David S. Lewis

For other people named David Lewis, see David Lewis (disambiguation).

David Lewis, 1983

David Sloan Lewis, Jr., (July 6, 1917 - December 15, 2003), was a major force in the aerospace and defense industry for four decades. His management skills were notable for their breadth, ranging over military and commercial aviation, space exploration, land combat systems, submarines and surface ships.

Early life, before the War

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Georgia Tech, 1939

Dave Lewis was born in 1917, in North Augusta, South Carolina, the son of David S. Lewis, "Dick", of Clemson and Reuben Walton of Augusta. A middle child, he had an older sister, Lucy, and a younger brother, Jack. The family moved to Charleston, where Dave, sister Lucy, and brother Jack were reared. As a boy growing up in Charleston, David was fascinated by aviation. He read everything he could find about the World War I fighter planes and their romantic pilots. He built dozens of flying model airplanes and gliders. He was 10 years old when he heard that Charles Lindbergh had made the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. He was hooked and decided to be an airplane designer. During this time he earned money with his own paper route business. His managerial skills were evident as he hired kids in the neighborhood to run multiple routes.

Jack tells a story of Dave, when at the age of 15, built an airplane in their yard, to be piloted by Jack. Dave spent several months scrounging for parts, including a large oversize rubber band that was connected to a wooden propeller, to make it spin. One day they pushed this airplane to the top of a large hill, Jack got in, and Dave pushed him down, prop spinning. Jack hit a bump and swears he caught air for a few moments, then came crashing down at the bottom of the hill. He walked away unhurt. Later, they enlisted a friend, Jim Vardell, who rode it down the same hill where it crashed. Jim broke his arm in two places (Jim later became a surgeon in Columbia).

Dave's father worked for Standard Oil of New Jersey managing their efforts in the state, whose largest business was providing asphalt for the state's expanding road work. He was transferred to the state capital, Columbia. in 1933, and Dave graduated from Columbia High in 1934. Dave attended the University of South Carolina, and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He transferred to Georgia Tech for his last two years, where he was fraternity president his senior year. He graduated in 1939 with a Bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Engineering.

Engineering leadership

During World War II

Dave Lewis’ career began in 1939 when he joined the Glenn L. Martin Company in Baltimore, Md. There, he met his future wife, Dorothy Sharpe, who was one of two secretaries working in the office of Glenn L. Martin and they were married on December 21, 1941, just two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Dave tried to enlist for pilot training but was refused given his status as an engineer working in the defense effort. It was always disconcerting to be a young, healthy man in civilian clothes during the War, when so many young men were leaving home to serve the country overseas.

Dave's brother, Jack Lewis, went on to be an Army Air Corp fighter pilot in the Pacific theater and was twice awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross twice, and the Air Medal on three occasions. After the war, Jack was part of the first Army Air Corps flight demonstration team (which later evolved in the USAF Thunderbirds). During an air show in New York, Captain Lewis met and later married a famous model and cover girl, Millie Lewis. Jack retired with the rank of Major and they went on to raise a family in Columbia, SC, where Jack had a successful career in the insurance business.

During World War II, Dave Lewis remained in civilian duty at the Martin aerodynamics department, the wind tunnel group, the performance group, and the stability and control group on many new aircraft designs, including the B-26 Marauder, the XB-33 Super Marauder, the JRM Mars and the Martin Maryland for the French and other allied forces. In the latter part of the war, when the U.S. industry was finally cleared for jet propulsion and swept wings, Dave was the lead aerodynamicst on the P4M Mercator patrol bomber design for the Navy, and later in the early stages of the XB-46.

Into the Cold War

Celebrating one of many wins at McDonnell.

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XF-88 milestone. Lewis stands at far right with team leaders.

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F3H Demon delivery. Lewis stands at far right with Schirra.

