The introduction of the small Lockheed airliners in the
mid-1930s pulled the company back from the brink of penury, and set the
Burbank-based manufacturer on the road to recovery. When war came, the shortage
of patrol bombers and fast transports immediately became apparent and Lockheed grasped
the opportunity with both hands.
By 1932 the Lockheed company was on the brink of financial
disaster, with the federal receiver valuing the company’s assets at a mere
$129,961 and putting it up for sale. While founder Allan Loughead sought cash
to buy his old concern, broker and banker Robert Ellsworth Gross snapped up the
almost defunct aviation company for a fabled $40,000. Like many other
entrepreneurs, Gross knew little of the intimate aspects of aeronautical
engineering, but possessed a sound business mind and a growing fascination with
the new wave of commercial air transports that daily plied the US domestic air
space. With well measured consideration Gross predicted that the company’s
future lay not in the production of mail- planes, or even in the military
field, but in the development of fast and relatively small commuter and
feederliner aircraft with an eventual eye to challenging the dominance of the
new Boeing and Douglas aircraft. Gross brought with him Hall Hibbard, a young
Massachusetts Institute of Technology aeronautical engineer, who, with Lloyd
Stearman, started to work on various designs that might be able to gain an
entry into a difficult and demanding market, but it was Gross who steered the
project on to the lines of a small, all-metal, twin- engine commercial transport.
The design team was joined by George Prudden and James Gerschler, and later by
C. L. ‘Kelly’ Johnson, who gave an early display of his brilliance by solving
the wind-tunnel asymmetry problems of the new Lockheed design, now known as the
Model L-10.
Roll-out for the Lockheed Model L-10 Electra took place on
23 February 1934. It was a beautiful little twin-engine aircraft, resplendent
in glistening polished natural aluminium. Power came from two 336-kW (450-hp)
Pratt & Whitney R-985-SB radials, cabin and crew seats numbered 12, empty
weight was 2928 kg (6,454 lb), and the gross weight was 4672 kg (10,300 lb).
Tests gave a maximum speed of 325 km/h (202 mph), and a spanking maximum
continuous cruising speed of 306 km/h (190 mph). After exhaustive tests the prototype
L-10 Electra was flown by Marshall Headle to Mines Field, Los Angeles, for FAA
certification which was granted a few weeks later. On the return to Burbank a
heart-stopping incident took place. Up to the time of the L-10’s first flight
Lockheed had gone into debt for $139,404 for its development, and as its
priceless prototype, newly certificated, made its approach all attempts by the
crew to lower one of the main wheels ended in stubborn failure: only a skilfully-handled
one-wheel landing at nearby Union Air Terminal by pilot Headle, with minimal
damage to the Electra, prevented a major lay-off of the work force and the renewal
of financial straits. There the matter rested. Sales of the Model L-10 Electra
rocketed, with examples going to Mid-Continent Airlines, Northwest Airlines,
Northeast Airlines, Cia Nacional Cubana, Pan American Airways, Panairdo Brasil,
Braniff Airways, National Airlines, British Airways, Delta Air Lines, Eastern
Air Lines, Chicago and Southern, LAV (Venezuela), LOT (Poland), LARES
(Romania), AEROPUT (Yugoslavia), LAN-Chile, and to a host of private buyers
including Amelia Earhart. An L-10 Electra was the seventh Lockheed aircraft
successfully to fly the Atlantic Ocean when Dick Merill and John Lambie flew
NR16055 on a round-trip to London to collect photos of King George VI’s
coronation in 1937. Also that year, somewhere in the Pacific ocean wastes between
Lae, New Guinea and Howland Island, aviatrix Amelia Earhart and her navigator
disappeared for ever during a record attempt in their L-10 Electra. A total of
149 L-10s was built and delivered between 29June 1934 and 18 July 1941, and
many saw military service in the RCAF and Argentine navy, and with the US Army,
US Navy and US Coast Guard designated as C-36, C-37, R20 and R30 sub-types.
