Aviation Classics 21 Lockheed Martin preview

Contents 8

From the Alco Hydro-aeroplane company to Lockheed

60

Airliner to submarine hunter

64

Transport for the world

72

High altitude Dragon Lady

74

Helicopter developments

18

Tow Lightning

26

The large and the small of it

28

Sheer elegance

76

The big jets

32

Test flying the Lockheed P-80

80

The world’s first cabin business jet

44

Shooting stars entering the jet age

82

It’s going HOW fast?

86

Oddities and one offs

48

Long range record setter

88

Small and silent

58

The ultimate interceptor

90

The last airliner

94

Carrier based sub hunter

Editor:

96

The Father of Stealth

Publisher: Contributors:

98

Night Hawk

Designer:

102 Mergers for strength 104 Developing on success 106 Future trainer 108 “It’s not A fighter, it’s THE fighter” 112 The future of air power 118 Sector of success 119 Transports of delight

Luigino Caliaro, Norm DeWitt, Keith Draycott, David G Powers, Constance Redgrave, Adam Tooby

Reprographics:

Charlotte Pearson & Michael Baumber Jonathan Schofield

Group production editor:

Tim Hartley

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Paul Deacon Steve O’Hara Charlotte Park Craig Lamb Dan Savage Nigel Hole Brian Hill

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Aviation Classics Mortons Media Group Ltd PO Box 99 Horncastle Lincs LN9 6JR

Website:

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122 Leading into the future 126 Survivors

Tim Callaway editor@aviationclassics.co.uk Dan Savage

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© 2013 Mortons Media Group Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher ISBN No 978-1-909128-00-2

Lockheed Martin test pilot Mark Ward made the F-35’s first night flight on January 18, 2012 in F-35A AF-6. Lockheed Martin

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Accelerating tomorrow – there’s no easy way

The Lockheed Martin F-35, a modern example of elegance and innovation in engineering. Lockheed Martin

A

s anyone who reads this page knows, it’s the one I have trouble with. Yep, this is the 24th draft, so I am not doing well. As usual, it was an influence completely outside the research that gave me the key to how to begin this issue, how to define and distil the towering legend that is the history of this company. With the Mosquito it was Monty Python, with Lockheed Martin it was Gillan, Ian Gillan’s rock band. Again, if you read this page, you will know that I listen to music or comedy while I am writing; it frees the mind and lets the details, the facts, become a story.

In this case, I was listening to the excellent Glory Road and was humming along to No Easy Way when I suddenly got it.

Nothing Lockheed Martin has ever done has been done the easy way. Just look at its track record or flick through these pages and you will see what I mean. Everything has always been at the cutting edge of technology or capability, pushing the edge of the envelope of manned flight further, higher or faster. The P-38; a supercharged twin when the norm was single-engined. The P-80; the first operational jet fighter in the US. The F-104; a Mach 2 interceptor. The C-130; four turboprops on a medium transport. The U-2 and SR-71; well, words are superfluous. The F-117; with a radar signature the size of a ball bearing. Take a look under the skin of the F-35 for a current example. There’s no hydraulic fluid. The fuel is used in the system, called ‘fueldraulic’, instead. The messy, corrosive and

environmentally unfriendly hydraulic fluid is gone, replaced by a liquid you have to put into the aircraft anyway. How much is that going to save on weight, storage, handling and maintenance alone? It’s ideas like this, like Ben Rich using the Blackbird’s fuel as a heat sink, which set Lockheed’s aircraft apart. A problem occurs, and Lockheed Martin finds an innovative, elegant, simple way to solve it.

Not taking the easy or accepted route, always finding a solution to a given problem that doesn’t penalise performance has had another effect on the company’s aircraft. Have you noticed how many of them are still in service or production after decades? The Electra, the basis for the P-3C Orion, first flew in 1957. Today, new wings are being built and a new customer has just come forward to purchase its first. The C-130 will celebrate 60 years of continuous production in 2015, the only replacement for that tough old bird is another one. The U-2, a Cold War icon, is still doing its thing in the upper atmosphere, where it has been loitering since 1955. The C-5 is slated to see out 70 years of continuous service after the most recent upgrade. The F-22 and F-35 are additions to this canon, designed as they are with a lifespan measured in decades.

Innovation, origination and longevity, not a bad record to own. But you can add honesty and integrity to that, as many examples are recorded in these pages. This reputation has been built on the shoulders of remarkable people. Allan and Malcolm Loughead, Robert

6 IN ASSOCIATION WITH: LOCKHEED MARTIN – WE NEVER FORGET WHO WE ARE WORKING FOR

and Courtlandt Gross, Hall Hibbard, Tony LeVier, Mac VF Short, John Wassall, Willis Hawkins, Milo Burcham, Paul Bevilaqua and of course Kelly Johnson. These and many others have built a legacy that is evident in the leadership and workforce of the company today. Take a walk through the production lines in Fort Worth or Marietta, the pride and commitment of the people there are self evident. I truly hope I have done everyone who has worked, and still does, on Lockheed Martin aircraft justice in these pages. As the story reveals, they have more than earned it.

Recently, the F-35, the largest combat aircraft programme ever undertaken, seems to have become the centre of some controversy, with people casting doubt on both the reputation of the company and the abilities of the aircraft.

Such a ground-breaking development as this aircraft and its many systems needs time to mature and to fulfil its potential. To those who seem to have an investment in attacking this programme, I would say one thing. Take a look at these pages and you will find one constant that is remarkably clear throughout their history. Lockheed Martin delivers. I suggest you let them.

Happy 100th birthday Lockheed Martin, I look forward to where you are going to take us next.

