Lockheed Corporation
2 types ยท 0 airframes
Pre-1950 Narrative
Its founder, Allan Lockheed, had earlier founded the similarly named but otherwise-unrelated Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company, which was operational from 1912 to 1920. Allan Loughead and his brother Malcolm Loughead had operated an earlier aircraft company, Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company, which was operational from 1912 to 1920. The company built and operated aircraft for paying passengers on sightseeing tours in California and had developed a prototype for the civil market, but folded in 1920 due to the flood of surplus aircraft deflating the market after World War I. Allan went into the real estate market while Malcolm had meanwhile formed a successful company marketing brake systems for automobiles. On December 13, 1926, Allan Loughead, John Northrop, Kenneth Kay and Fred Keeler secured funding to form the Lockheed Aircraft Company (spelled phonetically to prevent mispronunciation) in Hollywood. From 1926 to 1928 the company produced over 80 aircraft and employed more than 300 workers who by April 1929 were building five aircraft per week. In July 1929, majority shareholder Fred Keeler sold 87% of the Lockheed Aircraft Company to Detroit Aircraft Corporation.
Aircraft Types
Lockheed C-130 Hercules
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport designed by Lockheed to a 1951 U.S. Air Force requirement for a tactical airlifter that could use short, unprepared strips. First flown in August 1954 and built at Marietta, Georgia, ever since, it pairs a high wing and rear loading doors with a tall, unobstructed hold, and it has been adapted to roles from gunship and tanker to firefighting and hurricane research. More than 2,500 have been delivered to some 70 countries, and the current C-130J Super Hercules keeps the type in production seven decades after its first flight.
Lockheed P-38 Lightning
Lockheed's P-38 Lightning was the United States' twin-boom, twin-engine fighter of the Second World War. Designed before the war to a specification for a high-altitude interceptor, it matured into a long-range escort, fighter-bomber, night fighter and photographic reconnaissance aircraft, and fought in every theatre, most successfully in the Pacific, where its range and twin engines suited the distances. Lockheed and Convair built 10,038 Lightnings in all.