Bigger and better
The interim Model L-12 Electra Junior was taken into the air
for the first time by Marshall Headle at 1212 on 27June 1936, exactly on the
scheduled time. By now business was booming, with Lockheed getting $2 million
worth of orders in the previous year. Price-tagged at $40,000 the Model L-12,
with six-seat capacity, was aimed squarely at the business and commuter
markets, and in fact was a scaled-down version of its predecessor with two
Pratt & Whitney R-985-SB radials. Grossing 3924 kg (8,650 lb), the Electra
Junior’s top speed was 362 km/h (225 mph) and service ceiling 6800 m (22,300
ft). Its performance and handling qualities exceeded those of the majority of
contemporary fighters, and it became another good seller. Several records fell
to the Model L-12, including a new route average of 388 km/h (210 mph) by test
pilot E. C. McLead, despite four fuel stops, from Amsterdam to India on a
delivery flight of a L-12 for the Maharaja of Jodhpur. A total of 130 Model
L-12s was built before work stopped in mid-1942.
Incorporating many of the latest aviation developments, the
larger and more powerful Lockheed Model L-14 Super Electra took to the air for
the first time on 29 June 1937. New features on this 14-seat aircraft included
use of 24SRT duralumin, high-speed aerofoil (NACA 23018 and 23009 at root and
tip respectively), single main spar, and high wing loading, massive
Lockheed-Fowler flaps, and two of the latest Wright Cyclone engines, the
GR-1820-G3B. With an empty weight of4854 kg (10,700 lb) and a gross of 7938 kg
(17,500lb), the new L-14 had a top speed of 414 km/h (257 mph): its cruising
speed was some 48 km/h (30 mph) faster than that of any other commercial
transport in the United States and, at a cruise speed of 381 km/h (237 mph),
the Super Electra cut the West Coast-New York flight time of the Douglas DC-3
by four hours. Such was the reputation of the company that even before roll-out
over 30 L-14s were on the order book, and the aircraft itself was soon to
justify all expectations. Millionaire Howard Hughes purchased a Model L-14, and
increased tankage from the normal 3438 to 6980 litres (644 to 1,844 US gal) for
a round-the-world record attempt. Departing from New York on 10 July 1938,
Hughes and his crew flew via Paris, Moscow, Yakutsk, Fairbanks and Minneapolis
to land at Floyd Bennett Field after a 23670-km (14,709-mile) flight achieved
within the time of three days, 17 hours, 14 minutes and 10 seconds. The 112
Model L-14s are remembered today as the progenitors of what was to be one of
Lockheed’s most successful warplanes. Licence production of the L-14 in Japan
amounted to 64 by Tachikawa and 55 by Kawasaki.
Enter the Hudson
To the United States in April 1938 came the British
Purchasing Commission in search of good-quality American aircraft to bolster
the strength of the Royal Air Force in its preparation for an inevitable war:
the mission had $25 million with which to acquire its finds. At that time
Lockheed engaged only 2,000 workers, and had eschewed the design of military
types in favour of the commercial market. But in 10 days of frantic labour the
concern had cobbled together some- thing that might whet the appetites of the
commission: this was nothing other than a mockup of a Model L-14 provided with
bomb- bay, bomb-aimer’s panel and nose glazing, and provision for various
armaments. The British, with a need for a medium-range maritime patrol bomber
for North Sea operations with RAF Coastal Command, were impressed. At the
invitation of Sir Henry Self, the contracts director at the Air Ministry in
London, Courtlandt Gross (brother of Robert Gross) travelled to the UK with
Carl Squier, C. L. Johnson, Robert Proctor and R. A. van Hake for
consultations. The initial order for 175 Model B14s, now known as the Hudson,
was signed on 23June 1938, with provision of up to a maximum of 250 by December
1939: it was the largest military order gained by a US company to date. The
first Hudson Mk I bomber took to the air on 10 December 1938, with the company,