All best, Tim

From the

ALCO HYDRO-AEROPLANE COMPANYtoLOCKHEED Alan and Malcolm Loughead, Robert and Courtlandt Gross, Hall Hibbard and Kelly Johnson

A Curtiss Model D pusher biplane, the type Allan Loughead first flew solo in 1910, a remarkable achievement. Editor’s Collection

Lockheed Martin as we know it today can trace its roots all the way back to the last days of 1912 with the establishment of the Alco Hydro Aeroplane Company in San Francisco by two brothers, Allan and Malcolm Loughead. Their stor y is a fascinating one, and began the histor y of one of the giants of modern aviation.

F

lora Haines Loughead, a highly regarded journalist and novelist, and her second husband John, had three sons and a daughter, Hope. Of the sons, Victor, the eldest, was Flora’s son by a previous marriage, adopted by John Loughead. Their two younger sons were Malcolm, born on November 15, 1886, and Allan, born on January 20, 1889, both in Niles, California.

They moved to Santa Barbara after Flora’s divorce from John, and here the brothers began experiments with kites and were fascinated by the gliders of early pioneers such as Percy Pilcher, Octave Chanute and later, John Montgomery.

In 1903, the family moved to a 35 acre ranch called Cathedral Oaks near Alma, between San Francisco and Santa Cruz. It was here that Allan and Malcolm first began working on engines and vehicles, maintaining the farm equipment as well as Allan building his first racing car. It was the Wright brothers’ triumph of that year that deepened

Allan’s interest in aviation to become his abiding passion.

The elder brother, Victor, had been trained as an engineer and was also fascinated by automobiles and aircraft. He moved to Chicago to work for James E Plew, the distributor for the White Steam Car Company’s range of automobiles and trucks.

Here, Victor published two books, Vehicles of the Air in 1909 and Aeroplane Designing for Amateurs in 1910, both of which were to

become standard works for many years.

In 1904, Malcolm also joined the White Steam Car Company in San Francisco as an engineer, followed by Allan in 1906. Victor’s employer was also interested by the possibilities of aviation, and on Victor’s advice purchased one of John J Montgomery’s glider designs with a view to adapting it as a powered aircraft, along with a Curtiss Model D biplane.

Allan Loughead was hired by Plew in 1910 to become the mechanic on both aircraft and

The Loughead F-1 flying boat in flight.The aircraft was a success, mostly used for passenger flights and aerial film work. Lockheed

8 IN ASSOCIATION WITH: LOCKHEED MARTIN – WE NEVER FORGET WHO WE ARE WORKING FOR

Allan (right) and Malcolm Loughead in the cockpit of the F-1 flying boat. Lockheed

moved to Chicago. Here, he quickly became a member of the Aero Club of Illinois, making his first flight in George Gates’s home built pusher biplane. While the Montgomery glider was being adapted, the Curtiss Model D was completed, but the two pilots hired by Plew could not get it to fly. In an act he later described as part nerve and part foolishness, Allan Loughead bet all present he could fly it.

After adjusting the 35hp engine, his second attempt was successful, making several circuits of the field before landing safely. After only a few short flights, Allan was a solo pilot, an astounding achievement.

The Plew fleet quickly grew to include a second Curtiss, but after a number of mishaps and repairs, a crash in July 1911, which killed pilot Don Kraemer, convinced Plew to abandon aviation. Allan went on to fly with the International Aeroplane Manufacturing Company as an instructor and exhibition pilot, but an accident during an exhibition at

Allan Loughead shows the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company Model G to model-turned-actress Audrey Munson during the 1915 PanamaPacific Exhibition in San Francisco. Lockheed

Hoopeston in Illinois on September 18, 1911, convinced the newly married young pilot that building his own and better aircraft was the way forward.

He began manufacturing parts for his first design while still living in Chicago, but in early 1912 he took these parts and returned to San Francisco. Here, Allan became an automobile mechanic again to pay the bills while he and his brother Malcolm worked on the new aircraft in their spare time in a garage on the corner of Pacific and Polk Streets.

Shortage of money was delaying the acquisition of an engine, so, on December 19, 1912, the Alco Cab Company of San Francisco entered into a partnership with the Loughead brothers in the Alco Hydro Aeroplane Company, Alco owner Max Mamlock being persuaded to contribute $4000 to the venture.

Allan’s design had been originally called the Loughead Model G so it would not be obvious that it was their first aircraft. With the

new partnership in place this became the ALCO No.1, and made its first flight on June 15, 1913. A three seat tractor biplane equipped with a centreline and wingtip floats, the seaplane was very conventional to modern eyes, but highly unusual for the day as most of the aircraft produced by Curtiss, Wright and Martin at the time were pusher designs. The aircraft made three successful flights on that first day, powered by an 80hp Curtiss O V8 engine, being launched onto San Francisco Bay from the slipway on Laguna Street.

It is worthy of note that earlier, on August 16, 1912, Glenn L Martin had founded his own aircraft company in a rented church in Los Angeles, after being encouraged to do so by Orville Wright. The Glenn L Martin Company will return to this story later, in a very different form. The full story of this firm will be told in a later edition of Aviation Classics.

To return to the Alco Hydro Aeroplane Company, there was a dearth of customers ➤

The Loughead F-1A, when converted to a landplane in an attempt to interest the US Army in the aircraft as a bomber.

Lockheed

Lockheed Mar tin 9

willing to pay $10 a flight in the seaplane, so Max Mamlock impounded it, telling the brothers that they could have their aircraft back when they returned his $4000 investment. With the Model G in storage, Allan and Malcolm became gold prospectors for a while in the hope of raising the money, but Allan soon returned to working as a automobile mechanic in 1914.

Malcolm however, had been firmly bitten by the aviation bug, and acquired a Curtiss biplane, which he exported to Hong Kong to begin a new sales and engineering support business there. The British Royal Navy impounded the aircraft as contraband, so Malcolm found himself a job as the chief engineer of the sole aircraft operated by President Carranza of Mexico, who at the time was using it against the rebels led by Pancho Villa.

