s merger with boeing in 1997 a simplified version of this logo was added to the boeing logo . industry aerospace fate merged with boeing predecessor mcdonnell aircraft douglas aircraft company successor the boeing company founded 28 april 1967 defunct 1 august 1997 date of merger 1 headquarters berkeley missouri united states products aircraft website mdc.com archived copy 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 30 years later it produced a number of well known commercial and military aircraft such as the dc 10 airliner and f 15 eagle air superiority fighter . the corporation was based at lambert st. louis international airport near st. louis missouri while the headquarters for its subsidiary the mcdonnell douglas technical services company mdtsc were established in unincorporated st. louis county missouri . 2 contents 1 history 1.1 background 1.2 formation 1.3 1970 1980 1.4 1980 1989 1.5 1990 1997 2 products 2.1 military airplanes 2.2 commercial airplanes 2.3 experimental aircraft 2.4 proposed models 2.5 helicopters 2.6 manned spacecraft 2.7 computer systems 2.8 missiles and rockets 3 commercial deliveries 4 key people 5 footnotes 6 references 7 further reading 8 external links history edit background edit main articles mcdonnell aircraft corporation and douglas aircraft company the company was formed from the firms of james smith mcdonnell and donald wills douglas in 1967 . both men were of scottish ancestry graduates of mit and had worked for the aircraft manufacturer glenn l. martin company . 3 douglas f3d skyknight douglas had been chief engineer at martin before leaving to establish davis douglas company in early 1920 in los angeles . he bought out his backer and renamed the firm the douglas aircraft company in 1921 . 4 mcdonnell founded j.s. mcdonnell & associates in milwaukee wisconsin in 1926 . his idea was to produce a personal aircraft for family use . the economic depression from 1929 ruined his ideas and the company collapsed . he worked at three companies with the final being glenn martin company in 1933 . he left martin in 1938 to try again with his own firm mcdonnell aircraft corporation this time based at lambert field outside st. louis missouri . 5 world war ii was a major earner for douglas . the company produced almost 30 000 aircraft douglas dc 3 from 1942 to 1945 and the workforce swelled to 160 000 . both companies suffered at the end of hostilities facing an end of government orders and a surplus of aircraft . thor able with pioneer 1 at cape canaveral florida after the war douglas continued to develop new aircraft including the dc 6 in 1946 and the dc 7 in 1953 . 6 7 the company moved into jet propulsion producing its first for the military the conventional f3d skyknight in 1948 and then the more jet age f4d skyray in 1951 . 8 in 1955 douglas introduced the first attack jet of the united states navy with the a4d skyhawk . 9 designed to operate from the decks of the world war ii essex class aircraft carriers the skyhawk was small reliable and tough . variants of it continued in use in the navy for almost 50 years 10 finally serving in large numbers in a two seat version as a jet trainer . 11 douglas dc 8 douglas also made commercial jets producing the dc 8 in 1958 to compete with the boeing 707 . 12 13 mcdonnell was also developing jets but being smaller it was prepared to be more radical building on its successful fh 1 phantom to become a major supplier to the navy with the f2h banshee and f3h demon ; and producing the f 101 voodoo for the united states air force usaf . 14 15 the korean war era banshee and later the f 4 phantom ii produced during the vietnam war helped push mcdonnell into a major military fighter supply role . 16 douglas created a series of experimental high speed jet aircraft in the skyrocket family with the skyrocket db ii being the first aircraft to travel at twice the speed of sound in 1953 . both companies were eager to enter the new missile business douglas moving from producing air to air rockets and missiles to entire missile systems under the 1956 nike program and becoming the main contractor of the skybolt albm program and the thor ballistic missile program . 17 18 mcdonnell made a number of missiles including the unusual adm 20 quail 19 as well as experimenting with hypersonic flight research that enabled it to gain a substantial share of the nasa projects mercury and gemini . douglas also gained contracts from nasa notably for part of the enormous saturn v rocket . 20 21 the two companies were now major employers but both were having problems . douglas was strained by the cost of the dc 8 and dc 9 while mcdonnell suffered lean times during any downturns in military procurement . the two companies began to sound each other out about a merger . inquiries began in 1963 ; douglas offered bid invitations from december 1966 and accepted that of mcdonnell . 22 the two firms were officially merged on 28 april 1967 as the mcdonnell douglas corporation mdc . 23 the two companies were a good fit for each other . mcdonnell was primarily a defense contractor while douglas sold mostly civil aircraft . formation edit mcdonnell douglas dc 10 mcdonnell douglas retained mcdonnell aircraft s headquarters location at lambert st. louis international airport in berkeley missouri 24 25 26 27 28 near st. louis . in 1967 with the merger of mcdonnell and douglas aircraft david lewis then president of mcdonnell was named chairman of what was called the long beach douglas aircraft division . at the time of the merger douglas aircraft was estimated to be less than a year from bankruptcy . flush with orders the dc 8 and dc 9 aircraft were 9 to 18 months behind schedule incurring stiff penalties from the airlines . lewis was active in dc 10 sales in an intense competition with lockheed s l 1011 a rival tri jet aircraft . 