douglas.[54]
McDonnell Automation Company legacy
Some of the company's lasting legacies are non-aviation related. They are the computer systems and companies developed in the company's subsidiary McDonnell Automation Company (McAuto) which was created in the 1950s initially used for numerical control for production starting in 1958 and computer-aided design (CAD) starting in 1959. Its CAD program MicroGDS remains in use with the latest official version 11.5.1[74] issued in October 2023,[75][76] with the software ending sales in January of 2025.[77]
By the 1970s, McAuto had 3,500 employees and $170 million worth of computer equipment. This made it one of the largest computer processors in the world during this era.[76]
Products
Military airplanes
- McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawk (started under Douglas Aircraft, used by the Blue Angels)
- McDonnell Douglas A-4G Skyhawk
- Project Kahu
- McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II (started under McDonnell Aircraft, used by the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds)
- List of McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II variants
- McDonnell Douglas C-9
- McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle
- McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle
- McDonnell Douglas F-15 STOL/MTD
- McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II (based on the British Aerospace Harrier)
Commercial deliveries
Leadership
President
- David Sloan Lewis Jr., 1967–1970
- James Smith McDonnell III, 1970–1971
- Sanford Noyes McDonnell, 1971–1980
- John Finney McDonnell, 1980–1988
- Gerald Andrew Johnston, 1988–1994
- Harrison Curtis Stonecipher, 1994–1997
Chairman of the Board
- James Smith McDonnell Jr., 1967–1980
- Sanford Noyes McDonnell, 1980–1988
- John Finney McDonnell, 1988–1997
Bibliography
- Yenne, Bill. McDonnell Douglas. Crescent Books, 1985. ISBN 0-517-44287-6.
Further reading
- Francillon, René J. McDonnell Douglas aircraft since 1920. Naval Institute Press, 1990. 2 volume set.
- Greider, William. One World, Ready or Not. Penguin Press, 1997. ISBN 0-7139-9211-5.
- Ingells D.J., The McDonnell Douglas Story. Aero Publishers, Fallbrook (CA), 1979.
External links
- McDonnell Douglas Technical Services Company (archived copy)
- History of McDonnell Douglas on Boeing.com (archived copy)
References
- Boeing Chronology, 1997–2001 at boeing.com.^
- SEC on acquisition of McDonnell Douglas by Boeing, 1997 retrieved January 10, 2024^
- Yenne 1985, pp. 6–9.^