However, in 1915, the organisers of the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco were looking for an aircraft to conduct passenger flights as a novel attraction to the event. Malcolm returned to work with Allan, and along with the financial assistance of Paul Meyer, purchased the Model G back from

Alco. They flew 600 passengers on 10 minute rides over San Francisco Bay in just five months starting in February.

With the healthy $4000 profit from the passenger flights, Allan and Malcolm were out of debt. They moved their operation south to Santa Barbara in early 1916, continuing to fly passengers in the Model G on air experience and charter flights, as well as providing an aerial film platform for movie companies.

The brothers formed the Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company and began design and construction of a larger twin engined flying boat, the 10 seat Loughead F-1.

They were working in half a rented garage on State Street, the other half of which housed an automobile repair workshop. A regular visitor to this workshop was a 20-year-old draughtsman, architect and engineer by the name of Jack Northrop, who had worked there repairing automobiles to pay his way through school.

He was soon hired by the Loughead brothers and began making design drawings and stress calculations for the F-1, putting the new company on a sound engineering footing.

At the same time Anthony Stadlman was hired

as construction foreman, thus beginning a four man partnership that was to last many years and produce some remarkable aircraft.

Design and construction of the F-1 was well advanced by the time the United States entered the First World War in 1917, so Allan Loughead travelled to Washington DC in an attempt to interest the US Navy in the aircraft.

In this he was unsuccessful, but did get a contract to build two Curtiss HS-2L Flying Boats under licence and a promise that the Navy would evaluate the F-1 when it was completed.

The finished F-1 was flown to San Diego for the promised Navy trials in April 1918, setting a record for the 211 mile flight from Santa Barbara as it did so. The two Curtiss HS-2Ls were completed at about the same time, meaning that by 1919 the company had no further work. The F-1 was converted into the F-1A landplane for a short period in 1918, in an attempt to interest the US Army in it as a bomber or transport aircraft, but was damaged when an engine failed on take off during an attempt to set a new record between Santa Barbara and Washington DC. The F-1 was returned to its flying boat

The US Navy gave Loughead Aircraft a $90,000 contract to build two Curtiss-designed HS-2L scout seaplanes, the first of which is seen here in 1918. Lockheed

The Lockheed designers and managers working on a Vega in 1929.

Jack Northrop (left), Jerry Vultee (inside the Vega), Bill Henry and Allan Lockheed. Lockheed

The remarkably clean and efficient Loughead Model S-1 Sportplane of 1918. Northrop

10 IN ASSOCIATION WITH: LOCKHEED MARTIN – WE NEVER FORGET WHO WE ARE WORKING FOR

The lower wings of the S-1 could rotate around their spars, to act as airbrakes or flaps or for folding the aircraft to fit in a garage.

Northrop

The Lockheed Sirius 8A was purchased by a number of record breaking pilots, including this one which belonged to Charles Lindbergh. Lockheed

configuration in 1919 and used for its original purpose, flying passengers and movie work.

King Albert and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium took a flight to Santa Cruz Island in the F-1, among many notable personalities of the time.

In 1919, Jack Northrop began designing a new light sport aircraft at Loughead, one with a number of innovative features. Tony Stadlman had seen a German Albatros D.Va fighter displayed in San Francisco shortly after the war’s end, and described the monocoque plywood fuselage construction to Jack, who was intrigued. They worked out a system using two concrete moulds and inflatable balloons. The balloons held wet plywood sheets inside, shaping them to the contours of the mould while the glue dried and they hardened to permanently retain the shape. The top and bottom halves of the fuselage were thus single pieces, resulting in a very strong yet lightweight structure.

The Loughead brothers, Northrop and Stadlman received a joint patent for the monocoque process, as they had all contributed. A suitable powerplant for the new design was not available, so the ever practical Stadlman designed and built the XL-1, a twocylinder 25hp water-cooled aero engine. The wing structure was conventional, what it could do was not.

Firstly, to enable the S-1 Sport Biplane, as it was now known, to be easily stored, the wings could be folded. The lower wings could also be rotated around their spar in flight, allowing them to act as ailerons, flaps and airbrakes, arguably the first use of flaps on an aircraft.

Northrop had watched the seagulls at Santa Barbara twist their wings almost vertically to achieve slow flight for landing, and reasoned that an aircraft with a similar ability would have excellent slow flight characteristics and a short landing run.

He was correct in both respects, as flight testing in late 1919 revealed. Test pilot Gilbert Budwig described the S-1 as the most flyable aircraft he had ever flown, with excellent handling throughout the speed range, from the maximum of 75mph (121kph) to the stall at 25mph (40kph). Hundreds of successful flights were made, including at an air show in San Francisco where thousands admired the clean lines of the S-1.

Unfortunately, the light aircraft market of the time was flooded with cheap war surplus types selling for as little as $300, so no orders for the $2500 S-1 were received, forcing the Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company into liquidation in 1920.

A year earlier, in 1919, Malcolm Loughead had developed an idea he had first had as an automobile mechanic in 1907, the first versions of which had been built in the barn on the Cathedral Oaks ranch. He invented and patented a four wheel hydraulic brake system for vehicles, and founded the Lockheed Hydraulic Brake Company.

This was the first spelling of their family name in the more familiar phonetic form, which came about because Malcolm was fed up with being called Log-head. Many motor manufacturers were soon using Lockheed brakes and the company opened subsidiaries abroad, firstly in Britain and France. This was a huge success and Malcolm employed Allan as his California sales manager between 1920 and 1922, after which Allan went into real estate sales in the Hollywood area. Despite the financial success of this venture, Allan’s first love was aviation, and in 1926 he was ready to return. Meanwhile, Malcolm went from strength to strength in the hydraulic brake business, eventually selling the company to Bendix in 1932.

All this while, Allan kept in contact with Anthony Stadlman and Jack Northrop, who was now working as a designer for Douglas Aircraft.

