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 . Douglas Aircraft Company largely operated as a division of McDonnell Douglas after the merger . History . 1920s . The Douglas Aircraft Company was founded by Donald Wills Douglas , Sr . on July 22 , 1921 in Santa Monica , California , following dissolution of the Davis - Douglas Company . An early claim to fame was the first circumnavigation of the world by air in Douglas airplanes in 1924 . In 1923 , the U . S . Army Air Service was interested in carrying out a mission to circumnavigate the Earth for the first time by aircraft , a program called " World Flight " . Donald Douglas proposed a modified Douglas DT to meet the Army ' s needs . The two - place , open cockpit DT biplane torpedo bomber had previously been produced for the U . S . Navy . The DTs were taken from the assembly lines at the company ' s manufacturing plants in Rock Island , Illinois and Dayton , Ohio to be modified . The modified aircraft known as the Douglas World Cruiser ( DWC ) , also was the first major project for Jack Northrop who designed the fuel system for the series . After the prototype was delivered in November 1923 , upon the successful completion of tests on 19 November , the Army commissioned Douglas to build four production series aircraft . Due to the demanding expedition ahead , spare parts , including 15 extra Liberty L - 12 engines , 14 extra sets of pontoons , and enough replacement airframe parts for two more aircraft were chosen . These were sent to airports along the route . The last of these aircraft was delivered to the U . S . Army on 11 March 1924 . After the success of the World Cruiser , the Army Air Service ordered six similar aircraft as observation aircraft . The success of the DWC established the Douglas Aircraft Company among the major aircraft companies of the world and led it to adopt the motto " First Around the World - First the World Around " . Douglas adopted a logo that showed airplanes circling a globe , replacing the original winged heart logo . The logo evolved into an aircraft , a rocket , and a globe . It was later adopted by the McDonnell Douglas Corporation ] ] , and then became the basis of [ [ : File : Boeing - Logo . svg | the current logo of the Boeing Company after their 1997 merger . Pre - war . The company is most famous for the " DC " ( " Douglas Commercial " ) series of commercial aircraft , including what is often regarded as the most significant transport aircraft ever made : the [ [ Douglas DC - 3 ] ] , which was also produced as a military transport known as the [ [ Douglas C - 47 Skytrain | C - 47 Skytrain ] ] or " Dakota " in British service . Many Douglas aircraft had long service lives . Douglas Aircraft designed and built a wide variety of aircraft for the U . S . military , including the U . S . Navy , [ [ U . S . Army Air Forces ] ] , the [ [ U . S . Marine Corps ] ] , the [ [ U . S . Air Force ] ] , and the [ [ U . S . Coast Guard ] ] . The company initially built torpedo bombers for the U . S . Navy , but it developed a number of different versions of these aircraft , including [ [ reconnaissance plane ] ] s and [ [ airmail ] ] planes . Within five years , the company was building about 100 aircraft annually . Among the early employees at Douglas were [ [ Ed Heinemann ] ] , [ [ James H . Kindelberger | " Dutch " Kindelberger ] ] , and [ [ John Knudsen Northrop | Jack Northrop ] ] , who later founded the Northrop Corporation . The company retained its military market and expanded into amphibian airplanes in the late 1920s , also moving its facilities to [ [ Clover Field ] ] at Santa Monica , California . The Santa Monica complex was so large that the mail girls used [ [ roller skates ] ] to deliver the intracompany mail . By the end of World War II , Douglas had facilities at Santa Monica , El Segundo , Long Beach , and [ [ Torrance , California ] ] , Tulsa and [ [ Midwest City , Oklahoma | Midwest City ] ] , Oklahoma , and Chicago , Illinois . In [ [ 1934 in aviation | 1934 ] ] , Douglas produced a commercial [ [ twin - engine ] ] d [ [ transport plane ] ] , the [ [ Douglas DC - 2 ] ] , followed by the famous DC - 3 in [ [ 1936 in aviation | 1936 ] ] . The wide range of aircraft produced by Douglas included airliners , light and medium [ [ bomber ] ] s , [ [ fighter aircraft ] ] , transports , reconnaissance aircraft , and experimental aircraft . World War II . [ [ File : Women working at Douglas Aircraft . jpg | thumb | left | Women at work on bomber , Douglas Aircraft Company , Long Beach , California in October 1942 ] ] During [ [ World War II ] ] , Douglas joined the BVD ( Boeing - [ [ Vega Aircraft Corporation | Vega ] ] - Douglas ) consortium to produce the [ [ B - 17 Flying Fortress ] ] . After the war , Douglas built another Boeing design under license , the [ [ B - 47 Stratojet ] ] turbojet - powered bomber , using a government - owned factory in Marietta , Georgia . World War II was a major boost for Douglas . Douglas ranked fifth among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts . The company produced almost 30 , 000 aircraft from 1942 to 1945 , and its workforce swelled to 160 , 000 . The company produced a number of aircraft including the C - 47 Skytrain , the [ [ A - 20 Havoc | DB - 7 ] ] ( known as the A - 20 , Havoc or Boston ) , the [ [ SBD Dauntless ] ] [ [ dive bomber ] ] , and the [ [ A - 26 Invader ] ] . Post - war . [ [ File : douglas c47 - a skytrain n1944a cotswoldairshow 2010 arp . jpg | thumb | An ex - USAF [ [ Douglas C - 47 Skytrain | C - 47A Skytrain ] ] , the military version of the DC - 3 , on display in England in 2010 . This aircraft flew from a base in [ [ Devon , England ] ] , during the [ [ Invasion of Normandy ] ] . ] ] Douglas Aircraft suffered cutback at the end of the war , with an end to government aircraft orders and a surplus of aircraft . It was necessary to cut heavily into its workforce , letting go nearly 100 , 000 workers . The [ [ United States Army Air Forces ] ] established " Project RAND " ( Research ANd Development ) with the objective of looking into long range planning of future weapons . In March 1946 , Douglas Aircraft Company was granted the contract to research on intercontinental warfare . Project RAND later become the RAND Corporation . Douglas continued to develop new aircraft , including the successful four - engined [ [ Douglas DC - 6 ] ] ( 1946 ) and its last propeller - driven commercial aircraft , the [ [ Douglas DC - 7 ] ] ( 1953 ) . The company had moved into jet propulsion , producing its first for the U . S . Navy — the straight - winged [ [ F3D Skyknight ] ] in 1948 and then the more " jet age " style [ [ F4D Skyray ] ] in 1951 . Douglas also made commercial jets , producing the [ [ Douglas DC - 8 ] ] in 1958 to compete with the new Boeing 707 . Douglas was a pioneer in related fields , such as ejection seats , [ [ air - to - air missile ] ] s , [ [ surface - to - air missile ] ] s , and [ [ air - to - surface missile ] ] s , launch rockets , bombs and bomb racks . The company was ready to enter the new [ [ missile ] ] business during the 1950s . Douglas moved from producing air - to - air rockets and missiles to entire missile systems under the 1956 [ [ Nike missile ] ] program and became the main contractor for the [ [ GAM - 87 Skybolt | Skybolt ] ] [ [ air - launched ballistic missile ] ] program and the [ [ Thor ( rocket ) | Thor ] ] [ [ ballistic missile ] ] program . Douglas also earned contracts from NASA , notably for designing the [ [ S - IVB | S - IVB stage ] ] of the [ [ Saturn IB ] ] and Saturn V rockets . Mergers . In [ [ 1967 in aviation | 1967 ] ] , the company was struggling to expand production to meet demand for DC - 8 and [ [ McDonnell Douglas DC - 9 | DC - 9 ] ] airliners and the [ [ A - 4 Skyhawk ] ] military attack aircraft . Quality and cash flow problems , DC - 10 development costs , combined with shortages due to the [ [ Vietnam War ] ] , led Douglas to agree to a merger with McDonnell Aircraft Corporation to form McDonnell Douglas . Douglas Aircraft Company continued as a wholly owned subsidiary of McDonnell Douglas , but its space and missiles division became part of a new subsidiary called McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company . McDonnell Douglas later merged with its rival Boeing in 1997 . Boeing combined the Douglas Aircraft Company with the Boeing Commercial Airplanes division , ending more than 75 years of Douglas Aircraft Company history . The last Long Beach - built commercial aircraft , the [ [ Boeing 717 ] ] ( a third generation version of the Douglas DC - 9 ) , ceased production in May 2006 . As of 2011 , the [ [ C - 17 Globemaster III ] ] is the last aircraft being assembled at the Long Beach facility . Aircraft . [ [ File : Douglas - DC3 - - - Catalina . 1024 . jpg | thumb | right | [ [ Douglas DC - 3 ] ] ] ] [ [ File : DC - 6 . jpg | thumb | right | [ [ Douglas DC - 6 ] ] ] ] [ [ File : Douglas DC 6 , SAS , SE - BDC , Kodachrome by Chalmers Butterfield . jpg | thumb | right | Passengers disembarking from a SAS DC - 6 ] ] External links . [ [ Category : Douglas Aircraft Company | 01 ] ] [ [ Category : Aerospace companies of the United States ] ] [ [ Category : Manufacturing companies based in California ] ] [ [ Category : Defense companies of the United States ] ] [ [ Category : Companies based in Long Beach , California ] ] [ [ Category : History of Santa Monica , California ] ] [ [ Category : Companies established in 1921 ] ] [ [ Category : Defunct companies based in California ] ] [ [ Category : Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States ] ] [ [ Category : McDonnell Douglas mergers and acquisitions ] ] [ [ Category : Visitor attractions in Long Beach , California ] ]