James McDonnell founded J.S. McDonnell & Associates in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1928 to produce a
small aircraft for family use. The economic depression from 1929 ruined his plans and the company collapsed. He went to work for
Glenn L. Martin. He left in 1938 to try again with his own firm, McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, based at
St. Louis, Missouri, in 1939. McDonnell also developed the
LBD-1 Gargoyle guided missile. McDonnell Aircraft suffered after the war with an end of government orders and a surplus of aircraft, and heavily cut its workforce. The advent of the
Korean War helped push McDonnell into a major military fighter supply role. in 1948 In 1943, McDonnell began developing jets when they were invited to bid in a
US Navy contest and eventually built the successful
FH-1 Phantom in the postwar era. The Phantom introduced McDonnell's telltale design with engines placed forward under the fuselage and exiting just behind the wing, a layout that was used successfully on the
F2H Banshee,
F3H Demon, and the
F-101 Voodoo.
David S. Lewis joined the company as Chief of Aerodynamics in 1946. He led the development of the legendary
F-4 Phantom II in 1954, which was introduced into service in 1960. Lewis became Executive Vice President in 1958, and finally became President and Chief Operating Officer in 1962. McDonnell made a number of missiles, including the pioneering Gargoyle and unusual
ADM-20 Quail, as well as experimenting with hypersonic flight, research that enabled them to gain a substantial share of the
NASA projects
Mercury and
Gemini. The success of the Mercury capsule led the company adopted a new logo features the capsule circling a globe with the motto "First Free Man in Space". McDonnell management dominated the merged company. It was based at McDonnell's facility in St. Louis, with James McDonnell as chairman and CEO. In 1967, with the merger of McDonnell and Douglas Aircraft, David Lewis, then president of McDonnell, was named chairman of what was called the Douglas Aircraft Division. After managing the turnaround of the division, he returned to St. Louis in 1969 as president of McDonnell Douglas. McDonnell Douglas later merged with
Boeing in August 1997. Boeing's
defense and space division includes the part purchased from Rockwell (ROK) in 1986 and is based at the former McDonnell facility in St. Louis, and is responsible for
defense and
space products and services. McDonnell Douglas' legacy product programs include the
F-15 Eagle,
AV-8B Harrier II,
F/A-18 Hornet, and
F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. ==Products==