Douglas Aircraft Company
| Douglas Aircraft Company
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1921 |
| resolution | 1967 |
| Reason for dissolution | Merger with McDonnell Aircraft Corporation to become McDonnell Douglas |
| Seat | Long Beach, California , USA |
| Branch | Aerospace engineering , defense industry |
The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer based in Long Beach (California) . Company founder Donald Wills Douglas graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and initially worked for the aircraft manufacturer Martin . After he was chief engineer there, he founded the "Douglas Company" in 1921, which in 1928 was renamed the "Douglas Aircraft Company".
The designation of the civil airliners as DC (Douglas Commercial), began with the model DC-1 . Douglas previously built in addition to military aircraft, especially for the United States Navy , from 1925 with the Douglas M-1, M-2, M-3 and M-4 , civil aircraft that were used to transport airmail.
In 1967 Douglas went on as a subsidiary in the aircraft construction company McDonnell Douglas Corporation , which in turn was bought by Boeing in 1997 .
history
It began with his torpedo bomber , this came observation aircraft. Annual production was 100 aircraft within five years. The factory halls were originally located on Wilshire Boulevard in western Los Angeles. After just a few years, the site proved to be too small, so production was relocated to a new, larger property in 1927, which was directly adjacent to Santa Monica Airport . Due to the size of the plant, the office messengers were equipped with roller skates.
Other production facilities were soon added in El Segundo , Long Beach , Torrance , Tulsa and Chicago .
From 1934 Douglas produced a twin-engine airliner, the DC-2 , and from 1935 the famous DC-3 , which was built in over 16,000 copies (including 5,424 licensed builds in the Soviet Union and Japan).
The company grew strongly during World War II . Douglas produced nearly 30,000 aircraft from 1942 to 1945 and had 160,000 employees. The C-47 (based on the DC-3 ), the light bombers A-20 (DB-7) and A-26 Invader as well as the Dauntless dive fighter aircraft and finally the four-engine DC-4 transport aircraft were built .
After the war and the necessary downsizing, Douglas continued to develop new aircraft, including the four-engine DC-6 in 1946 and the DC-7 in 1953 . From 1948 jet aircraft were also built, initially the military jet F3D Skyknight and in 1951 the F4D Skyray . From 1958, the production of jet airliners began with the DC-8 , which competed with the new Boeing 707 .
The company was able to enter the profitable rocket business. Douglas started out with air-to-air missiles , then built complete missile systems (the Nike program in 1956 ) and later became prime contractor for the Skybolt ALBM and Thor missile programs . Douglas was even able to acquire orders from NASA , especially for parts of the Saturn V rocket.
Now the company was a large corporation that suffered from the cost of the DC-8 and DC-9. In 1963, therefore, talks began with the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation , in the extension of which, named McDonnell Douglas Corporation, on April 28, 1967, Douglas was incorporated as a subsidiary.
In 1997, McDonnell Douglas Corporation was finally bought by Boeing . Boeing then adopted parts of the Douglas logo in its own logo.
Civil aircraft
- M-1 (1925)
- M-2 (1926)
- M-3 (1926)
- M-4 (1926)
- BT-1 / BT-2 (1930)
- DC-1 (1933)
- DC-2 (1934)
- DC-3 (1935)
- DC-4 (1942)
- DC-5 (1939)
- DC-6 (1946)
- DC-7 (1953)
- DC-8 (1958)
- DC-9 (1965)
The DC-10 was produced by McDonnell Douglas .
Military aircraft
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- DT-1 (1921)
- DWC (1923)
- O-2 (1924)
- M-1 (1925)
- T2D (1927)
- PD (1928)
- Dolphin (1931)
- O-31 (1930)
- B-7 / O-35 (1931?)
- XT3D (1931)
- B-18 Bolo (1935)
- TBD Devastator (1935)
- A-20 Havoc / Boston (1938)
- SBD Dauntless (1938)
- B-23 Dragon (1939)
- Douglas XB-19 (1941)
- A-26 Invader (1942)
- BTD Destroyer (1943)
- XA-42 / XB-42 (1944)
- TB2D Skypirate (1944)
- A-1 Skyraider (1945)
- C-74 Globemaster (1945)
- XB-43 (1946)
- D-558-1 Skystreak (1947)
- D-558-2 Skyrocket (1948)
- F3D Skyknight (1948)
- C-124 Globemaster II (1949)
- A2D Skyshark (1950)
- F4D Skyray (1951)
- A-3 Skywarrior (1952)
- X-3 Stiletto (1952)
- A-4 Skyhawk (1954)
- B-66 Destroyer (1954)
- F5D Skylancer (1956)
- C-133 Cargomaster (1956)
Ejection seats
- Douglas ESCAPAC (variant 1 to ID) for mostly own combat aircraft (Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, LTV A-7 Corsair II, Lockheed S-3 Viking, B-57, F-15A Eagle, A-10A, YF-16A, F -111A / B and OV-10 Bronco)
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ René Francillon: McDonnell Douglas Aircraft since 1920, Volume I. Putnam, London 1988, ISBN 0-85177-827-5 , p. 38.