Battles & Wars › Between the wars › Arsenal of Democracy: US war production
Douglas Aircraft (SBD Dauntless, C-47)
founded 1921; McDonnell Douglas 1967· Arms maker, factory or program· Arms makers & war industry
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
Santa Monica aircraft maker founded by Donald Douglas in 1921, builder of the SBD Dauntless dive bomber and the C-47 transport.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Donald Douglas founded his company in 1921; its World Cruisers flew around the world in 1924, and its 1935 DC-3 airliner made air travel profitable. In World War II its military version, the C-47 Skytrain, carried troops and cargo worldwide, and more than 10,000 were built. Douglas also built the SBD Dauntless, the A-20 and A-26 bombers, and B-17s under license: about 29,000 aircraft in 1942–45, with roughly 160,000 workers at its peak.
Why it matters
It built about a tenth of US warplanes in World War II, and its transports showed that moving troops and supplies by air could shape campaigns.
How we know
Company production records, US Army Air Forces and Navy records, and aircraft that survive in museums and, in a few cases, still fly.
Connections (4)
▸Douglas Aircraft (SBD Dauntless, C-47) built the dive bombers that won the Battle of MidwayWell documented
The connection
On June 4, 1942, SBD Dauntless dive bombers from the carriers Enterprise and Yorktown found the Japanese fleet just after its fighters had come down low to meet American torpedo planes. In a few minutes they wrecked Akagi, Kaga and Sōryū; later SBDs sank Hiryū. Douglas's slower TBD torpedo bombers were mostly shot down.
When and how
Near Midway Atoll, central Pacific, June 4, 1942; Lieutenant Commanders Wade McClusky and Maxwell Leslie, Lieutenant Richard Best; Douglas's El Segundo plant built the SBD.
How we know
US Navy action reports, Japanese records, and studies such as Parshall and Tully's Shattered Sword (2005), which corrected earlier myths.
Debates and open questions
How much the torpedo squadrons' sacrifice set up the dive bombers' success, and how much was luck, is still debated.
▸Douglas Aircraft (SBD Dauntless, C-47) built the C-47s that dropped paratroopers before D-Day (Normandy landings)Well documented
The connection
On the night of June 5–6, 1944, over 800 Douglas C-47s, which the British called Dakotas, carried about 13,000 American paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions to Normandy, while others dropped British paratroopers. Clouds and anti-aircraft fire scattered many drops, but the paratroopers seized roads and bridges behind the beaches.
When and how
Airfields in southern England to the Cotentin Peninsula and east of the Orne River, Normandy, June 5–6, 1944; US IX Troop Carrier Command and RAF transport groups.
How we know
Troop carrier records, airborne divisions' after-action reports and veterans' accounts.
Debates and open questions
Whether the scattered drops helped by confusing German commanders, or mainly hurt the attack, is debated.
▸Douglas Aircraft (SBD Dauntless, C-47) became, via McDonnell Douglas, part of BoeingWell documented
The connection
Douglas fell behind Boeing in jet airliners and ran short of cash, so in 1967 it merged with St. Louis fighter maker McDonnell Aircraft, builder of the F-4 Phantom. McDonnell Douglas went on to produce the F-15, F/A-18 and C-17. In 1997, amid post-Cold War consolidation, Boeing bought it for about $13 billion.
When and how
Long Beach, California, and St. Louis, Missouri; merger of 1967; Boeing deal announced December 1996 and completed August 1997.
How we know
Corporate filings and the US and European regulators' reviews of the 1997 merger.
Debates and open questions
Many analysts argue McDonnell Douglas executives' cost-cutting culture reshaped Boeing for the worse; others dispute it.
▸RAND Corporation was spun off in 1948 from Douglas Aircraft (SBD Dauntless, C-47)Well documented
The connection
Project RAND started in 1946 as a unit inside Douglas Aircraft, paid by the Army Air Forces. Rival aircraft makers objected that Douglas gained an edge by hosting the Air Force's advisers, and RAND chafed under company control. In 1948, with Ford Foundation help, it became an independent nonprofit.
When and how
Santa Monica, California, 1946–1948; Douglas engineer Frank Collbohm, who became RAND's first president, and Army Air Forces General Henry 'Hap' Arnold.
How we know
RAND's own institutional histories, Air Force contract records and the 1948 incorporation documents.
Debates and open questions
How independent a think tank funded mostly by the Air Force could truly be was questioned from the start.