James Smith "Mac" McDonnell (April 9, 1899 - August 22, 1980) was an American aviation

Aviation

Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...

 pioneer and founder of McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, later McDonnell Douglas

McDonnell Douglas

McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It formed from a merger of McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft in 1967. McDonnell Douglas was based at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport...

.

Early life

Born in Denver, Colorado, McDonnell was raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was a graduate of Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

, and earned a Master's of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from MIT

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

. While attending MIT he joined the Delta Upsilon

Delta Upsilon

Delta Upsilon is the sixth oldest international, all-male, college Greek-letter organization, and is the oldest non-secret fraternity in North America...

 Fraternity. After graduating from MIT, he worked for the Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company

Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company

Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer founded by William Bushnell Stout. The company was purchased by Ford Motor Company in 1924 and produced the Ford Trimotor. In the height of the Depression, Ford closed the aircraft design and production...

. Tom Towle

Thomas Towle (engineer)

Thomas Towle was an American aircraft designer in charge of developing the Ford Trimotor.- Early life :Towle was raised in Dayton, Ohio and graduated Yale university in 1920...

 hired MIT graduate Otto C. Koppen

Otto C. Koppen

- MIT :Koppen was the professor emeritus of aeronautical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1929 Koppen returned to teach stability and control at MIT, where he remained until his retirement in 1965 As part of the course, Koppen took students up in a Fairchild 24 to...

, John Lee, and James Smith McDonnell. He went on to Huff Daland Airplane Company.

Career

In 1928 McDonnell left Huff Daland and set up J.S. McDonnell & Associates to designed his first aircraft with his company name with the help of two other engineers, that was to compete in a safe airplane contest sponsored by the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics that offered a $100,000 prize. His design was the Doodle Bug

McDonnell Doodlebug

-External links:*...

. After the failure of the Doodle Bug to win the contest (ie the Curtiss Tanager

Curtiss Tanager

|-See also:-References:* -External links:*** detailed illustration Tanager's safety low speed and short take off and landing ability* detailed text article and excellent photo of Tanager*...

 won) or any commercial orders due to the Great Depression, he dissolved his firm and worked for the Great Lakes Aircraft Company

Great Lakes Aircraft Company

Great Lakes Aircraft Company is an aircraft manufacturer known for the 2T-1A Sport Trainer biplane. The company has a long history of building both private and military aircraft.- Origins :...

 in 1931 before he was hired as an engineer for the Glenn L. Martin Company

Glenn L. Martin Company

The Glenn L. Martin Company was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company that was founded by the aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin. The Martin Company produced many important aircraft for the defense of the United States and its allies, especially during World War II and the Cold War...

.

He resigned from Martin in 1938

1938 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1938:- Events :* Imperial Airways inaugurates scheduled service from London to Montreal. Pan American World Airways is banned from British airports out of fears that more advanced U.S...

 and founded McDonnell Aircraft Corporation in 1939

1939 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1939:-Events:* Kawasaki Heavy Industries transfers its aircraft engine production business to its subsidiary, the Kawasaki Aircraft Engineering Company Ltd....

. Headquartered in St. Louis

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

, the company quickly grew into the principal supplier of fighter aircraft

Fighter aircraft

A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...

 to the U.S. Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 and U.S. Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, including the F-4 Phantom II

F-4 Phantom II

The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a tandem two-seat, twin-engined, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor fighter/fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. It first entered service in 1960 with the U.S. Navy. Proving highly adaptable,...

. the Mercury

Project Mercury

In January 1960 NASA awarded Western Electric Company a contract for the Mercury tracking network. The value of the contract was over $33 million. Also in January, McDonnell delivered the first production-type Mercury spacecraft, less than a year after award of the formal contract. On February 12,...

 and Gemini

Project Gemini

Project Gemini was the second human spaceflight program of NASA, the civilian space agency of the United States government. Project Gemini was conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, with ten manned flights occurring in 1965 and 1966....

 space capsules, and later the F-15 Eagle

F-15 Eagle

The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is a twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter designed by McDonnell Douglas to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat. It is considered among the most successful modern fighters with over 100 aerial combat victories with no losses in dogfights...

 and F/A-18 Hornet

F/A-18 Hornet

The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is a supersonic, all-weather carrier-capable multirole fighter jet, designed to dogfight and attack ground targets . Designed by McDonnell Douglas and Northrop, the F/A-18 was derived from the latter's YF-17 in the 1970s for use by the United States Navy and...

