Sky Master

The Story of Donald Douglas

This book, originally published in 1943, is a biographical account of Donald Douglas (1892-1981), the influential American aircraft industrialist, engineer and aviation pioneer who designed and built the Douglas Cloudster—the first airplane with a payload greater than its own weight. Douglas was the founder of the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1921 (the company later merged into McDonnell Douglas Corporation) and, under his leadership, the company became one of the leaders of the commercial aircraft industry, engaging in a decades-long struggle for supremacy with arch-rival William Boeing and the company he founded, Boeing. A gripping read for aviation enthusiasts.