Technology and Market Structure

In 1950, the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company (now PPG Industries) purchased a used C-47, the military version of the DC-3. The plane was converted to business use, with accommodations for 12 passengers and a crew of two. A caricature of a grasshopper was painted on the nose of the plane with the name, “The Glasshopper” inscribed below it. A former military pilot was hired, and PPG had an “executive aircraft” available for its use.1