DOUGLAS BY DECADE: A History of the Douglas Aircraft Company

Aviation artist, author, and historian Mike Machat currently serves as Curator for the Museum of Flying in Santa Monica, CA. Originally from New York, Mike served in the U.S. Air Force before relocating to Los Angeles and earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from California State University, Long Beach. Hired by McDonnell Douglas as a technical illustrator, he rapidly advanced through the ranks to become Staff Artist and Corporate Representative, and actively lectures about the company today. 

Mike was elected first president of the American Society of Aviation Artists and is a 25-year flight-rated veteran of the U.S. Air Force Documentary Art Program. He painted murals at the Bob Hope Airport terminal in Burbank, CA, the Museum of Flying in Santa Monica, and the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum at Edwards AFB. Machat has four paintings in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum.

As an aviator, Mike holds an FAA Commercial Pilot Certificate and has logged more than 2,000 flights in sailplanes. He has flown in nearly 250 different types of aircraft and was the first Air Force artist to fly in the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. Mike’s literary duties included Editor-in-Chief for Wings & Airpower Magazine and Acquisitions Editor for Specialty Press. He has written four best-selling books on commercial and military aviation.