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| Douglas Aircraft |
Donald Wills
Douglas entered the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis where he spent much
of his time building and testing model airplanes. Douglas' family,
fellow midshipmen and professors thought his interest in aviation would
pass. They were very surprised when he left the Naval Academy in 1912,
before he graduated, to look for work in aeronautical engineering. He
held several engineering jobs. In 1920, he and millionaire
sportsman David R. Davis formed the Davis-Douglas Company to build
to build an airplane to make the first nonstop, coast-to-coast flight.
This resulted in the Cloudster. It did not meet its goal, but did become
the first aircraft to lift a useful load exceeding its own weight. It
ultimately became the flagship of Claude Ryan's San Diego-to-Los Angeles
airline. Davis lost interest and sold out to Douglas, who incorporated
The Douglas Company in July 1921. He finally landed his own Navy
contract—to build torpedo bombers, starting with the DT-1 (Douglas
Torpedo, First).
Despite the 1929 crash that started the
Great Depression, Douglas kept his company alive and financially sound
building military aircraft. In 1932, he started building the DC-1 and
launched his career as a builder of transports. By 1940, sales of DC-2
and DC-3 transports and their military derivatives rose to nearly $61
million.
Donald
Wills Douglas Sr. was company president until 1957, when his son, Donald
Douglas Jr., took over that position. At the age of 75, on April 28,
1967, Douglas merged his company with the McDonnell Aircraft Company and
retired. For Aircraft after 1967, see McDonald-Douglas |
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