Background
Mcdonnell, James Smith was born on April 9, 1899 in Denver, Colorado, United States. Son of James Smith and Susan Belle (Hunter) M.
entrepreneur Aerospace engineer
Mcdonnell, James Smith was born on April 9, 1899 in Denver, Colorado, United States. Son of James Smith and Susan Belle (Hunter) M.
Bachelor of Science, Princeton, 1921. Master of Science in Aeronautical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute Technology, 1925. Graduated from Army Air Corps Flying School, San Antonio, 1923-1924.
Doctor of Engineering, Washington University, Saint Louis, 1958, Doctor of Medicine 1977.
Doctor of Engineering, U. Missouri at Rolla, 1957. Doctor of Laws, Princeton, 1960, U. Arkansas, 1965.
Doctor of Science, Clarkson College, 1976.
He was a graduate of Princeton University class of 1921, and earned a Master"s of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1925. While attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology he joined the Delta Upsilon Fraternity. After graduating from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he was hired by Tom Towle for the Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company.
In 1927, he was hired by the Hamilton Metalplane Company to develop similar metal monplanes.
He then went on to Huff Daland Airplane Company. In 1928, McDonnell left Huff Daland and set up J.S. McDonnell & Associates, and with the help of two other engineers, McDonnell set out to design his first aircraft with his company name.
This aircraft would then compete in a safe airplane contest sponsored by the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics and offered a $100,000 prize for the winning entry. His design was the Doodle Bug.
McDonnell resigned from Martin in 1938 and founded McDonnell Aircraft Corporation in 1939.
Headquartered in Saint Louis, the company quickly grew into a principal supplier of fighter aircraft to the United States. Air Force and United States. Navy, including the F-4 Phantom II fighter and the Mercury and Gemini space capsules. In 1967, McDonnell Aircraft merged with the Douglas Aircraft Company to create McDonnell Douglas. Later that year Douglas Aircraft Company"s space and missiles division became part of a new subsidiary called McDonnell Douglas Astronautics, located in Huntington Beach, California, producing the Delta series of launch vehicles.
The new combined company also developed the F-15 Eagle and F/A-18 Hornet fighters.
He served as chairman of the United Nations Association of the United States, and in 1958 his company became the first organization in the world to celebrate United Nations Day as a paid holiday. In 1980 McDonnell was awarded the National Academy of Sciences, USA Award in Aeronautical Engineering from the National Academy of Sciences.
McDonnell founded the James South. McDonnell Foundation in 1950, which supports scientific, educational, and charitable causes on a local, national, and international level The McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences is named after him, which he co-founded - established in 1974.
McDonnell Park in Saint Louis County is named in honor of James Smith McDonnell, as are the McDonnell Planetarium of the Saint Louis Science Center in Forest Park, the James South. McDonnell classroom and laboratory building at Princeton University, the James South McDonnell Hall at Washington University in Street Louis, and James South. McDonnell Boulevard near Lambert-Saint Louis International Airport.
The Arkansas Aviation Historical Society selected McDonnell in 1980 as one of five initial inductees in the Arkansas Aviation Hall of Fame.
Member advisory council Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington. Member Civic Progress, Incorporated., Saint Louis. Board of directors Atlantic Council, Population Crisic Committee, United Nations Association United States of America.
Fellow American Institute Aeronautics an Astronautics (honorary).
Member Saint Louis Chamber of Commerce, Saint Louis Committee Foreign Relations, Missouri Academy Squires. Clubs: Log Cabin, Old Warson Country, Noonday, University, Racquet, Saint Louis Country, Bellerive Country, Saint Louis, Washington University, Missouri Athletic (Saint Louis).
Married Mary Elizabeth Finney, June 30, 1934 (deceased. Married second, Priscilla Brush Forney, April. Children: James Smith III, John Finney.