In 1946, Dave Lewis joined McDonnell Aircraft, in St. Louis, Mo., as Chief of Aerodynamics. Leading a relatively inexperienced engineering team, he taught aerodynamics and performance in special night classes. This team developed the Navy's first operational jet fighter aircraft, the F2H Banshee and the Air Force's first swept-wing strategic interceptor, the XF-88 in 1949, later designated the F-101 Voodoo for production. They also fought a losing battle with the F3H Demon which had a significantly under performing engine from Westinghouse. In 1952, J.S. McDonnell had the vision for a new way to develop modern fighter aircraft – the grouping of disparate engineering functions into a single fast-track development team, which became known as Preliminary Design. In 1952, Mr. Lewis was chosen to form and run this group, the first ever in the industry. In the 1950s, developing the century series of fighter was a dangerous efforts with many test pilots losing their lives. It was not unusual to attend funeral a for a pilot who lost his life testing new fighter designs. Note in the image at right from the mid 1950s, Navy aviator Wally Schirra shaking hands with Dave as they take delivery of an F3H Demon. Schirra later became one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts. Fighter development was a close personal effort, and Dave became close friends with Schirra and astronaut, John Glenn, as they worked together on the Mercury space program.

The F-4 development and sale

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F4H Phantom prototype.

Key figures in the F-4 development: Lewis, Little and Barkey

Beginning in 1952 Lewis and his team started with "a clean slate". There being no new aircraft competitions on the horizon, in-house studies concluded the Navy has the greatest need for a new and different aircraft type. At the time, the Navy has a separate "Fighter Branch" and "Attack Branch", each having little contact or interest in the other. They lived in different worlds when it came to system requirements. The Fighter Branch was working on the development of the single engine F-8 Crusader. After many iterations, and various enemy capability assumptions, a fighter design was presented to the Navy with a full ranged of (unwanted) attack capabilities. McDonnell was in competition with Chance-Vought and the F-8 Crusader. The McDonnell design called for two engines, with the primary armament being provided by the very new Sparrow missiles semi-submerged in the fuselage. The air-to-ground armament was to be as many bombs as could be carried on stations that would be mounted under the wings and aft of the Sparrow stations on the fuselage. No guns were provided. It took two long years of hard work with the Bureau of Aeronautics and the Naval Air Warfare Division in the Pentagon, The F-4 Phantom was sold with pretty much the same configurations as originally proposed. The prototype of the F-4 Phantom II, the F4H-1, was in direct competition with the F-8 Crusader with a fly off at Edwards Air Force Base. During a heated competition, Lewis became good friends with Paul Thayer, chief pilot of the F-8. he later became President of Chance Vought. Three key figures in the F4H-1 Phantom program were (show in the photo, left to right) Dave Lewis, company wide project manager, Robert C. Little, chief test pilot, and Herman D. Barkey, senior project engineer. The F-4 is arguably the most successful jet fighter ever produced, the only fighter aircraft purchased by both the U.S. Navy and Air Force. First purchased by the U.S. Navy, as the F-4B, Mr. Lewis and his sales team went on to sell the U.S. Air Force the F-4C. The first model established 16 speed, altitude and time-to-climb records. Ultimately more than 5,000 were produced for the U.S. Navy and Air Force, and 11 other countries. It was the only modern aircraft to be flown by both the Navy Blue Angels and the Air Force Thunderbirds. Needless to say, the great success of the F-4 program catapulted Dave Lewis' career into executive management. In 1956, he became McDonnell's Vice President of Engineering.

As an aerospace executive

McDonnell Aircraft

Kennedy visit to McDonnell, 1962

1964 Annual Report Photo with J.S. McDonnell

In 1958, Lewis was appointed to serve as Executive Vice President of McDonnell, having responsibility for every thing in the company except finance and legal. He was active in setting up the Space Division and involved in the winning the Project Mercury contract from NASA.

In 1962, Lewis was appointed to serve as President of McDonnell, being responsible to J.S. McDonnell for all activities of the company. During this time the company completed the highly successful Mercury program which started the manned spaceflight program. The team went on to develop and build the equally successful Project Gemini spacecraft which developed the key technologies for the follow-on Project Apollo developed at North American Aviation. President John Kennedy visited McDonnell for a briefing on the Mercury and Gemini space programs.

The merger with Douglas Aircraft

In 1967, with the merger of McDonnell and Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach, Mr. Lewis was named chairman of the Douglas Aircraft Division in Long Beach, California, and given the responsibility for ensuring timely production of Douglas’ DC-8 and DC-9 aircraft. The new company became known as McDonnell Douglas. At the time of the merger, Douglas Aircraft was estimated to be less than a year from bankruptcy. Flush with orders, the DC-8 and DC-9 aircraft were being delivered 9 to 18 months behind schedule, incurring stiff penalties from the airlines. Mr. Lewis had the operation back on track, and in positive cash flow, in two years. He also worked on the sales for the company's DC-10, striking deals with launch customers Northwest Airlines and American Airlines among others.

