The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-31
Designer Of World Cruiser
 Is M oldest But Brilliant
Donald Douglas, Now 31, Was Signal Corps De-
 signer At 25

The s1-year-old- designer Of the planes
 used by the American world flyers. l (Copyrieht, Iss4, in United states and Or eat Britain and Canada by North Amer. kican Newspaper Alliance for The Age Herald All EiEnts reserved years ago when the Wright broth;
 CTS were tinkering with the ri diculous contraption that they insisted would fly over the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, N. C., the best kite flyer in Brooklyn was young Don Douglas. He was only a youngster of eleven then but his former playmates still declare that the kites Don Douglas built would fly higher and steadier than those of any other youngster on Long Island. But Don Douglas was the last boy in the world to brag of his kite-making ability
 Today, while the limefight of world publicity is focused on the pilots i'll the around -the-world flight, this former Brooklyn kite flyer is content to rest in obscurity at a modest airplane fac tory in Santa Monica, Cal. He Is as modest as when he was making the best kites in Brooklyn.
 Yet certainly sharing honors with the indomitable pilots of the famous flight is the designer of the planes they fly, Donald Wills Douglas.
 The around-the-world flight may be described as wholly a feat of middle aged youth" For the average age of the leading figures in the remarkable drama of circling the world on wings is exactly 51.
 The dre just two factors in this mi racle of globe girdling, the pilots and the planes. Much has been written of the pilots, little is known of the de signer of the planes.
 Young Donald Douglas secured an appointment to the United States na- val academy at Annapolis after he had been graduated from the New York public schools. But mighty ships of steel, did not appeal to his imagina- tion He visaged the superiority of winged craft even then. Upon gradu- ation he enrolled in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study areo- nautics. Tn 1914 he was graduated with the degree of bachelor of science. Young Douglas proved SO earnest n student at the technical school that he was asked to remain as an as- sistant professor in the science of aero dynamics, which he did until 1915.
 Helped On Martin Bombers
 It was about that time that Glen l.. Martin was having visions of giant bombing craft carrying tons of bombs. He enlisted the services of the boy pro lessor from Massachusetts. As chief engineer of the Martin factory in Los Angeles young Douglas demonstrated such ability that when the United States entered the war in 1917 he was uE< xn al kk at.s ~ civilian aeronautieal engineer of the but 26 years of age.
 European airplane designers had made great progress in those early years of the war. They wanted Amer. iean planes built after heir own mod. els. Young Douglas believed in the superiority of American designed air. planes. He returned to his post as chief engineer of the Glenn l.. Martin factory. It was largely his genius that perfected the giant planes known as the Martin bombers that are ay the backbone of the amry's bonn B air fleet.
 In 1920 naval aviation officers had been deeply impressed with the crea. tive aeronautic genius of young Douglas The navy wanted torpedo plane Doug las was asked to design one. He prompt, ly organized the Davis-Douglas company in Los Angeles. From his first model the. Douglas torpedo plane was an as. sured success.
 When various types of planes were being considered for the proposed non- stop transcontinental flight more than a year ago, friends of Douglas urged that his torpedo plane be selected in preference to the transport plane de. signed by Fokker, the brilliant Neither lands aeronautic engineer. The fact that Douglas was under contract to