Founded in 1920, the Douglas Aircraft Company was heavily involved in the development of civil aviation. It opened aircraft plants across North America throughout the twenties, until the Crash of ‘29 shattered the company and drove CEO Donald Douglas to the brink of bankruptcy. Faced with rising debts, Douglas had little choice but to enter into partnership with Chicago financier Albert Whittly, whose business acumen and hard-nosed policies had saved his own Racine Bank. The partnership prompted the relocation of the company headquarters to Chicago, but Whittly & Douglas remained low on operating capital despite the financier’s involvement.

The collapse of the USA in 1930 deepened the company’s financial crisis, as the sudden halt of inter-state trade crippled company operations. Salvation came in the unlikely person of Hollywood entrepreneur Howard Hughes, who had formed his own aircraft company just before the Crash. Hughes offered to purchase the Douglas plant at Clover Field in Santa Monica, and the capital from this transaction allowed Douglas to claw its way out of the Great Depression. The first new aircraft produced by the company since the Crash"the civilian DC-2 Iroquois"entered service in 1931, followed in 1933 by Whittly & Douglas’ first military plane, the M210 Raven fighter-bomber. A dedicated fighter, the F370 Vulture, entered service in 1935.

Whittly-Douglas currently operates three plants: one in Chicago, Illinois (ISA), one in Oklahoma City and one in Tulsa, Oklahoma (Republic of Texas).