Back to headquarters

Two years later, in 1969, Lewis returned to St. Louis, Missouri, where he was active in developing McDonnell's final proposal for the F-15 Eagle as well as ongoing sales efforts on the DC-10. With J.S. McDonnell unwilling to retire, or hand over the CEO position, the company thriving with sales of the F-4, the new F-15, the DC-10 program on track, Lewis resigned to become Chairman and CEO of General Dynamics (GD); a company estimated at the time to be a year from bankruptcy. After Lewis turned in his resignation, J.S. McDonnell offered to resign the CEO position himself, but Lewis said he would not take the job under those circumstances. Upon his leaving for GD, a furious J.S. McDonnell gave strict orders to have the Dave Lewis name stricken from any historical accounts of the company and its achievements.

On to General Dynamics

David Lewis with the F-16 Falcon at the Paris Air Show.

Aggressively recruited by General Dynamics board members Henry Crown and Nathan Cummings, Lewis became chairman and chief executive officer of General Dynamics from early 1971, and remained so until his retirement at the end of 1985. During his tenure, and working closely with the board, General Dynamics’ revenues and earnings quadrupled. While he was chairman, the company designed and/or built SSN fast attack submarines, Trident submarines, M1 Abrams tanks and the first ships ever built to transport liquefied natural gas throughout the world and the F-16 Falcon. The company was active in synergistic aquistions, including the purchase of Cessna Aircraft.

Lewis was highly involved with the team at the Ft. Worth Division, in refining and proposing their version of the Air Force Lightweight Fighter. In an intense competition involving the top seven military aircraft builders, General Dynamics Ft. Worth Division was selected to build two prototypes, designated the YF-16. They went on to beat the Northrop YF-17 and received an initial order of 600+ aircraft from the Air Force in 1974.

From the initial win in 1974, Lewis took the F-16 to Europe, and they went on to win the largest single military contract ever awarded, when the F-16 was chosen as the standard fighter of four allied NATO countries. As of 2003, over 4,400 of these aircraft have been produced for the air forces of 24 countries, and the plane continues to serve as the active flight demonstrator for the Air Force Thunderbirds.

The M1 Abrams tank proved to be an enduring product as well, with more than 8,000 units produced for U.S. forces; derivatives of the original tank design are still in production in Egypt. In addition, the Trident submarine design is the basis for the U.S. Navy's new SSGN conversion program, through which General Dynamics is leading the conversion of four Ohio-class ships into a flexible-mission submarine that will support special forces operations around the world.

Lewis retired as Chairman & CEO in 1985, and remained on the company's board of directors through 1994.

Honors and awards

Mr. Lewis received numerous national and international awards for his contribution to the field of aeronautics and aerospace industry.

• 1971 Inducted into the National Academy of Engineering "for contributions to aerospace management in conception, development, and production of aircraft and spacecraft."
• 1975 The Collier Trophy awarded to "David S. Lewis of General Dynamics Corporation and the F-16 Air Force Industry Team for significant advancements in aviation technology leading to innovative fighter aircraft effectiveness."
• 1979 Named a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
• 1981 Received the U.S. Navy Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Award.
• 1982 The Daniel Guggenheim Medal "for his longstanding contributions to aviation and the national defense, and his untiring efforts towards the development of superior aircraft."
• 1984 The Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy "for his lifetime contributions to military aviation and national defense, and his untiring efforts in the design, development, and production of superior combat aircraft."
• 1996 Inducted into the Georgia Tech Council of Distinguished Engineering Graduates.
• 2000 Inducted into the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame.

Other

He was a member of and a trustee emeritus of the Georgia Tech and Washington University Foundations. He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Mr. Lewis served as director of Ralston Purina of St. Louis, Bank of America of San Francisco; Cessna Aircraft Company of Wichita, Kansas; and the Mead Corporation of Dayton, Ohio.

He was lifelong, active member of the Episcopal Church. As a child, he was an altar boy at Grace Episcopal in Charleston, SC. He later attended the same church upon his retirement, till his death. He was married to his wife, Dorothy for 62 years. They had four children.

References

• David. S. Lewis, Jr., et al, personal memoirs, 1993, 2000.
• Jack Lewis, personal recollections, 2008.
• Obituary in N.Y. Times