John Northrop (1895-1981), American aircraft industrialist and pioneer. Northrop's career began in 1916 as a mechanical draftsman-engineer for the Loughead Aircraft Company. He joined the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1923, where he helped design the first planes to fly around the world. He moved back to the Lockhead (Loughead) Aircraft Company to be chief engineer. There he designed the Vega series of planes, which were used in many record- breaking flights. In 1928, Northrop founded Avion Corporation (later to become Northrop Aircraft Corporation), which designed and built the first all-metal body planes.