An encylopedia of most-all of McDonnell-Douglas' aircraft, including both civilian and military fixed-wing aircraft, their historical uses and by whom, and photographs where possible, with information on every aircraft from the original Davis-Douglas Cloudster, all the way to the McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 Hornet and AV-8B Harrier. The book also opens with a section on the Origin and History of the Douglas Aircraft Company, including its creators Donald Douglas and James McDonnell, and the history of its forebears.

The book also contains four appendices, each with information accurate up to 31st December, 1977;

A. Details the total production of each aircraft for all McDonnell-Douglas plants in the U.S.A. B. Contains the factory serial number, aircraft model, original customer, original serial number, and number produced of every batch of aircraft from the Davis-Douglas Company, Douglas Company, Douglas Aircraft Company Inc., and the Douglas Aircraft Division of the McDonnell Corporation. C. Same format and purpose as appendix B, but instead listing the aforementioned information of aircraft produced instead by the McDonnell-Douglas corporation, and associated companies. D. Lists and briefly describes eleven preliminary designs for McDonnell-Douglas aircraft that, for a variety of reasons, were not produced. Contains three military projects of the late-30s and of the 40s, three DC transports from the 40s and 50s, and four projects that preceded or parelleled the DC-10.