Donald A. Hall

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Donald Albert Hall was a pioneering aeronautical engineer and aircraft designer who is most famous for having designed the Ryan NYP (known commonly as The Spirit of St. Louis) in only sixty days.

He was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 7, 1898. He attended the Manual Training High School in Brooklyn, and graduated from the Pratt Institute with a certificate in mechanical engineering in 1917.

He worked for the Curtis Aeroplane and Motor Corp., Elias & Brothers, and L.W.F. Engineering before moving to Santa Monica, California in 1924 to work for Douglas Aircraft.

He left Douglas Aircraft in 1926 to become an aviation cadet in the Army Air Corps, but did not become a military pilot. He returned to Douglas Aircraft, and began working part time for Ryan Airlines in San Diego. In 1927, Ryan Airlines changed ownership, and Hall accepted the position of chief engineer.

Only days later, Ryan Airlines received a query from Robertson Aircraft Corp. of St. Louis asking if they could design and build an aircraft capable of flying nonstop from New York to Paris. When Ryan responded in the affirmative, Charles A. Lindbergh traveled to San Diego to inspect Ryan Airlines and met Donald Hall. After an agreement was finalized with Ryan, the two worked closely to design and construct the aircraft in only sixty days. This is the aircraft known as the NYP (registration number N-X-211) which captured the popular imagination as the Spirit of St. Louis in May of 1927 by flying nonstop from New York to Paris.

Hall left Ryan Airlines in 1929 when the company became Mahoney-Ryan Airlines and relocated to St. Louis.

In 1932, he formed Hall Aeronautical Research and Development Company, and designed and built the Hall X-1. This was a tandem wing design for which Hall held the patent. He closed this company due to financial problems, and joined Consolidated Aircraft Corporation where he was involved in the design of the B-24 Liberator bomber. He was discharged by Consolidated (then known as Convair) during the defense cutbacks following World War Two.

In 1952, he became head of the Navy's helicopter division at North Island, San Diego. He worked there in research until 1963.

Hall died of a heart attack in 1968.

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