Donald Wills Douglas, Sr.

Donald Wills Douglas ( born April 6, 1892 in Brooklyn, New York, † February 1, 1981 in Palm Springs, California ) was an American aircraft manufacturer. His 1921-1967 existing business, the Douglas Aircraft Company, was one of the most successful aircraft manufacturers of all time. His most famous designs were the DC series, all of which proved to be very tough and durable. This highlight is the Douglas DC-3 / C -47 " Dakota ", one of the most produced aircraft of all time.

The Early Years

Donald Wills Douglas was born in 1892 as the second son of a bank clerk in New York. During his school career he aspired to be included in the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. 1909, just before he entered the academy, he saw Orville Wright in flight tests at Fort Myer, Virginia. Since then, he was fascinated by aviation. 1912 Douglas ended the U.S. Naval Academy and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT ), where he in 1914 reached its conclusion. In 1915 he became an adviser to the Connecticut Aircraft Company. Shortly thereafter, he became an engineer for the Glenn L. Martin Company in Los Angeles. After a short time in Ohio Douglas moved again in 1920 to California. At this time, Douglas ' assets amounted to U.S. $ 600 whole.

The Davis -Douglas Company

Douglas founded in 1920 in the back room of a hair salon in Santa Monica along with the millionaire David R. Davis, the Davis -Douglas Company. Here, Davis presented the capital of 40 000 U.S. $ are available, while the know -how should come from Douglas. Their first design was the mail plane Davis -Douglas St Cloud. Although held the reputation and commercial success of this prototype aircraft within limits, the cloud Ster can claim a place in the annals of aviation for itself: It was the first aircraft that could carry more payload than it weighed itself. The young company received in April 1921 an order for three developed from the cloud Rochester bomber, but Davis had no interest in this project and got out of the business.

The Douglas Aircraft Company

Donald Douglas looked around for new sponsors and found this in some California business men, so that in July 1921 from the rest of the Davis -Douglas Company was founded Douglas Company. In 1924 Donald Wills Douglas managed to circle with three machines for the first time the earth. The circumnavigation took five and a half months, the machines were given the name World Cruisers. In 1928, the company was renamed Douglas Aircraft Company.

After the accident, a Fokker F- 10 of the TWA laws for the maintenance of wooden aircraft were so aggravated that an economic traffic was barely possible in the USA. Boeing presented out to design a new all-metal aircraft, which was ordered by United Airlines. Due to a contract, the United Airlines an almost two-year monopoly for the new Boeing 247 guaranteed, the other airlines saw in a tight spot. TWA wrote to several manufacturers to submit designs for a competing product. Douglas, hitherto without experience in passenger aircraft, took on the challenge and presented the Douglas Commercial 1, in short: Douglas DC -1. The DC-1 was considered revolutionary and was the Boeing 247 more than a match. The twin-engined machine (TWA had originally called for a three -engined aircraft ) convinced TWA and so the airline ordered the aircraft from the drawing board away. The plane went down as a slightly enlarged Douglas DC-2 in series. The further development of the DC-3 in 1935, however, was the final heaved Douglas in the Olympus of the major manufacturers. His company should dominate the market for commercial aircraft until the 1950s. 1939 Douglas and his team designed a large transport aircraft, but this was no longer needed by the airlines with the outbreak of the Second World War. For this aircraft was initially reduced the DC-4 " Skymaster " and later the DC -6 and DC-7, which were among the last major piston engine aircraft.

With the jet age, the tide turned to Douglas. Boeing's new jet, the Dash 80 in 1954, attracted the interest of airlines worldwide. Although Douglas was present in 1958 with some delay a counter product, but lost the market leadership of Boeing. Nevertheless, the old Donald Douglas of the Douglas DC-8 succeeded a new milestone in the history of civil aviation: It was the first airliner, which - broke the sound barrier - nine years before the Concorde and the Tupolev Tu- 144. In the 1960s, Douglas wanted desperately to recapture market leadership. His company has invested huge sums of money in further developments of the DC-8 and a new short-haul jet, the DC -9 ( 1965). Also, a new wide-body aircraft (for this project arose later, the DC-10 ) was planned. However, Douglas slid by in the ruin and so his company was bought out by the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation in 1967. Douglas remained honorary member of the board of the new company: McDonnell Douglas.

The man Donald Douglas

Donald Wills Douglas saw himself as a visionary. His dream was to bring the countries of the world closer by the aviation industry. Although Douglas designed a series of postal and military aircraft, but his heart was attached to his DC series, with which he could make a small contribution to his dream. The manufacturer was his life as a down to earth family man and a dog lover. Douglas died at the age of 88 years in Palm Springs ( California). His ashes were scattered over the Pacific.

References

• Wilbur H. Morrison: Donald Douglas. A Heart With Wings. Iowa State University Press, Ames IA, 1991, ISBN 0-8138-1834-6.
• Arthur Pearcy: Douglas Propliners. DC 1 - DC - seventh Airlife Publishing, Shrewsbury 1995, ISBN 1-85310-261- X.

• Aviation pioneer
• Person ( aircraft )
• Americans
• Born in 1892
• Died in 1981
• Man