Howdy all,
I just flew back from HNL to LAX on NWA 930 (a DC10-30) on 29 Oct and I met someone pretty interesting...
I saw this elderly gentleman peeking around the corner of the terminal building to see an ATA B757-300 push back and he muttered something about that airplane looking like a stretch DC-8 because it was so long.
I got to talking to him and explained what airplane that was and told him I worked for an airline as a maintenance technician and he said that he used to work on them too albeit years and years ago.
He opened up his billfold and took out one of his business cards and it read Harold W. Adams, McDonnell Douglas Corp. "Chief Designer"
He went on to explain that he had worked for Douglas from the 1930s till 1970 something and was the Chief Design Engineer on the DC-9 and DC-10 programs as well as worked on all the other "DC" programs in the past in varying capacities..
He has since retired to the Philippines and was traveling to Long Beach for a reunion of old Douglas Employees.
I was lucky enough to sit behind him on our flight back to the mainland. What an interesting character to talk to.. Man, the things that guy has seen in his time.. Talk about being around in aviations glory days!
He told me that he wrote a book about his experiences at Douglas and it can be found at
www.douglasbook.com
I am planning on ordering mine tomorrow...
Sadly this guy doesn't look like he will be with us much longer.. He's rather long in the tooth.. But for an old DC-9 and DC-10 mechanic, it was a pleasure to meet the father of those wonderful machines.. His designs have sure stood the test of time with the follow on models, the B717 and MD-11.
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