The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer based in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. The company was founded on July 6, 1939, by James Smith McDonnell, and was best known for its military fighters, including the

F-4 Phantom II The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bow ...

, and crewed spacecraft including the Mercury capsule and Gemini capsule. McDonnell Aircraft later merged with the

Douglas Aircraft Company The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Southern California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas; it then operated as ...

to form McDonnell Douglas in 1967.

History

James McDonnell founded J.S. McDonnell & Associates in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1928 to produce a

small aircraft A light aircraft is an aircraft that has a maximum gross takeoff weight of or less.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 308. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. Light aircraft are used as utility aircraft c ...

for family use.J.S. McDonnell & Associates, Early years: 1927-1938 (part 1)
, Boeing.com. The economic depression from 1929 ruined his plans and the company collapsed. He went to work for

Glenn L. Martin Glenn Luther Martin (January 17, 1886 – December 5, 1955) was an early American aviation pioneer. He designed and built his own aircraft and was an active pilot, as well as an aviation record-holder. He founded an aircraft company in 1912 whi ...

.J.S. McDonnell & Associates, Early years: 1927-1938 (part 2)
, Boeing.com. He left in 1938 to try again with his own firm, McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, based at

in 1939. World War II was a major boost to the new company. It grew from 15 employees in 1939 to 5,000 at the end of the war and became a significant aircraft parts producer, and developed the

XP-67 Bat The McDonnell XP-67 "Bat" or "Moonbat"It is unclear if either name was an official USAAF designation; both are used in various sources. It is possible that both are informal nicknames that refer to the aircraft's unique appearance. was a prototy ...

fighter prototype.McDonnell Aircraft Corp, The War Years: 1939-1945 (part 1)
, Boeing.com. McDonnell also developed the LBD-1 Gargoyle

guided missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket ...

.McDonnell Aircraft Corp, The War Years: 1939-1945 (part 2)
, Boeing.com. McDonnell Aircraft suffered after the war with an end of government orders and a surplus of aircraft, and heavily cut its workforce. The advent of the Korean War helped push McDonnell into a major military fighter supply role. FH-1 Phantom in flight in February 1948

In 1943, McDonnell began developing jets when they were invited to bid in a US Navy contest and eventually built the successful

FH-1 Phantom The McDonnell FH Phantom is a twinjet fighter aircraft designed and first flown during World War II for the United States Navy. The Phantom was the first purely jet-powered aircraft to land on an American aircraft carrier and the first jet dep ...

in the postwar era. The Phantom introduced McDonnell's telltale design with engines placed forward under the fuselage and exiting just behind the wing, a layout that was used successfully on the F2H Banshee, F3H Demon, and the F-101 Voodoo.

David S. Lewis David Sloan Lewis, Jr. (July 6, 1917 – December 15, 2003) was an aeronautical engineer who led aerospace and defense giant General Dynamics for 14 years. Early life David Lewis was born in 1917, in North Augusta, South Carolina. As a child ...

joined the company as Chief of Aerodynamics in 1946. He led the development of the legendary

in 1954, which was introduced into service in 1960. Lewis became Executive Vice President in 1958, and finally became President and Chief Operating Officer in 1962. McDonnell made a number of missiles, including the pioneering Gargoyle and 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 Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

and Gemini. The success of the Mercury capsule led the company adopted a new logo features the capsule circling a globe with the motto "First Free Man in Space". The company was now a major employer, but was having problems. It had almost no civilian business, and was thus vulnerable to any peacetime downturn in procurement. Meanwhile, Douglas Aircraft was reeling from cash flow problems and development costs. It was also having a hard time meeting demand. The two companies began sounding each other out about a merger in 1963. On paper, they were a good match. Douglas' civilian business would have been more than enough to allow McDonnell to withstand any downturns in military procurement, while the cash flow from McDonnell's military contracts would have given Douglas badly-needed security. Douglas formally accepted McDonnell's offer in December 1966, and the two firms officially merged on April 28, 1967, as the

McDonnell Douglas Corporation McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it produ ...