Allan’s friend and accountant, Kenneth Jay, introduced him to Fred S Keeler, a successful local brick and ceramics manufacturer, who agreed to finance a new company.

The Lockheed Aircraft Company, named because of the success of the brake company with that spelling, was founded between Fred Keeler as president, Allan Loughead as vice president, Jack Northrop as chief engineer ➤

The penultimate Lockheed Altair built, constructors number 213. Lockheed

On April 15-16, 1928, famed Australian explorer George Hubert Wilkins, along with US pilot Carl Ben Eielson, carried out the first trans-arctic flight, flying from Point Barrow, Alaska, to Spitzbergen, Norway, in 20 hours.

The duo flew this Vega 1, shown at the Lockheed factory in Burbank, California, fitted with skis. Lockheed

A Lockheed Electra 10A of British Airways.The Electra sold to 37 airlines worldwide. Lockheed

The open cockpit mailplane version of the Vega called the Lockheed Air Express. Editor’s Collection

Lockheed Mar tin 11

Movie stars Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., Mary Pickford, Maurice Chevalier (along with a friend of his) pose by one of six Lockheed Model 9 Orion airliners operated by Varney Speed Lanes. Walter Varney was one of the aviation pioneers who bought the Lockheed company from the defunct Detroit Aircraft Corporation. Lockheed

Walter Varney, who could be said to have been responsible for the Lockheed we know today, seen here in more relaxed times. Via Emmett Forbes

and Kenneth Jay as general manager in December 1926. Anthony Stadlman was brought back into the new company as shop superintendent, completing the old team.

They began work in January 1927 using a converted garage in Hollywood to build a design Jack Northrop had been working on privately. This used the monocoque construction of the S-1’s fuselage to enclose a four seat cabin. The high wing was free of struts and extremely efficient, the 225hp Wright Whirlwind nine-cylinder radial engine giving the aircraft a cruising speed of 120mph (193kph), a performance which allowed the aircraft to set no fewer than 34 endurance and speed records during its stellar career. I use the word stellar advisedly, as the aircraft was the first of a series of Lockheed designs named after stars, the Lockheed Vega.

On July 4, 1927, in a hayfield in Inglewood, test pilot Eddie Bellande took the Lockheed Vega on its maiden flight. Bellande’s reaction was ecstatic, the aircraft being a real pleasure to fly. The first Vega was purchased by William Randolph Hearst at the request of his air enthusiast daughter-in-law, Blanche Wilbur King, and named Golden Eagle. It was entered in the Dole Race of August 1927 from Oakland to Honolulu in Hawaii, but sadly

for a low wing seaplane version, to be called the Lockheed Explorer, and an open cockpit mailplane version of the aircraft called the Lockheed Air Express meant that the design and engineering work was increasing at the new company.

Gerard ‘Jerry’ Freebairn Vultee, an engineer Jack Northrop knew from his days at Douglas, was hired in early 1928 to assist in this work. One interesting note from the Vega story is the use of a seaplane Vega by the team of Wilkins and Eielson to explore the continent of Antarctica in December 1928, naming the Lockheed Mountains they discovered there after the builder of their reliable machine.

However, despite the new models of the Vega being produced, Jack Northrop saw that there was no interest in developing entirely new designs and construction techniques while the company had such a success on it hands, and he was brimming with new ideas. Both he and Kenneth Jay left Lockheed in the middle of 1928 in order to found their own company.

Gerard Vultee took over as chief engineer at Lockheed and continued the work of developing the range of aircraft. The new Sirius, Altair and Orion designs were produced, all of which used the monocoque fuselage construction technique and similar wings, the Orion being one of the fastest aircraft in the world when it first flew in 1931.

Fifteen of the Lockheed Model 8 Sirius were built between 1929 and 1930 in both two and four seat versions, the first being for Charles Lindbergh as an exploration aircraft.

Four of the Siriuses were converted to Model 8D Altairs, and an additional six were built from new, three of which were used by the US Army and US Navy as staff transport aircraft.

The Model 9 Orion was the ultimate development of the design, 35 being built from 1931 in eight versions as airliners and racing aircraft with a six seat enclosed cabin for the

disappeared en route.

Before this tragedy occurred, Captain George Hubert Wilkins had seen the aircraft on a test flight and was much impressed. He ordered the third Vega off the production line and equipped it for Arctic exploration. In April 1928, Wilkins and pilot Carl Ben Eielson completed a flight from Point Barrow, Alaska to the island of Spitzbergen.

The performance of the Vega was further highlighted at the 1928 National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio, when the type won every speed event. Every famous record breaking, long distance and racing pilot of the time wanted the aircraft, including Wiley Post, Amelia Earhart, Roscoe Turner and Jimmy Doolittle. In March 1928 the company had to move to a new facility in Burbank in order to meet the demand for Vegas. By the end of the year, 68 of the type had been built to an order book that exceeded $1 million. Allan Loughead had a runaway success on his hands and by April 1929 the Burbank factory was efficiently building five new aircraft a week with a staff of less than 300.

The four seat cabin of the original Vega was considered too small by the airlines, who pressed for an expanded version with at least six passenger seats. On top of this, a request

A Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra showing the Fowler flaps in the extended position, increasing the wing area, lift and drag to effectively lower the landing speed. Lockheed 12 IN ASSOCIATION WITH: LOCKHEED MARTIN – WE NEVER FORGET WHO WE ARE WORKING FOR

Robert Ellesworth Gross pictured in 1935. Lockheed

The Lockheed Brothers Aircraft Corporation built just one aircraft, the Olympic-Duo or Duo-6. Editor’s Collection

ALLAN LOUGHEAD AFTER LOCKHEED

passengers and a separate cockpit for the pilot.

In October 1934, the US Government issued new regulations regarding airline operations that banned single engined and single pilot aircraft from flying passengers and at night. This meant the Orion was no longer able to operate in its intended role and the type was quickly disposed of. At least 12 of these aircraft were used as transports during the Spanish Civil War and one was used by the USAAF as the UC-85 military transport.

