Manufacturer catalog
Douglas Aircraft Company was a United States aerospace manufacturer founded by Donald W. Douglas in Santa Monica, California, in 1921. The company grew from early Navy torpedo bombers into one of the major American aircraft producers, with military transports, attack aircraft, bombers, missiles, rockets, and commercial airliners forming its core output before the 1967 merger with McDonnell Aircraft.
3 weaponsDouglas became closely associated with transport aircraft because the DC-3 reshaped commercial airline economics and its military derivatives, including the C-47 and C-53, became wartime and postwar workhorses. The company also built large wartime capacity beyond Santa Monica, including the Long Beach plant opened for World War II production.
For defense catalog purposes, Douglas is especially relevant as the manufacturer of the A-4 Skyhawk and the C-47 Skytrain. The A-4 connected Douglas's postwar carrier-attack design work to a long export and training life, while the C-47 tied the company to military airlift, airborne operations, medical evacuation, and later special-mission adaptations.
Compact carrier-based light attack aircraft designed at Douglas for U.S. Navy and Marine Corps service; Douglas and later McDonnell Douglas built 2,960 examples between 1954 and 1979.
Sources: Boeing Select Products in Boeing History, Naval History and Heritage Command A-4 Skyhawk
Military transport adapted from the DC-3; the U.S. Army Air Corps ordered the first C-47s in 1940 and procured 9,348 by the end of World War II.
Sources: National Museum of the U.S. Air Force C-47D Skytrain, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum DC-3Donald W. Douglas founded The Douglas Company in Santa Monica after the Davis-Douglas partnership dissolved; the company soon built Navy torpedo bombers and grew around military and transport aircraft work.
Sources: Museum of Flight Douglas Aircraft Company
The Douglas Sleeper Transport and DC-3 line began with the December 1935 first flight, creating the commercial design that later underpinned the C-47 and C-53 military transports.
Sources: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum DC-3
Douglas's Long Beach plant began operations in November 1941 and became a major wartime production site for C-47, B-17, A-26, A-20, and C-74 aircraft.
Sources: Library of Congress HAER Douglas Long Beach Plant
The XA4D-1 prototype flew in June 1954, beginning a Douglas light-attack aircraft program that remained in production until 1979.
Sources: Boeing History Chronology, Boeing Select Products in Boeing History
Douglas Aircraft Company merged with McDonnell Aircraft Corporation to form McDonnell Douglas, ending Douglas's independent corporate life while keeping its aircraft programs inside the new company.
Sources: Boeing Aerospace Leaders, Museum of Flight Douglas Aircraft Company
Douglas Aircraft Company was independent from 1921 until the 1967 McDonnell merger. Later Douglas-origin programs may appear under McDonnell Douglas or Boeing sources depending on date and corporate custody.
Category
Crewed aircraft, drones, and loitering munitions.
Category
Standalone missiles, bombs, rockets, torpedoes, and guided or unguided explosive payloads.