now numbering a work force of 7,000, hard at work to fill the orders which rose
in value with additional orders for P-38s and B-34s to an impressive $65
million. Arriving by sea, the first Hudson Mk Is reached the UK on 15 February
1939. The type was powered by two 820-kW (1,100-hp) Wright GR-1820-G102A
Cyclones with two-speed Hamilton propellers. For reconnaissance duties the
Hudson Mk I carried an F. 24 camera, assorted flares and a bombload of up to
499 kg (1,100 lb) comprising either four 114-kg (250-lb) GP, SAP or AS, or 10
50-kg (110-lb) anti-submarine bombs; an overload of 12 51-kg (112-lb) Mk VIIc
AS bombs could be carried, but in this event the bomb doors could not be fully
closed. Modified with extra items at the Lockheed- Vega subsidiary at Speke
(Liverpool), the first Hudson Mk Is and Mk IIs (the latter differing in the installation
of Hamilton Standard Type 611A-12/3E50-253 constant-speed propellers) were
delivered to Wing Commander E. A. Hodgson’s No. 224 Squadron at Leuchars,
Scotland, in August 1939. Although less manoeuvrable than the lighter Avro
Anson, the Hudson was considered by the squadron to be eminently suitable for
its patrols over the North Sea as far as Norway, the Skaggerak and the German
Bight. Cruising at 610 m(2,000 ft) at 306 km/h (190 mph), a fuel consumption of
323 litres (71 Imp Gal) per hour gave the Hudson an endurance of over six hours
with 20 per cent reserves and a 917-km (570-mile) radius of action. Armament
was light initially, and the twin 7.7-mm (0.303-in) nose guns, beam guns and
the Boulton Paul Type ‘C Mk II turret were retrofitted during the autumn of
1939 and the spring of 1940.
With the outbreak of war the Hudsons of RAF Coastal Command
were among the first RAF aircraft to go into action, and the first combat with
a German aircraft was recorded on 4 September 1939, when No. 224 Squadron’s
T-Tommy (N7214), captained by Flying Officer H. D. Green, engaged a Dornier Do
18 over the Dogger Bank. In addition to No. 224 Squadron, Nos 206, 269, 233,
320 and 220 Squadrons were equipped with Hudsons during 1939-40. Much action
was seen off Norway during the Altmark incident and the sub- sequent German
invasion of Scandinavia, and over the Channel during the Dunkirk evacuations,
in addition to patrol work over the western approaches and the North Sea.
During 1941 RAF and RCAF Hudsons, operating from the UK, Iceland and
Newfoundland, con- ducted a difficult war against the U-Boat menace: on 27
August 1941 a Hudson of No. 269 Squadron from Kaldadarnes forced the crew of
the U-570 to surrender after repeated attacks. Use of the Hudson was not limited
to the RAF and RCAF, and in early 1942 US Army A-28s and A-29s, and US Navy
PBO-1s did much work along the eastern seaboard of the United States, while in
the Far East those of Nos 1 and 8 Squadrons, RAAF fought well against great
odds during the Japanese invasions of Malaya, Java and Burma. Six primary marks
of Hudson, engaged in maritime and transport work, emanated from Lockheed’s
2,941 examples made up to June 1943 when production ceased, seeing service on
all Anglo-American war fronts.
The Model 18 progeny
A direct development of the LT4 series, the Lockheed L-18
Lode- star first flew on 21 September 1939: the fuselage had been stretched by
1.68 m(5 ft 6 in), and to minimise tail flutter the elevator was raised
slightly. By the end of 1940 some 54 of the 17-seat Model 18s had been sold to
such varied customers as Mid Continent (first to buy the $90,000 aircraft),
Regie Air Afrique and the Netherlands East Indies, BOAC and South African
Airways. During World War II the Model 18 series was adopted by the US Army and
the US Navy as a transport: US Army versions included the C-56 (in models up to
C-56E), C-57 and C-57B, C-59, C-60 and C-60A, C-66 and C-lll, all of which
featured differences either in engines, seating or ancillary equipment. Naval
versions included the R50 (in models up to R50-6), while the RAF used Lodestar
Mks I, IA and II models.