One other aircraft was to be derived from the Altair, the Detroit-Lockheed XP-900, a two seat fighter and attack aircraft which was later designated the YP-24. Designed by Robert Woods of the Detroit Aircraft Corporation, successful trials led to an order for nine prototypes, five fighters and four attack aircraft. An accident with the prototype and the financial crisis which will be related shortly meant the project was shelved in 1931, only to be resurrected when Woods joined the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation and developed the design into the Consolidated Y1P-25, then later the P-30, P-30A and A-11 fighters and attack aircraft.

This success attracted the attention of the Detroit Aircraft Corporation (DAC) itself, and in July 1929 it convinced Fred Keeler, the investor behind the Lockheed company and the 51% majority shareholder, to sell his shares and the company assets to DAC, which at the time was acquiring aviation companies across the US. Allan Loughead was against the sale to DAC from the start, but was outvoted by the board members. He had no choice but to resign from his own company on June 3, 1931, selling his DAC stock for the going rate of $23 a share. This was to prove a wise move, as the stock market crash of October 1929 reduced the DAC shares to 12.5 cents each and by October 27, 1931, both the DAC and the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, as it was now known, were declared bankrupt and placed in receivership. A skeleton staff produced two more Orions and an Altair under the leadership of general manager Carl Squier, ➤

After his resignation, Allan Loughead moved to Glendale in California and formed the Lockheed Brothers Aircraft Corporation along with his brother Malcolm. Here they produced a twin engined aircraft similar to the Vega, but with a pair of 130hp Menasco B-6 Buccaneer six-cylinder inline engines in the nose.

These were set close together to minimise the asymmetric thrust and the resultant directional control problems in the event of an engine failure. Known as the OlympicDuo or Duo-6, the test flights were encouraging, especially the engine-out performance, but the aircraft was destroyed in an accident at Rosamond Dry Lake.

With no aircraft and limited capital, the company folded in 1934. Incidentally, that same year he also legally changed his name to Lockheed, tired of the constant mispronunciation of the Scottish original spelling.

Allan Lockheed also attempted to raise the capital to buy the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation from the receivers. After he had raised only $50,000 he gave up the attempt, considering that amount to be insufficient, not realising the successful purchasers had bid only $40,000. After the closure of the Lockheed Brothers Aircraft Corporation, Allan spent two years as a consultant to various firms and businesses, before forming the Alcor Aircraft Corporation in San Francisco in 1937.

This new company produced the Alcor C.6.1 Junior Transport, a six passenger and two crew twin engined aircraft. It was similar to the Duo-6, but had a low wing and a retractable undercarriage, the close mounted engines in the nose being two 260hp Menasco C6S-4 six-cylinder units.The prototype first flew on March 6, 1938, and again showed great promise, but on June 27, just before completion of the certification trials, the aircraft crashed during a high speed dive trial.The pilot and passenger were able to bail out, but the aircraft sank in the Golden Gate.

The loss of the prototype and the lack of funding forced Lockheed to pay off the creditors and close the doors in 1939. It was his last attempt at founding an aircraft company, having been so close to success so often. His brothers,Victor and Malcolm were to pursue other ambitions, and were never to return to aviation.

With war looming, Allan Lockheed continued to produce design ideas for a wide range of military aircraft, before, in 1941, becoming vice president of the Berkey & Gay Furniture Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Here, he was the general manager of the Aviation Division and Director of Aircraft Engineering, and in August that year was appointed to the US Cargo Plane Committee by US Commerce Secretary Jesse H. Jones.The committee drew up plans and designs for a new cargo aircraft for the Defense Supplies Corporation which were accepted in early 1942. In October 1942, Allan moved to the Aircraft Division of Grand Rapids Store Equipment Company, acting as general manager of the company which made parts for fighters for the US Navy.

Postwar, Lockheed returned to the real estate business, again finding success in this field. He also worked as an aviation consultant part time, and to his delight was invited to return to the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in that role during the 1950s.

Allan assisted Phil Juergens in the production of the Lockheed history Of Men and Stars and moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1961. Retired there, but still acting as a consultant, one of the great pioneers and visionaries of aviation sadly died of liver cancer on May 28, 1969. His legacy continues today in aircraft that match the innovation and world beating capabilities of his own creations.

The Alcor Aircraft Corporations Alcor C.6.1 Junior Transport prior to its fateful high speed dive trial. Editor’s Collection

Lockheed Mar tin 13

Kelly Johnson on his first task for Lockheed, studying the model of the original Model 10 design in the wind tunnel at the University of Michigan. Lockheed

Hall Hibbard, the man behind Lockheed’s wide ranging success. Lockheed

but the doors were finally closed on June 16, 1932.

Only five days after the doors were closed on the Lockheed factory, on June 2, 1932, a group of investors purchased the company and its assets for $40,000, the bid being the sole offer for the company. The investors, Walter T Varney, Mr and Mrs Cyril Chappellet, R C Walker and Thomas Fortune Ryan III were led by San Francisco investment broker and businessman Robert Ellesworth Gross.

The interest this group had in buying the company was initiated by Walter Varney.

Varney was a California based aviation pioneer who had already set up a successful air mail company, Varney Air Service, in 1926.

In 1930, after the acquisition of five other smaller companies, he sold his much expanded business to the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation (UAT), which along with their other airline companies was renamed United Air Lines.

This became an independent business when UAT was broken up in the wake of the

bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics at the College of Emporia, after which he spent two years studying in post-graduate courses at the now famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

On returning to Kansas, he found that Lloyd Stearman had established Stearman Aircraft at Wichita, and joined the newly formed company as a draughtsman in 1927.

