McDonnell Aircraft

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For people with the surname McDonnell, see McDonnell (surname).

**McDonnell Aircraft Corporation**


Fate	Merged with Douglas Aircraft Company
Successor	McDonnell Douglas
Founded	1939
Defunct	1967
Location	St. Louis, Missouri

The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer, based near St. Louis, Missouri. It was founded in 1939 by James Smith McDonnell, and later merged with the Douglas Aircraft Company, to form McDonnell Douglas in 1967.

[edit] History

James Smith McDonnell founded J.S. McDonnell & Associates in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1928. His idea was to produce a personal aircraft for family use. The economic depression from 1929 ruined his ideas and the company collapsed. He went to work for Glenn L. Martin. He left in 1938 to try again with his own firm, McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, this time based near St. Louis, Missouri in 1939.

World War II was a major boost to the new company. It grew from fifteen employees in 1939 to 5,000 at the end the war and became a significant aircraft producer. McDonnell Aircraft suffered after the war with an end of government orders and a surplus of aircraft. McDonnell cut heavily its workforce.

In 1946, Dave Lewis joined the company as Chief of Aerodynamics. He led the development of the legendary F-4 Phantom II in 1954, became Executive Vice President in 1958, and finally became President and Chief Operating Officer in 1962. Lewis went on the manage Douglas Aircraft Division in after the McDonnell Douglas merger.

McDonnell began developing jets, building on their successful FH-1 Phantom to become a major supplier to the US Navy with the F2H Banshee, F3H Demon, and the F-101 Voodoo. The advent of the Korean War helped push McDonnell into a major military fighter supply role, especially with the noted F-4 Phantom II (1958).

McDonnell made a number of missiles, including the unusual ADM-20 Quail, as well as experimenting with hypersonic flight, research that enabled them to gain a substantial share of the NASA projects Mercury and Gemini. The company was now a major employer, but was having problems.

McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft began to sound each other out about a merger. Inquiries began in 1963; Douglas offered bid invitations from December 1966 and accepted that of McDonnell. The two firms were officially merged on April 28, 1967 as the McDonnell Douglas Corporation (MDC). In 1967, with the merger of McDonnell and Douglas Aircraft, Dave Lewis, then president of McDonnell, was named chairman of what was called the Long Beach, Douglas Aircraft Division. Lewis managed the turnaround of the division.

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