At the time of the merger, Douglas Aircraft was estimated to be less than a year from bankruptcy. Lewis, then president of McDonnell Aircraft, was named chairman of what was called the Long Beach, Douglas Aircraft Division. In 1967, with the merger of McDonnell and Douglas Aircraft, David S. James McDonnell became executive chairman and CEO of the merged company, with Donald Douglas Sr. Louis International Airport, in Berkeley, Missouri, near St. McDonnell Douglas retained McDonnell Aircraft's headquarters location at what was then known as Lambert–St. 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.Īssembly of the DC-9 and DC-10 at the Long Beach plant, 1974 Earlier, McDonnell bought 1.5 million shares of Douglas stock to help its partner meet "immediate financial requirements." The two companies seemed to be a good fit for each other. The two firms were officially merged on Apas the McDonnell Douglas Corporation (MDC). Douglas offered bid invitations from December 1966 and accepted that of McDonnell. The two companies began to sound each other out about a merger in 1963. Meanwhile, Douglas was strained by the cost of the DC-8 and DC-9. It frequently suffered lean times during downturns in military procurement. McDonnell was primarily a defense contractor, without any significant civilian business. The two companies were now major employers, but both were having problems. Douglas also gained contracts from NASA, notably for part of the enormous Saturn V rocket. McDonnell made a number of missiles, including the unusual ADM-20 Quail, as well as experimenting with hypersonic flight, research that enabled it to gain a substantial share of the NASA projects Mercury and Gemini. Thor Able with Pioneer 1 at Cape Canaveral, Floridaīoth 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. Variants of it continued in use in the Navy for almost 50 years, finally serving in large numbers in a two-seat version as a jet trainer. Designed to operate from the decks of the World War II Essex-class aircraft carriers, the Skyhawk was small, reliable, and tough. In 1955, Douglas introduced the first attack jet of the United States Navy with the A4D Skyhawk. The company moved into jet propulsion, producing its first for the military – the conventional F3D Skyknight in 1948 and then the more 'jet age' F4D Skyray in 1951. Douglas continued to develop new aircraft, including the DC-6 in 1946 and the DC-7 in 1953. The company produced almost 30,000 Douglas DC-3 aircraft from 1942 to 1945 and the workforce swelled to 160,000.īoth companies suffered at the end of the war, facing an end of government orders and a surplus of aircraft. World War II was a major earner for Douglas. He left Martin in 1938 to try again with his own firm, McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, this time based at Lambert Field, outside St. He worked at three companies with the final being Glenn Martin Company in 1933. The economic depression from 1929 ruined his ideas and the company collapsed. His idea was to produce a personal aircraft for family use. McDonnell & Associates in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1926. He bought out his backer and renamed the firm the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1921. I can't wait to start on this as it's my first aircraft ever, and I'm also looking forward to doing the rigging.Douglas had been chief engineer at Martin before leaving to establish Davis-Douglas Company in early 1920 in Los Angeles. My first step will be to wash all the parts, then I will give everything a fresh thin coat of primer. Can anyone give an idea on how to fix it? As you can se, there aren't a lot of parts to this kit: I'm not sure if my grandfather removed them from the sprues or the kit came like this, but there aren't any other sprue scraps in the box. Used by many early air carriers, the rugged Mailplane is best remembered a the first aircraft flown by Western Airlines, America's 50-year old senior airline."Īnyway, here are the beginning pictures out of the box: From the box: "Pioneering the delivery of mail by air, over 50 Douglas M-2's were built. I have not yet decided which way to go with it. This kit can be completed in 1 of 2 variations of Western Air Express markings. The only issue I've seen so far is that one of the exhaust tips seems to have been broken. Looks like everything is there (the box had been opened). This is the first model out of my grandfathers old stash I've decided to tackle.
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