In response to a request from the British, Vega Aircraft
Corporation developed a military version of the Model L-18 series which was employed
by the RAF as the Ventura, by the US Army Air Force as the B-34 and B-37, and
by the US Navy as the FV-1 patrol bomber. All were powered by two 1492-kW
(2,000-hp) Pratt & Whitney R-2800-31 radials, with the exception of the
RAF’s Ventura Mk I which had Pratt & Whitney R-2800-S1A4G engines, and the
few B-37s which featured Wright R-26(X)-13s. The first Ventura Mk I flew on
31July 1941 and, together with the up-rated Mk II and Mk IIA versions, entered
service with No. 2 (Bomber) Group in November 1942. On daylight missions over France
and the Low Countries the Ventura fared badly against the dangerous Focke-Wulf
Fw 190As of the Luftwaffe, and losses to flak and enemy fighters were consistently
high. During the summer of 1943 the type was withdrawn from No. 2 Group, its
place being taken by North American Mitchells and Douglas Boston Mk IIIA
bombers. The B-34s of the USAAF saw little action, while the B-37 (Ventura Mk
III) saw none at all. In the Solomons and South Pacific area Ventura Mk IVs and
GR. Mk Vs of the RNZAF saw considerable action against the Japanese bastions at
Kavieng and Rabaul, and proved their worth. The last-mentioned marks were known
in the US Navy as PV-ls, of which 1,800 were built. Carrying a crew of four or
five, the PV-1 weighed in at 9161 kg (20,197 lb) empty and 14097 kg (31,077 lb)
gross, and was capable of a maximum speed of 502 km/h (312 mph) at 4205 m
(13,800 ft). Armament consisted of two forward-firing 12.7-mm (0.5-in) guns,
two more guns of the same calibre in a Martin CE250 dorsal turret, and two 7.62-mm
(0.3-in) guns in the ventral position; up to four 454-kg (1,000-lb) bombs could
be stowed internally, with another two under the wings, while an alternative
was a single Model 13 Mk II torpedo. US Navy PV-ls operated from Aleutian bases
during 1943-45 in all weathers on anti-shipping strikes and attacks on the
Japanese bases at Paramushiro and Shimushu, and fought off frequent aggressive
attacks by the Mitsubishi A6M3 Reisens of the 13th Koku Kantai (Air Fleet)
which defended the area. The PV-1 more than compensated for the relatively poor
showing by the Ventura in Europe, and performed useful service in all sectors
of the Pacific.
The final version of this long and successful series of the
Lockheed twins that had started the little Model L-10 in 1934 was the PV-2 Har-
poon maritime patrol bomber. In this model the fuselage and tail unit were
redesigned, and the wing span increased from 19.96 m (65 ft 6 in) to 22.86 m
(75 ft). The first flight of the PV-2 took place on 3 December 1943, the first
aircraft being delivered to US Navy squadrons in March 1944 for action from
Aleutian bases. Wing flexing problems added to production difficulties, but the
PV-2 saw out the war and continued to serve in naval reserve wings for many
years afterwards.
Lockheed twin-engine variants
Lockheed Model L 10 Electra: all-metal, twin-engine
10-seat L-10 introduced into commercial service in 1934, 149 aircraft built.
