Donald Wills Douglas Sr.

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that the industry could meet the need, and laid out the methods by which it would be transformed from small companies producing aircraft in small batches to making them on a production-line basis. The aircraft industry grew from a distant 41st place among American industries to first place in less than five years. Douglas Aircraft grew from being a small company with 68 employees in 1922 to being the fourth largest business in the United States.

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Donald Douglas was not only a very highly regarded engineer and bold entrepreneur, but as World War II approached, he proved to be remarkably prescient. A year and a half before Pearl Harbor, he was already writing that this was the "hour of destiny for American aviation." He expressed confidence

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of the National Defense Advisory Commission observed, "We won because we smothered the enemy in an avalanche of production, the like of which he had never seen, nor dreamed possible." Donald Douglas summed it up similarly, "Here's proof that free men can out-produce slaves."

240:. He later built model airplanes, some with rubber-bands and other motors, in his dormitory room at Annapolis and tested them on the grounds and in the academy's armory. In 1912 he resigned from the academy in order to pursue a career in aeronautical engineering. 326:

In March 1920, Douglas resigned from his $ 10,000 (equivalent to $ 152,000 in 2023) a year job to return to California, where he had met and, in 1916, married Charlotte Marguerite Ogg (1892–1976). They had four sons and one daughter including

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Douglas Sr. served as honorary chairman of the McDonnell Douglas board until his death on February 1, 1981, at the age of 88. In keeping with his lifelong love for the sea, he was cremated and his ashes were scattered over the

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following the latter's merger in 1997). Under his leadership, the company became one of the leaders of the commercial aircraft industry, engaging in a decades-long struggle for supremacy with arch-rival

197:; at the start of the war, his airplanes made up 80% of all commercial aircraft in service. However, he lagged behind in the jet age and was overtaken and surpassed by Boeing. He retired in 1957. 1370: 495: 154:. Though it failed in its intended purpose—being the first to fly non-stop across the United States—it became the first airplane with a payload greater than its own weight. 263:—the first person to receive such a degree from MIT—in 1914, completing the four-year course in half the time; he remained there another year as an assistant to Professor 476: 334: 1385: 1375: 1355: 1203: 337:

with $ 40,000 financing from partner David Davis. They worked together to attempt to build an aircraft that could fly coast to coast nonstop, the

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A statue of Douglas, a recreation of his office and the Douglas Aircraft Company boardroom is at the Museum of Flying in

307:, Douglas resigned to become, in November 1916, the chief civilian aeronautical engineer of the Aviation Section of the 1350: 1187: 1155: 1136: 762: 1340: 1365: 520: 31: 539: 406: 981: 1380: 997: 683: 1330: 1048: 586: 292: 225: 580: 968: 946: 1287: 1269: 1259: 560: 379: 342: 328: 260: 158: 132: 881: 618: 1400: 1234: 312: 579:

A bust of Douglas, and a commemorative plaque for him is located at the Scott Air Force Base in

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Another statue of Douglas and a set of commemorative plaques for him are at the Douglas Park in

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Douglas (left) with Donald R. Davis, who together who formed the Davis-Douglas Aircraft Company

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