Background
Raymond, Arthur Emmons was born on March 24, 1899 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Raymond, Arthur Emmons was born on March 24, 1899 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Bachelor of Science, Harvard University, 1920. Master of Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1921. Doctor of Science (honorary), Polytechnic Institute Brooklyn, 1947.
Raymond spent his entire career at the Douglas Aircraft Company. Beginning as a metal fitter, he rose to the rank of Chief Engineer, contributing to the design of all Douglas airliners from the District of Columbia-2 to the District of Columbia-8. During World World War II, he helped managed the huge effort that produced tens of thousands of aircraft for that war.
Raymond is best known as the lead designer of the District of Columbia-3, "The Plane That Changed the World," the first airliner that could break even hauling passengers without a government subsidy and without carrying mail.
The military equivalent of the District of Columbia-3 was the C-47. In Europe, the District of Columbia-3 was known as the "Dakota." Raymond"s grandson Stephen has said: "In the District of Columbia-3, he did almost everything.
He knew every bolt and screw in that plane." About 10,600 District of Columbia-3s and C-47s were eventually built between 1934 and 1945, making it the most produced airliner of all time. At the time of Raymond"s death, about 2,000 District of Columbia-3s were still flying and about 400 were still in commercial service.
After retiring from Douglas in 1960, National Aeronautics and Space Administration put Raymond in charge of supervising the outside contractors on Project Gemini and Project Apollo until 1969.
When Boeing and other aerospace firms proposed in the late 1960s to build a supersonic airliner with substantial subsidies from the United States government, Raymond argued that the plane was not commercially viable. The United States of America government ceased subsidizing the design of the American supersonic transport in 1971, whereupon it died. At the end of World World War II, Raymond proposed to the United States Air Force that they create an organization to think about intercontinental warfare.
That organization became the Rand Corporation, of which he was a founding member.
He died just 2 days before his 100th birthday. They depended on him to unearth the things that were wrong from the spinmeisters who were saying everything was dandy.".
Trustee Aerospace Corporation, 1960-1971, Research Analysis Corporation, 1965-1971. Fellow American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (honorary). Member National Academy of Sciences, National Academy Engineering.