Lockheed Model L-10A had two 298-kW(400-hpl Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp
Juniors, Lockheed Model L-10B two 313 kW (420 hp) Wright Whirlwinds, Model
L-10C two 336-kW (450-hpl Wasp SCIs, and Model L-10E two 336-kW (450-hp) Pratt
& Whitney R-1340 engines, in service with US Army, US Navy and US Coast
Guard as the C-36/C-37, R20 and R30 respectively
Lockheed Model L-12 Electra Junior: introduced in
1936 with six-seat capacity for business use, with two Pratt & Whitney
R-985-SB Wasp Juniors as the Model L-12A, 130 built, service with the US Navy
as JO-1 and JJO-2 sub-types, and with the US Army as the C-40, C-40A and
ex-civil UC-40D; military nose-wheel trainers (one each) as the XJO-3 (US Navy)
and C-40B (US Army), eight out of 13 Model 212 military trainers delivered to
Royal Netherlands Indies Air Division in Java in 1942. other variants were the
Model L-12B with 328-kW 1440-hp) Wright R-975-E3d radials, and the Model 12-25
with 336-kW (450-hp) Wasp Junior SB3 radials
Lockheed Model L-14 Super Electra: introduced in 1937
with 12-seat capacity for commercial duties, with two 559-kW (750-hp) Pratt
& Whitney Hornets (Model L-14H) or various models of Wright Cyclones (Model
L-14W and Model L-14N. the latter only for private owners), typical
late-production L-14 had 14-seat configuration with two Wright GR-1820-G3B
engines, became the progenitor of the military Hudson, A-28. A-29 and PBO-1
series, impressed Model L-14Ws were designated C-111. while Japanese production
produced the Army Type LO Transport
Lockheed Model 14B Hudson Mk I: general-purpose
patrol bomber with two 745-kW (1.000-hp) Wright GR-1820-G102A engines with
two-speed Hamilton-Standard propellers, in service with RAF Coastal Command in
mid-1939
Lockheed Model 414 Hudson Mk II: as Mk I but with
Hamilton Standard 611A-12/3 constant-speed propellers, standard armament
included twin 7 7-mm (0 303-in) forward-firing machine-guns, two beam guns and
twin- gunned Boulton Paul Type C Mk II dorsal turret, pilot and fuel tank
armour
Lockheed Model 414 Hudson Mk III: two Wright
GR-1820-G205A Cyclones each rated at 895-kW (1.200-hp) and Hamilton-Standard
hydromatic propellers defined this prolific version which introduced a ventral
gun position Hudson Mk IIIA (US Army designation A-29) powered by two 895-kW (1,200-hpl
Wright R-1820-87 Cyclones, and designated the PBO-1 by US Navy, the A-29A had a
convertible troop-transport interior, and the A-29B was a photographic- survey
version, the AT-18 and AT-18A were gunnery and navigation trainers respectively
Lockheed Model 414 Hudson Mk IV: two Pratt &
Whitney R-1820-SC3G Twin Wasp engines, primarily for RAAF service, but a few to
the RAF, no ventral gun position. US Army designation was A-28 (two
R-1830-45S), becoming Hudson Mk IVA in RAAF service
Lockheed Model 414 Hudson Mk V: two Pratt &
Whitney R-1830-SC34G engines with Hamilton Type 6227A-0 propellers, and the
ventral gun position Lockheed Model 414 Hudson Mk VI: two Pratt & Whitney
R-1830-67s. US Army designation A-28A
Lockheed Model L-18 Lodestar: direct development of
the Model L-14, with crew of three and 14 passengers, powerplant comprised
Pratt & Whitney S1E-3G Hornets, or Pratt & Whitney SC-3G Twin Wasps, or
S4C-4G Twin Wasps, or Wright GR-1820- G102As, or GR-1820-202AS or GR-1820-
G205As, naval transport versions designated R50-1, RSO-4, R50-5 and R50-6. US
Army versions were the C-56, C-57. C-59, C-60 and C-66, RAF versions were the
Lodestar Mks I, IA and II
Kawasaki Ki-56 (Army Type 1 Transport): the Japanese
produced the Lockheed L-14WG3 under licence, and with refinements, two 708-kW
(950-hpl Army 99 (Nakajima Ha-25) engines, in service with the JAAF in 1940.
121 built
Lockheed B-34 (Model 37): military patrol bomber
developed from the Model 18 series to RAF specification, and designated the
Ventura Mk I in RAF service (Model 37- 21); two Pratt & Whitney
R-2800-S1A4G engines rated at 1379 kW (1.850-hp), the Ventura Mk II (Model 37
27) was powered by two R 2800-31 engines. RAF also used the Ventura Mk IIA
(Model 37-127) and Ventura GR. Mk V, US Army designations were B-34 and B-37.
with definitive maritime version, the PV-1 (Model 237) (alias Ventura GR Mk V).
serving in the US Navy
Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon (Model 15): development of US
Navy’s PV-1, with completely redesigned airframe, two 1492-kW (2,000-hp) Pratt
& Whitney R-2800-31 engines, produced or converted in additional PV-2C,
PV-2D and PV-2T sub-types Lockheed PV-3 Harpoon: designation of 27 Ventura Mk
IIs retained by US Navy