From Stearman Aircraft, Hibbard moved to the Viking Flying Boat Company of New Haven, Connecticut, where he worked on a flying boat, the FBA 17. The company was a victim of the Great Depression, and although this meant the young Hibbard was suddenly unemployed, while working at Viking he had met its owner, Robert E Gross, so Hibbard was well known to two of the directors of the new Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.

The first work undertaken at the reopened factory was to complete the construction of four Vegas, one Altair and 17 Orions. The earlier Lockheed designs had been of all wooden construction with streamlined monocoque fuselages. The Detroit Aircraft Corporation had changed the specification and built a number of Orions with all metal fuselages. These metal aircraft had a performance edge over their allwood counterparts, as well as a number of practical advantages.

The initial plan was to build a 10 seat single engined all metal transport as the first new design, but Robert Gross was convinced a twin engined aircraft was the way forward, with a performance to exceed that of the rival Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2. Hibbard led the design team on the new aircraft, known as the Model 10, which had two crew and 10 passenger seats. Models were sent to the University of Michigan for testing in their wind tunnel by Professor Edward Stalker and his students. It was here the other great future designer of the new company was to be found, studying aeronautical engineering, Clarence Leonard Johnson.

Johnson was born on February 27, 1910, in the Michigan mining town of Ishpeming, his parents having emigrated there from Malmö in Sweden. The grinding poverty his family lived in was a source of personal shame to Johnson, who from an early age was driven to succeed by his frugal upbringing. His name,

1934 air mail scandal and US Government anti-trust laws. Varney Air Service had been looking at the new Lockheed designs for high speed air mail use, so was familiar with the company’s fortunes. On hearing of the bankruptcy, Varney contacted his friends Robert and his brother, Courtlandt Sherrington ‘Cort’ Gross, in order to make an offer for the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.

Varney and the Gross brothers reestablished and reorganised the company at Burbank Airport. Lloyd C Stearman was made president and general manager, assisted by former general manager Carl Squier in the role of vice president and sales manager.

Robert Gross was treasurer and Cyril Chappellet secretary. The new design team was headed by another former Lockheed employee, Richard Von Hake, as chief designer. The assistant chief engineer was a man who was to figure greatly in the fortunes of the new company, Hall Livingstone Hibbard.

Hall Hibbard was born in Kansas on July 25, 1903, and grew up with a passion for how machines worked. In 1925, he achieved a

A Lockheed Hudson Mk I of 11 Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force. RCAF

14 IN ASSOCIATION WITH: LOCKHEED MARTIN – WE NEVER FORGET WHO WE ARE WORKING FOR

The cockpit of a Lockheed 12A Electra Junior, in this case a military C-40A of the US Army Air Force, in 1942. US Air Force

Clarence, was ridiculed at school, with his classmates referring to him as ‘Clara’. Never one to take his troubles to anyone else and ever the pragmatist, Johnson took direct action against his tormentors, tripping one taunting classmate so viciously that it broke his leg. He was ‘Clara’ no more.

A popular song of the time, Kelly With The Green Neck Tie provided his next nickname.

Clarence became Kelly to his peers, a name that was to stick for the rest of his life. While at school his passion for aviation began, the first aircraft he designed was for a competition in 1923, winning him a prize at the tender age of 13.

After high school and college in Flint, Michigan, Johnson attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, studying for a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering.

While at the university, he was one of the student assistants working on the wind tunnel models of the Lockheed Model 10. The early design had a single fin and rudder on the rear fuselage, but Johnson’s testing showed that it was directionally unstable.

His findings were ignored by his professor, who reported none of the problems Johnson discovered to Lockheed. What happened next reveals much about Kelly Johnson’s pragmatic and no-nonsense character. In 1933, having completed his degree successfully, Johnson took a job as a tool designer with the Lockheed Corporation.

Having successfully made it in through the front door so to speak, Johnson immediately took his wind tunnel results and conclusions to Hall Hibbard and convinced him that he was right about the instability. Hibbard sent him back to the university to conduct more tests, during which Johnson modified the design to incorporate the twin fin and rudder layout familiar today. He also modified the wing fillets at the fuselage joint and made numerous other improvements, all of which contributed to the success of the Model 10.

Such a direct approach to the problems of the design brought the 23-year-old Johnson to the attention of the Lockheed directors in a dramatic fashion, and with Hibbard’s recommendation Johnson was promoted to aeronautical engineer with immediate effect.

While this development work on the new and highly risky Model 10 was going on,

A Lockheed 12A Electra Junior modified for use as a gunnery trainer for the Royal Netherlands East Indies Air Force. Lockheed

Lloyd Stearman decided to leave Lockheed to begin his own company, so in 1933 Hall Hibbard became the chief designer with Robert Gross taking over as president on December 15, 1934. Just prior to this, the design work of Hibbard and Johnson had reached fruition when the Model 10, now named Electra, made its first flight on February 23, 1934.

Marshall Headle, the test pilot, found it to be a delight to fly. Mention must be made of the vision of Robert Gross in insisting on the twin engined design, as of course in October 1934 the previously mentioned ban on single engined passenger aircraft by the US Government had just come into force.

To develop the Electra, Lockheed had spent $139,400, a considerable risk for the depressed period, but the fast and easy to fly aircraft was an instant success, perfectly placed as it was to fill the gap left by the single engined aircraft. The first 10 Electras were

AIROVER TO VEGA

delivered in 1934, taking the new company into profit for the first time with the delivery of 36 more in 1935. Robert Gross’s great gamble had paid off handsomely, Lockheed was to grow from this point to become one of the largest aircraft manufacturers in the world.

From 332 employees in 1934, by 1940 this had grown to 7000 and one year later to 16,898.

Additional plant at Burbank that had been rented was now purchased as the company expanded to fill it, but this was just the beginning, Lockheed also set up a subsidiary company, initially known as AiRover, but later to find fame as the Vega Aircraft Corporation.