 / F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

The Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is a twin-engine carrier-based multirole fighter aircraft. The F/A-18E single-seat variant and F/A-18F tandem-seat variant are larger and more advanced derivatives of the F/A-18C and D Hornet. The Super Hornet has an internal 20 mm gun and can carry air-to-air...

 fighters.

In 1967 McDonnell Aircraft merged with the Douglas Aircraft Company

Douglas Aircraft Company

The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer, based in Long Beach, California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas...

 of Long Beach, California

Long Beach, California

Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...

, creating McDonnell Douglas

McDonnell Douglas

McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It formed from a merger of McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft in 1967. McDonnell Douglas was based at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport...

, which in 1997 merged with Boeing

Boeing

The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...

 of Seattle, Washington. In 1967 Douglas Aircraft Company's space and missiles division became part of a new subsidiary called McDonnell Douglas Astronautics

McDonnell Douglas

McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It formed from a merger of McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft in 1967. McDonnell Douglas was based at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport...

, located in Huntington Beach, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, producing the Delta series of launch vehicles.

McDonnell founded the James S. McDonnell Foundation

James S. McDonnell Foundation

The James S. McDonnell Foundation was founded in 1950 by aerospace pioneer James S. McDonnell. It was established to "improve the quality of life," and does so by contributing to the generation of new knowledge through its support of research and scholarship. Originally called the McDonnell...

 in 1950 to "improve the quality of life", which contributed to the generation of new knowledge through its support of research and scholarship. Serving as chairman of the United Nations Association of the United States, in 1958 his company became the first organization in the world to celebrate United Nations Day as a paid holiday. In 1980 McDonnell was awarded the NAS Award in Aeronautical Engineering

NAS Award in Aeronautical Engineering

The NAS Award in Aeronautical Engineering is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for excellence in the field of aeronautical engineering." Established by Jerome C. Hunsaker and his wife, it was first awarded in 1968....

 from the National Academy of Sciences

United States National Academy of Sciences

The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...

.

Personal life

McDonnell preferred to keep his company in the family, and a number of his relatives were prominent in it. His nephew, Sanford McDonnell, became its chairman. James McDonnell was married twice. His first marriage, to Mary Elizabeth Finney, took place in Baltimore, Maryland, on June 30, 1934. They had two children, James Smith McDonnell, III, born January 28, 1936, and John Finney McDonnell, born March 18, 1938. Mary McDonnell died on July 6, 1949. He married Priscilla Brush Forney on April 1, 1956, and adopted her three children from a previous marriage.

McDonnell was, by some accounts, a believer in the occult

Occult

The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...

, as shown by giving many of his aircraft occult names such as phantom, demon

Demon

call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...

, goblin

Goblin

A goblin is a legendary evil or mischievous illiterate creature, a grotesquely evil or evil-like phantom.They are attributed with various abilities, temperaments and appearances depending on the story and country of origin. In some cases, goblins have been classified as constantly annoying little...

, banshee

Banshee

The banshee , from the Irish bean sí is a feminine spirit in Irish mythology, usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld....

, and voodoo.

Tributes

McDonnell Park

McDonnell Park

McDonnell Park is a county park in unincorporated Central St. Louis County between the cities of Overland, St. Ann, Creve Coeur and Maryland Heights. The park is named in honor of James S. McDonnell founder of McDonnell Douglas Aircraft.-History:...

 in St. Louis County

St. Louis County, Missouri

St. Louis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. Its county seat is Clayton. St. Louis County is part of the St. Louis Metro Area wherein the independent City of St. Louis and its suburbs in St. Louis County, as well as the surrounding counties in both Missouri and Illinois all...

 is named in honor of James Smith McDonnell, as are the McDonnell Planetarium of the Saint Louis Science Center in Forest Park

Forest Park (St. Louis)

Forest Park is a public park located in western part of the city of St. Louis, Missouri. It is a prominent civic center and covers . The park, which opened in 1876 more than a decade after its proposal, has hosted several significant events, including the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 and...

, and James S. McDonnell Boulevard near Lambert-St. Louis International Airport

Lambert-St. Louis International Airport

Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is a Class B international airport serving Greater St. Louis. It is located approximately northwest of downtown St. Louis in unincorporated St. Louis County between Berkeley and Bridgeton. It is the largest and busiest airport in the state with 250 daily...

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