On March 19, Sandy McDonnell, former CEO of McDonnell-Douglass, died at his home in Missouri. On March 22, the New York Times published an obit.
On March 23, at around 4 in the afternoon, I saw an F-101 flying east, along with what I estimate were three other planes (I saw three, but the first one was likely one of a flight of two – it heard two planes and the next set of military jets were paired up, so it is a reasonable assumption).
McDonnell’s first big project at his family company was to lead the F-101 design process. He also headed the development of the F-4 Phantom II.
Various obits indicate that his memorial service is to be on March 28 in St. Louis.
I now rather wonder if the plane I saw in formation with the F-101 was an F-4.