A total of 37 airlines in 15 countries worldwide bought the Electra, as well as the armed forces of the US and seven other countries in South America and Europe, with 149 built before production ended on July 18, 1941. The success of the Electra enabled the development of the smaller Model 12 Electra Junior. This had six passenger seats in a ➤

The Vega Starliner originally

had a single fin and rudder, The Lockheed Aircraft later replaced with the more Corporation was showing familiar Lockheed twin fin healthy profits by August 17, design as seen here.

1937, and was developing Lockheed both airliners and military designs. Realising that military aircraft would take over much of its capacity, Lockheed founded a wholly owned subsidiary on this date, the AiRover Company, also based at Burbank, but with its own buildings.

This company was intended to maintain Lockheed’s interest and capabilities in civil aircraft as the military orders grew and the threat of war loomed. In December 1937 it completed a modified Lockheed Altair powered by a pair of nose mounted Menasco engines driving a single propeller, known as the Unitwin powerplant.

This was intended as a test bed for a new five seat feederliner, the Starliner, the prototype of which first flew on April 22, 1939, but did not attract any orders. Prior to this flight, the AiRover company was renamed the Vega Airplane Company in 1938 and construction began of a new 750,000 sq ft (70,000 sq m) factory on a site about a mile from the original Lockheed plant.

Courtlandt Gross became president of Vega, and was to oversee mass production of such Lockheed aircraft as the Ventura, Harpoon, and Neptune, as well as 2750 Boeing B-17Fs and Gs as part of the Boeing,Vega and Douglas team.The Vega Aircraft Corporation, as it was now known, was absorbed back into Lockheed on November 30, 1943, the factory becoming Lockheed Plant A-1.

Lockheed Mar tin 15

A Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar of Alaska Star Airlines, circa 1948. Most Lodestars built were military transports, finding a second life as airliners postwar. Lockheed

scaled down version of the Electra airframe, but was powered by the same pair of 450hp Pratt and Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior engines.

Intended as a VIP transport and feeder liner, it first flew on June 27, 1936, and 130 were built, many for private owners, but 17 airlines in North and South America and Europe also purchased the type. Nine different military versions of the Model 12 were also built and served with the armed forces of the US and seven other nations as a transport, as well as a bombing and gunnery trainer variant built for the Royal Netherlands East Indies Air Force fitted with a turret in the rear fuselage and bomb racks.

Although successful, both of these aircraft were to be eclipsed by the next development, the larger 14 passenger Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra. Hibbard and Johnson expanded the Electra fuselage, but kept the wing short with high loading to increase the cruising speed. To reduce the take off distance and keep the landing speed within acceptable levels, Fowler flaps were fitted which increased the effective wing area, providing additional lift as well as drag when deployed. Lockheed built 114 Super Electras, powered by a pair of 750hp Pratt and Whitney R-1690 Hornet or 760hp Wright SGR-1820 Cyclone radials.

Interestingly, 64 more were built under licence by Tachikawa in Japan, which also purchased 20 directly from Lockheed, with another 121 being produced by Kawasaki with a longer fuselage and larger rear cargo doors.

The prototype of the sleek airliner was flown for the first time by Marshall Headle on July 29, 1937, and again, the Model 14 was to prove popular worldwide. Twenty-six airlines operated the Super Electra in 17 countries from Australia to the UK, with the armed forces of Canada, Japan, South Africa and the US also acquiring the type as a transport.

In February 1938 a study was made to convert the Super Electra to a military reconnaissance aircraft and light bomber. A mock-up was completed to show to the British

Purchasing Commission in April, who invited a delegation to London to discuss the aircraft with the Air Ministry. A twin gun Boulton Paul mid-upper turret was added, along with a glazed nose for the navigator and twin .303 Browning machine gun nose armament.

A fuselage bomb bay was included with the ability to carry up to 750lb (340kg) of bombs or depth charges for anti-submarine missions. The engines were also upgraded to a pair of 1100hp Wright GR-1820 Cyclones. A contract was signed on June 23, 1938, for 200 of the new aircraft, designated the Model B14L and named Hudson Mk.1. The contact stipulated that as many as possible were to be delivered up to December 1939, to a maximum of 250 aircraft.

The first flight of a modified Model 14 took place on December 10, 1938, with deliveries to the RAF beginning on February 15 the following year. The Burbank factory stepped up to the challenge with a will, and met the contract extension of 250 aircraft with nearly two months to spare. From then until May 1943, 2941, Hudsons were produced in eight major variants, mostly with differing engines and armament, the Hudson Mk.V and VI being powered by the 1200hp Pratt and Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp.

These aircraft were to serve around the world, with the air forces of Australia, Brazil,

An immaculately restored Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon at the Palm Springs Air Museum in California. Constance Redgrave

16 IN ASSOCIATION WITH: LOCKHEED MARTIN – WE NEVER FORGET WHO WE ARE WORKING FOR

Canada, China, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa and the United Kingdom. The US Army Air Force also used the type extensively as a troop transport (A-28A, A-29A and later C-63), gunnery and navigation trainer (AT-18 and 18A) and photographic survey platform (A-29A) as well as the original roles of maritime patrol and light bomber (A-28).

The US Navy also used 20 ex-RAF Hudson Mk.IIIs as the PBO-1. The Hudson was one of the workhorses of the early years of the Second World War, an aircraft which was fast, adaptable, reliable and most importantly, available in numbers. Three of its claims to fame during the war are, firstly, an RAF Lockheed Hudson Mk.1 became the first UK based RAF aircraft to shoot down an enemy aircraft, over Jutland on October 8, 1939, when a patrol by 224 Squadron met a Dornier Do 18D flying boat.

Secondly, submarine U-570 was badly damaged by a Hudson of 269 Squadron operating from Iceland on August 27, 1941, becoming the first submarine to surrender to an aircraft. It was later taken in tow by Royal Navy ships and was impressed into service as HMS Graph. RAF Hudsons later received ASV radar and many were armed with underwing rocket projectiles to make them more effective in the anti-submarine role.

