Douglas Aircraft Company

The Douglas Aircraft Company was established in 1921 by American aircraft designer Donald Douglas as a successor to a company he had cofounded in previous year. He designed the Cloudster in 1920, the first aerodynamically streamlined plane, and before established his own company to fill an order for three of the planes for the U.S. Navy.

The Douglas Aircraft Company was located in Long Beach California. During the early 1930s, Douglas began to look at the commercial airline market. In 1939, Douglas aircraft flew 90% of the world’s commercial airline traffic.

Douglas planes, particularly the DC-3 and its military counterpart, the C-47, both built at the Long Beach plant, dominated the skies for several years. At its height in wartime, the Long Beach plant employed 43,000 workers.

In 1954, Douglas was delivering aircraft to nearly half the world’s airlines. When Boeing’s jet-powered Dash 80 airplane rolled out that year, Douglas continued the DC-8 study with customer input. On May 30, 1958 Douglas Aircraft joined the commercial jet age, as the DC-8 jetliner made its first flight.

In 1967 McDonnell Douglas was formed by a merger of two separate companies, McDonnell Aircraft Corporation and Douglas Aircraft Company.

The merged company continued to manufacturer commercial aircraft, combat aircraft and space vehicles. A further merger of McDonnel Douglas with Boeing Commercial Airplanes, took place in 1997 ending the 76 years of Douglas Aircraft Company.
Douglas Aircraft Company