develop the DC-4, the first airliner equipped solely for passengers. After retiring as president in 1963, Patterson was elected chairman of the board. He held the position until 1966, when he was named director emeritus and honorary chairman of both United Airlines and its parent company, UAL…

Meanwhile, Douglas had introduced the DC-4. Although it was unpressurized, it possessed a comparable performance to the Stratoliner and could carry more passengers. Also, the DC-4 had a tricycle landing gear (unlike the Stratoliner’s conventional tail wheel), which facilitated boarding of passengers, improved the pilots’ view of the runway and…

Douglas also manufactured the four-engined C-54 Skymaster, which entered service in 1943–44 as the first land-based transport with intercontinental flight capabilities. The C-54 was particularly important in the vast distances of the Pacific-Asian theatre of operations.