New Ektachrome 35mm

[Sal Santamaura]

Hey! I worked on the (engineering development) flight simulator for MD-95 too. I wonder....did we work in the same building, for the same people?

No, Brad, I was in the training simulator department, and barely got a toe into MD-95 before my transfer.

Those (seven) years in commercial flight training device engineering were the most enjoyable of a 36-year career. Still not as nice as retirement, however.

[tuco]

Thanks for that memory. The MD-95 was my last commercial flight simulator involvement at McDonnell Douglas before we became Boeing...

From some Boeing employees perspective on that buyout, things changed there. Lots of Douglas people ended up in management positions throughout. It was a common saying McDonnell Douglas took over Boeing with Boeing money. And arguably things were not for the better in the commercial world, anyway.

[Bob Salomon]

From some Boeing employees perspective on that buyout, things changed there. Lots of Douglas people ended up in management positions throughout. It was a common saying McDonnell Douglas took over Boeing with Boeing money. And arguably things were not for the better in the commercial world, anyway.

Happened in the photo industry as well. When I was with Rollei of America ROA in NJ bought Honeywell Photographic in Denver and then all Rollei salesmen and all upper management at ROA were replaced by Honeywell people and the ROA office in NJ was moved to Denver and no ROA employees were transferred except for the service center owner.

[Sal Santamaura]

From some Boeing employees perspective on that buyout, things changed there. Lots of Douglas people ended up in management positions throughout. It was a common saying McDonnell Douglas took over Boeing with Boeing money. And arguably things were not for the better in the commercial world, anyway.

You describe the perspective of Boeing Puget Sound commercial employees, and refer to corporate executive management changes. In Long Beach, a different situation prevailed. Former Rockwell (which Boeing also "absorbed") employees came to dominate management. Commercial operations shriveled up and died completely. I told colleagues at the time of the merger that "Boeing didn't buy McDonnell Douglas to operate a competing commercial aircraft manufacturer. Wait and you'll see."

It's worth noting that the recently fired (as a result of 737 Max "issues") Muilenburg was a Puget Sound heritage Boeing manager.

[MultiFormat Shooter]

I always thought that aircraft would have been a great seller and performer for customers, but, in my opinion, marketing in Seattle failed to sell the product since it competed with "their" 737, essentially killing it off. Sad.

And, ironically, Delta has glomed on to every 717 they can get their hands on. They seem love it for the 100-110 seat short and mid-range markets.

[goamules]

From some Boeing employees perspective on that buyout, things changed there. Lots of Douglas people ended up in management positions throughout. It was a common saying McDonnell Douglas took over Boeing with Boeing money. And arguably things were not for the better in the commercial world, anyway.

We had the opposite view. I worked for McDonnell Douglas as a Stealth Fighter training manager. Everyone I worked around was fighter pilots, most from Vietnam. MCD made good fighters from the F-4 Phantom to the F-15. Then the big commercial company that had not made a fighter since the 1930s took them over. The guys I worked with shook their heads, that it would go from a fighter company to a "heavies" company. And it did. Now Boeing is pretty much the Microsoft of the aerospace world.

[tuco]

... Muilenburg was a Puget Sound heritage Boeing manager.

Those guys have been in Chicago for long time now. IMHO, the 787 program demonstrated how far removed they are from how things work. And also designing your product primarily for sheer with lots of transition to interference fit holes means slapping together an airplane like an automobile on a moving line is not the same thing.