James Smith McDonnell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (September 2007)

James Smith McDonnell
Born	April 9, 1899
Died	August 22, 1980
Known for	McDonnell Douglas

James Smith McDonnell (April 9, 1899 - August 22, 1980) was an aviation pioneer and founder of McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, later McDonnell Douglas.

McDonnell (or "Mac" as he was often referred) was a graduate of Princeton University and earned a Master's of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from MIT. While attending MIT he joined the Delta Upsilon Fraternity. After graduating from MIT, he worked for the Huff Daland Airplane Company and Glenn L. Martin Company. He resigned from Martin in 1938 and founded McDonnell Aircraft Corporation in 1939.

Headquartered in St. Louis, the company quickly grew into the principal supplier of fighter aircraft to the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. In 1950, he founded the James S. McDonnell Foundation to "improve the quality of life," and does so by contributing to the generation of new knowledge through its support of research and scholarship.

McDonnell was, by some accounts, a believer in the occult, and many of his aircraft were given names of supernatural beings or practices (such as phantom, demon, goblin, banshee, and voodoo)^[1].

McDonnell Aircraft merged with the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. The McDonnell corporate heritage now rests with Boeing which merged with McDonnell Douglas in 1997, including the St. Louis plant that produces the F-15 Eagle and F/A-18 Hornet / F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters.

[edit] Family/Descendants

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

[edit] Notes

Persondata
NAME	McDonnell, James Smith
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Aerospace pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH	April 9, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH	August 22, 1980
PLACE OF DEATH