29 30 31 in two years lewis had the operation back on track and in positive cash flow . he returned to the company s st. louis headquarters where he continued sales efforts on the dc 10 and managed the company as a whole as president and chief operating officer through 1971 . the dc 10 began production in 1968 with the first deliveries in 1971 . 32 several artists impressions exist of an aircraft named the dc 10 twin or dc x which mcdonnell douglas considered in the early 1970s but never built . 33 34 this would have been an early twinjet similar to the later airbus a300 but never progressed to a prototype . this could have given mcdonnell douglas an early lead in the huge twinjet market that subsequently developed as well as commonality with much of the dc 10 s systems . 35 1970 1980 edit usaf f 15c during an operation noble eagle patrol in 1977 the next generation of dc 9 variants dubbed the super 80 later renamed the md 80 series was launched . 36 kc 10 extender during refueling in 1977 the kc 10 extender was the second mcdonnell douglas transport aircraft to be selected for use by the us air force ; 37 the first being the c 9 nightingale skytrain ii . through the years of the cold war mcdonnell douglas had introduced and manufactured dozens of successful military aircraft including the f 15 eagle in 1974 38 the f a 18 hornet in 1978 39 and other products such as the harpoon and tomahawk missiles . the oil crisis of the 1970s was a serious shock to the commercial aviation industry as a major manufacturer of commercial aircraft at the time mcdonnell douglas was hit by the economic shift and forced to contract heavily while diversifying into new areas to reduce the impact of potential future downturns . citation needed 1980 1989 edit in 1984 mcdonnell douglas expanded into helicopters by purchasing hughes helicopters from the summa corporation for 470 million . 40 hughes helicopters was made a subsidiary initially and renamed mcdonnell douglas helicopter systems in august 1984 . 41 mcdonnell douglas helicopters s most successful product was the hughes designed ah 64 apache attack helicopter . 42 43 in 1986 md 11 was launched an improved and upgraded version of dc 10 . 44 45 46 47 the md 11 was the most advanced trijet aircraft to be developed . it sold 200 units but was discontinued in 2001 after the merger with boeing as it competed with the boeing 777 . 44 48 49 50 the final commercial aircraft design to be made by mcdonnell douglas came in 1988 . the md 90 was a stretched version of the md 80 46 equipped with international aero engines v2500 turbofans the largest rear mounted engines ever on a commercial jet . the md 95 a modern regional airliner closely resembling the dc 9 30 was the last mcdonnell douglas designed commercial jet produced . 51 52 on 13 january 1988 mcdonnell douglas and general dynamics won the us navy advanced tactical aircraft ata contract . the us 4.83 billion contract was to develop the a 12 avenger ii a stealth carrier based long range flying wing attack aircraft that would replace the a 6 intruder . in january 1989 robert hood was appointed to lead mcdonnell douglas replacing retiring worsham . mcdonnell douglas then introduced a major reorganization called the total quality management system tqms . tqms ended the functional setup where engineers with specific expertise in aerodynamics structural mechanics materials and other technical areas worked on several different aircraft . this was replaced by a product oriented system where they focus on one specific airplane . as part of reorganization 5 000 managerial and supervisory positions were eliminated at douglas . the former managers could apply for 2 800 newly created posts ; the remaining 2 200 would lose their managerial responsibilities . 53 the reorganization reportedly led to widespread loss of morale at the company and tqms was nicknamed time to quit and move to seattle by employees referring to the competitor boeing headquartered in seattle wa . 54 1990 1997 edit technical issues development cost overruns growing unit costs and delays led to the termination of the a 12 avenger ii program on 13 january 1991 by defense secretary dick cheney . years of litigation would proceed over the contract s termination the government claimed that the contractors had defaulted on the contract and were not entitled to the final progress payments while mcdonnell douglas and general dynamics believed that the contract was terminated out of convenience and thus the money was owed . 55 the case was contested through litigation until a settlement was reached in january 2014 . the chaos and financial stress created by the collapse of the a 12 program led to the layoff of 5 600 employees . 56 the advanced tactical aircraft role vacated by the a 12 debacle would be filled by another mcdonnell douglas program the f a 18e f super hornet . 39 57 however the purchasing of aircraft was curtailed as the cold war came to an abrupt end in the 1990s . this curtailment in military procurements combined with the loss of the contracts for two major projects the advanced tactical fighter and joint strike fighter severely hurt mcdonnell douglas . 48 58 mcdonnell douglas built only a small wind tunnel test model . 59 60 in 1991 md 11 was not quite a success ongoing tests of the md 11 revealed a significant