David S. Lewis, Jr.
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David Sloan Lewis, Jr., (July 6, 1917 - December 15, 2003), was a major force in the aerospace and defense industry for three decades. His management skills were notable for their breadth, ranging over military and commercial aviation, space exploration, land combat systems, submarines and surface ships.
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[edit] Early Life, Before the War
Mr. Lewis was born in 1917, in North Augusta, South Carolina, the son of David S. Lewis, "Dick", of Clemson and Reuben Walton of Augusta. A middle child, he had an older sister, Lucy, and a younger brother, Jack. The family moved to Charleston, where Dave, sister Lucy, and brother Jack were reared. As a boy growing up in Charleston, David Lewis was fascinated by aviation. He read everything he could find about the World War I fighter planes and their romantic pilots. He built dozens of flying model airplanes and gliders. He was 10 years old when he heard that Charles Lindbergh had made the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. He was hooked and decided to be an airplane designer. Mr. Lewis father, Dick, worked for Standard Oil of New Jersey managing their efforts providing asphalt for the state's road work. They were transferred to Columbia in 1933, and Dave graduated from Columbia High in 1934. Mr. Lewis attended the University of South Carolina, and after three years transferred to Georgia Tech, graduating in 1939 with a Bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Engineering.
[edit] During WW II
Mr. Lewis’ career began in 1939 when he joined the Glenn L. Martin Company in Baltimore, Md. During World War II, he worked in the aerodynamics department, the wind tunnel group, the performance group, and the stability and control group on many new aircraft designs, including the B-26 Marauder. He is also met his future wife, Dorothy Sharpe, who was one of two secretaries working in the office of Glenn L. Martin and they were married on December 21, 1941, just two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
[edit] Into the Cold War
In 1946, Mr. Lewis joined McDonnell Aircraft, in St. Louis, Mo., as Chief of Aerodynamics. Their projects included the Navy's first operational jet fighter aircraft, the F2H Banshee and the Air Force's first swept-wing strategic interceptor, the F-101 Voodoo. They also fought a losing battle with the F3H Demon which had a significantly under performing engine from Westinghouse.
In 1952, J.S. McDonnell had the vision for a new way to develop modern fighter aircraft – the grouping of disparate engineering functions into a single fast-track development team, which became known as Preliminary Design. In 1952, Mr. Lewis was chosen to form and run this group, the first ever in the industry. The design team produced, in only two years, the prototype of the F-4 Phantom II, arguably the most successful jet fighter ever produced. First purchased by the U.S. Navy, as the F-4B, Mr. Lewis and his sales team went on to sell the U.S. Air Force the F-4C, and so, the F-4 series became the first, and only, fighter aircraft purchased by both the U.S. Navy and Air Force.
The first model established 16 speed, altitude and time-to-climb records. Ultimately more than 5,000 were produced for the U.S. Navy and Air Force, and 11 other countries. It was the only modern aircraft to be flown by both the Navy Blue Angels and the Air Force Thunderbirds.
[edit] As an Aerospace Executive
[edit] McDonnell Aircraft
Mr. Lewis moved up in several steps, becoming McDonnell's Vice President of Engineering in 1956. In 1958, Mr. Lewis was appointed to serve as Executive Vice President of McDonnell, having responsibility for every thing in the company except finance and legal. He was active in setting up the Space Division and involved in the winning the Project Mercury contract from NASA.
In 1962, Mr. Lewis was appointed to serve as President of McDonnell, being responsible to J.S. McDonnell for all activities of the company. During this time the company completed the highly successful Mercury program which started the manned spaceflight program. The team went on to develop and build the equally successful Project Gemini spacecraft which developed the key technologies for the follow-on Project Apollo developed at North American Aviation.
[edit] The Merger with Douglas Aircraft
In 1967, with the merger of McDonnell and Douglas Aircraft, Mr. Lewis was named chairman of the Douglas Aircraft Division in Long Beach, California, and given the responsibility for ensuring timely production of Douglas’ DC-8 and DC-9 aircraft. The new company became known as McDonnell Douglas. At the time of the merger, Douglas Aircraft was estimated to be less than a year from bankruptcy. Flush with orders, the DC-8 and DC-9 aircraft were being delivered 9 to 18 months behind schedule, incurring stiff penalties from the airlines. Mr. Lewis had the operation back on track, and in positive cash flow, in two years. He also worked on the sales for the company’s DC-10, striking deals with launch customers Northwest Airlines and American Airlines among others.
[edit] Back to Headquarters
Two years later, in 1969, Mr. Lewis returned to St. Louis, Missouri, where he was active in developing McDonnell's final proposal for the F-15 Eagle as well as ongoing sales efforts on the DC-10. With J.S. McDonnell unwilling to retire, or hand over the CEO position, Mr. Lewis left McDonnell-Douglas to become chairman and chief executive officer of General Dynamics; estimated at the time to be a year from bankruptcy. Upon his leaving, J.S. McDonnell had Mr. Lewis' name stricken from any historical accounts of the company.
[edit] On to General Dynamics
Mr. Lewis was chairman and chief executive officer of General Dynamics from early 1971 until his retirement at the end of 1985. During his tenure, General Dynamics’ revenues and earnings quadrupled. While he was chairman, the company designed and/or built SSN fast attack submarines, Trident submarines, M1 Abrams tanks and the first ships ever built to transport liquefied natural gas throughout the world and the F-16 Falcon.
Mr. Lewis was highly involved with the team at the Ft. Worth Division, in refining and proposing their version of the Air Force Light Weight Fighter. In an intense competition involving the top seven military aircraft builders, General Dynamics Ft. Worth Division was selected to build two prototypes, designated the YF-16. They went on to beat the Northrop YF-17 and received an initial order of 600+ aircraft from the Air Force in 1974.
From the initial win in 1974, Mr. Lewis took the F-16 to Europe, and they went on to win the largest single military contract ever awarded, when the F-16 was chosen as the standard fighter of four allied NATO countries. As of 2003, over 4,400 of these aircraft have been produced for the air forces of 24 countries, and the plane continues to serve as the active flight demonstrator for the Air Force Thunderbirds.
The M1 Abrams tank proved to be an enduring product as well, with more than 8,000 units produced for U.S. forces; derivatives of the original tank design are still in production in Egypt. In addition, the Trident submarine design is the basis for the U.S. Navy’s new SSGN conversion program, through which General Dynamics is leading the conversion of four Ohio-class ships into a flexible-mission submarine that will support special forces operations around the world.
Mr. Lewis retired as Chairman & CEO in 1985, and remained on the company's board of directors through 1994.
[edit] Awards & Honors
Mr. Lewis received numerous national and international awards for his contribution to the field of aeronautics, including the Collier Trophy in 1975, the Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Award in 1981, the Daniel Guggenheim Medal in 1982, and the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy in 1984. Mr. Lewis was inducted into the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame in 2000. He was a member of the Georgia Tech Council of Distinguished Engineering Graduates and a trustee emeritus of the Georgia Tech and Washington University Foundations. He was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and the National Academy of Engineering.
Mr. Lewis served as director of Ralston Purina of St. Louis, Bank of America of San Francisco; Cessna Aircraft Company of Wichita, Kansas; and the Mead Corporation of Dayton, Ohio.
[edit] References
- David. S. Lewis, Jr., personal memoirs, 1993, 2000.
