John Northrop

American aircraft industrialist

John Knudsen Northrop (November 10, 1895 – February 18, 1981) was an American aircraft industrialist and designer who founded the Northrop Corporation in 1939.His career began in 1916 as a draftsman for Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company (founded 1912).

He joined the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1923, where in time he became a project engineer.In 1927 he joined the Lockheed Corporation, where he was a chief engineer on the Lockheed Vega transport.

He left in 1929 to found Avion Corporation, which he sold in 1930.Two years later, he founded the Northrop Corporation.This firm became a subsidiary of Douglas Aircraft in 1939, so he co-founded a second company named Northrop.