Lastly, a US Navy PBO-1 Hudson of VP-82 became the first American aircraft to sink an enemy submarine when it attacked U-656 off Newfoundland. One little known role of the Hudson was with the RAF’s 161 Squadron in the UK and 257 Squadron in Burma, who operated the type on clandestine missions with the Special Operations Executive and other intelligence organisations.

Although a tremendous military success, the initial sales of the Model 14 Super Electra as an airliner were disappointing, as it was in competition with the larger DC-3. To address this, the fuselage was stretched by 5ft 6in (1.68m) to accommodate 18 passengers and a crew of three. The new aircraft was designated the Model 18 and named Lodestar to differentiate it from the Super Electra in the eyes of customers, although the first two Model 18s were in fact modified from the earlier aircraft. It first flew on September 21, 1939, first entering service with MidContinent Airlines in March 1940. The extra seats made the operating costs similar to that of the DC-3, but with the high performance of that Lockheed aircraft were famous for.

A variety of engines were available depending on customer needs, including the 1200hp versions of the Pratt and Whitney Twin Wasp and Wright Cyclone.

Unfortunately many US airlines were committed to the DC-3 and only 31 were sold at home, but it was a different matter abroad, where 84 were sold to major airlines from the UK to New Zealand. A great many of these aircraft were impressed into military service, the various versions being designated C-56 and C-57 by the USAAF and R5O by the US Navy, where they were used as transports.

Two purpose built military transports, the C-59 and C-60 were used by the US forces (the US Navy and Marine Corps designation being R5O-5 and -6) and by the RAF as the Lodestar Mk.I and II, the latter version being equipped as a paratroop transport. Altogether 625 Model 18s were built, being used postwar by airlines worldwide. Several were also modified as VIP transports, some ending their careers as jump aircraft for parachute clubs and as

agricultural aircraft equipped with aerial spraying equipment.

As with the Model 14 and the Hudson, a military version of the Model 18 was developed beyond the Lodestar transport aircraft, the Lockheed proposal being sent to the British Air Ministry in September 1939. A two, later four, .303 browning machine gun mid upper turret was added, along with two flexible nose mounted guns in the nose glazing for use by the navigator.

A ventral gunner’s position was fitted under the fuselage just forward of the tailplane, mounting another pair of .303 Brownings and giving the rear fuselage a distinctive step which identifies these aircraft from the earlier Model 18s. The pilot had a pair of fixed forward firing .50 cal Brownings in the nose, and the under fuselage had an enlarged bomb bay which could carry 2500lb (1134kg) of bombs or depth charges.

The engines were upgraded to the 1850hp Pratt and Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp two row radial, the RAF ordering 300 in May 1940 as the Ventura Mk.I, increasing the order by an additional 375 aircraft later that year. The prototype first flew on July 31, 1941, with deliveries beginning in September. Initially used by the RAF’s Bomber Command for daylight raids, these proved too costly without adequate fighter escort, so the Venturas were transferred to Coastal Command as maritime patrol aircraft, with a number going to the Canadian and South African air forces.

An upgraded version of the Ventura, with 2000hp Double Wasps and a 3000lb (1361kg) bomb load, called the Ventura Mk.II by the RAF, began a series of developments of the original design. These were also used by the USAAF as the B-34 and RB-34 Lexington, along with a version powered by the 1700hp Wright R-2600 Twin Cyclone intended as an armed reconnaissance aircraft, originally designated O-56 but later known as the RB34B then the RB-37.

Only 18 of these aircraft were delivered from an order for 550, the remainder going to the US Navy from December 1942 as the PV-1 for maritime patrol and anti-submarine missions.

Fitted with the ASD-1 search radar for this role,

the PV-1s were also used as bomber leaders and interestingly, as stop gap night fighters in the Aleutian and Solomon Islands. A small number of PV-1s were modified as a long range reconnaissance aircraft with additional cameras, designated as PV-1Ps. The PV-1 underwent a major redesign for the US Navy with a wing of increased area, larger fuel capacity and an increased bomb load to 4000lb (1814kg).

Armament was also increased to five, later eight, nose mounted .50 cal machine guns and provision to carry eight 5in (127mm) rockets under the wings. An order for 500 was placed by the US Navy on June 30, 1943, known as the PV-2 and named Harpoon, the prototype flying for the first time on December 3, 1943.

A wing redesign was necessitated by wrinkling occurring on the early production versions. This delayed the entry into service in numbers, 69 aircraft with modified wings being delivered by the end of 1944, the earlier production aircraft being used as trainers.

The Harpoons were used as ground attack and anti-shipping aircraft until the end of the Second World War after which they were supplied to US Navy Reserve Units and the armed forces of Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Peru and Portugal. Like the Hudson, a number of aircraft were converted to VIP transports postwar, under the names Super Ventura, Howard 350 and 500 and the Eldorado 700 in the 1950s and 60s. These were the last developments of the Lockheed twin engined transport design that started with the Model 10 of 1934, a remarkable record of achievement as both a civil and military aircraft.

At the same time as all these developments were being undertaken, Lockheed was working on two other aircraft which were to make the company a household name. The first of these was the P-38 Lightning twin engined fighter, the entire story of which is told in Aviation Classics Issue 14. One little known use of the P-38 is described later in this magazine, as is the story of the second of the two designs, the most beautiful propeller driven airliner ever built, the Lockheed Constellation. The company that began by taking a risk was about to become a world leader. ■ Words: Tim Callaway

Showing its civilian transport ancestry is this Lockheed R5O-5 Lodestar of the US Navy (note the misspelled name on the nose), a military transport and the ultimate development of the original Electra design.This one is on display at the March Field Air Museum. Constance Redgrave Lockheed Mar tin 17