McDonnell Douglas Corporation

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The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jetliner entered commercial service in 1980.

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McDonnell Douglas was a major U.S. producer of commercial aircraft, military aircraft, and space systems until its acquisition by Boeing in 1997. The company was created through the 1967 merger of Douglas Aircraft Company, established in 1921, and McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, founded in 1939.

Donald W. Douglas (1892–1981), founder of Douglas Aircraft Company, first became interested in aviation as a youth while watching the Wright Brothers demonstrate their biplane for the Army in 1909. Later, as a civil engineering assistant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s department of aerodynamics, he helped devise one of the first wind tunnels for the testing of aircraft. In 1920 he designed the Cloudster, the first aerodynamically streamlined plane, and founded his company to fill an order for three of the planes for the U.S. Navy.

In 1932, the company began its landmark DC (Douglas Commercial) series with the DC-1 prototype. The twin-engine DC-3, first flown in 1935, became the model for future commercial aircraft through its unprecedented level of comfort, reliability, high speed, and, above all, low maintenance cost. Together with its military derivative, the C-47 Skytrain transport, the DC-3 became one of the most successful aircraft designs of its era. More than 13,000 DC-3s and their military versions were produced in the United States and abroad.

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First flown in 1935, the Douglas DC-3 became one of the most successful aircraft designs of its era.

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During World War II, Douglas converted the DC-3 to military use as the C-47, and this plane became the most widely used transport aircraft of the war. During the war Douglas contributed 29,000 warplanes, one-sixth of the U.S. airborne fleet.

After the war, the company continued to dominate the commercial air routes with its new DC-6 and, in 1953, brought out its most advanced piston-engined airliner, the DC-7, whose range made possible nonstop coast-to-coast service. It also developed the A-4 Skyhawk (first flown in 1954), a compact, carrier-based attack bomber that became the U.S. Navy’s most widely used aircraft.

In 1965, Douglas first flew its twin-engine DC-9 short-haul commercial jetliner, which became the company’s most successful transport since the DC-3. With the development of newer commercial jets, however, Douglas began to lag behind Boeing. Because of its deteriorating financial condition in the 1960s, it sought a merger with McDonnell.

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A McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C Hornet launching from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk in the Pacific Ocean, 2005.

Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Jonathan Chandler/U.S. Navy

Under founder James S. McDonnell (1899–1980), McDonnell Aircraft struggled during its first year but soon grew rapidly as a manufacturer of airplane parts. Because of the company’s research on the use of jet propulsion for aircraft, the U.S. Navy awarded it a contract to build the FH-1 Phantom, which, in 1946, became the first U.S. jet aircraft to take off from and land on an aircraft carrier.

With the success of its highly versatile F-4 Phantom II fighter (first flown in 1958) supplied to the U.S. Air Force and Navy, McDonnell grew into a major defense supplier. During the 1960s it built spacecraft for the first two U.S. crewed spaceflight programs—Mercury and Gemini. In the mid-1960s, McDonnell sought to break into the commercial aircraft market.

In 1967, McDonnell purchased Douglas and took the name McDonnell Douglas Corporation.

McDonnell Douglas subsequently introduced several notable aircraft, including the DC-10 (first flown in 1970) for its commercial customers and the F-15 Eagle fighter (1972) and F/A-18 Hornet fighter (1978) for the military. The company also manufactured launch vehicles and cruise missiles.

In the 1970s, the company began diversifying with the acquisition of companies engaged in data processing, satellite communications, information services, and the manufacture of electronic devices. In 1984, the company expanded its helicopter business by purchasing Hughes Helicopters Inc. from the estate of Howard Hughes.

The end of the Cold War in the early 1990s resulted in a major contraction of U.S. defense industries. The loss of a contract to build a next-generation fighter prototype for the U.S. armed forces in 1996 and continued poor sales of its commercial aircraft further weakened McDonnell Douglas before its acquisition by The Boeing Company (BA).

The deal, announced in 1996 and completed in 1997, combined two of the nation’s largest aerospace manufacturers. Although the McDonnell Douglas name disappeared, many of its commercial aircraft, military aircraft, and aerospace programs continued under Boeing.