(MDC). Soon after the merger was announced, McDonnell bought 1.5 million shares of Douglas stock to help Douglas meet "immediate financial requirements". McDonnell management dominated the merged company. It was based at McDonnell's facility in St. Louis, with James McDonnell as chairman and CEO. In 1967, with the merger of McDonnell and Douglas Aircraft, David Lewis, then president of McDonnell, was named chairman of what was called the Douglas Aircraft Division. After managing the turnaround of the division, he returned to St. Louis in 1969 as president of McDonnell Douglas. McDonnell Douglas later merged with Boeing in August 1997.Boeing Chronology, 1997–2001
, Boeing Boeing's defense and space division includes the part purchased from Rockwell (ROK) in 1986 and is based at the former McDonnell facility in St. Louis, and is responsible for

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

and space products and services. McDonnell Douglas's legacy product programs include the

F-15 Eagle The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing). Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force selected McDonnell Douglas's ...

AV-8B Harrier II The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) AV-8B Harrier II is a single-engine ground-attack aircraft that constitutes the second generation of the Harrier family, capable of vertical or short takeoff and landing (V/STOL). The aircraft is primaril ...

F/A-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twinjet, twin-engine, supersonic aircraft, supersonic, carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a Fighter aircraft, ...

, and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

Products

F2H F3H and F4H McDonnell fighters in flight c1959

Aircraft

Crewed Spacecraft

* Mercury capsuleFrancillon 1979, p. 45. * Gemini capsuleFrancillon 1979, p. 46. * ASSET spaceplane

Missiles and others

* ADM-20 Quail *

LBD Gargoyle The LBD-1 Gargoyle (later KSD-1, KUD-1 and RTV-N-2) was an American air-to-surface missile developed during World War II by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy. One of the precursors of modern anti-ship missiles, it was extensively used ...

* TD2D/KDD/KDH Katydid target drone, 1942TD2D/KDD/KDH Katydid
/ref>

Aircraft engines

* PJ42 pulse-jet engine

Selected projects

McDonnell HRH The McDonnell HRH, company designation Model 78, was a 1950s transport helicopter proposal for the United States Marine Corps (USMC) by McDonnell Aircraft, designed to operate from ''Commencement Bay''-class escort carriers. Development McDon ...

, two engine compound gyroplane transport for US Marine Corps, 1950 *

McDonnell HCH The McDonnell XHCH (Model 86) was a 1950s aerial crane helicopter proposal for the United States Navy by the McDonnell Corporation. Development The XHCH was developed in the early 1950s to meet a US Navy requirement for a helicopter capable of ...

, two engine heavy-lift helicopter for US Navy, 1952 *

McDonnell 188 The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer based in St. Louis, Missouri. The company was founded on July 6, 1939, by James Smith McDonnell, and was best known for its military fighters, including the F-4 Phantom II ...

, four engine short takeoff and landing (STOL) transport, proposed licensed production of

Bréguet 941 The Breguet 941 was a French four-engine turboprop short takeoff and landing (STOL) transport aircraft developed by Breguet in the 1960s. Although widely promoted, both by Breguet in France and by McDonnell Aircraft and McDonnell Douglas in the ...

, 1961

References

Footnotes

Notes

Bibliography

* Francillon, René J. ''McDonnell Douglas Aircraft since 1920''. London:Putnam, 1979. .

External links

McDonnell Aircraft history 1939-45

List of all McDonnell model numbers through 1974
{{Authority control Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Defunct helicopter manufacturers of the United States McDonnell Douglas mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 1939 Manufacturing companies established in 1939 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1967 1939 establishments in Missouri 1967 mergers and acquisitions 1967 disestablishments in Missouri Technology companies disestablished in 1967 Technology companies established in 1939 Defunct manufacturing companies based in Missouri