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The L.10 Electra was a twin-engine, all-metal monoplane airliner developed by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in the 30s to compete with the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2.
The Electra was Lockheed's first all-metal and twin-engine design. (However, some of Lockheed's wooden designs, such as the Orion had been built by Detroit Aircraft Corporation with metal fuselages). The name Electra came from a star in the Pleiades. The prototype made its first flight on 23 February 1934 with Marshall Headle at the controls.
Wind tunnel work on the Electra was undertaken at the University of Michigan. Much of the work was performed by a student assistant, Clarence Johnson. He suggested two changes be made to the design: changing the single tail to double tails (later a Lockheed trademark), and deleting oversized wing fillets. Both of these suggestions were incorporated into production aircraft. Upon receiving his master's degree, Johnson joined Lockheed as a regular employee, ultimately leading the Skunk Works in developing advanced aircraft such as the SR-71 Blackbird.
Aviatrix Amelia Earhart disappeared in a highly-modified Electra on an attempted around-the-world flight in 1937.
Later in 1937, H.T. "Dick" Merrill and J.S. Lambie accomplished a round-trip crossing of the Atlantic Ocean; this feat was declared the first round-trip commercial crossing of that ocean, and it won them the Harmon Trophy. On the eastbound trip, they carried newsreels of the crash of the Hindenburg, and on the return trip, the brought photographs of the coronation of King George VI.
Many Electras, and descendants of the design (the L-12 Electra Junior and L-14 Super Electra), were pressed into military service during World War II (as the C-36 with the USAAF). By the end of the war, the Electra design was obsolete.
The Electra was produced in several variants, for both civilian and military customers. Lockheed built a total of 149 Electras.
Powered by two Pratt & Whitney R-985-13, 450 hp each; 101 produced.
Argentina, Brazil, Royal Canadian Air Force, Honduras, Spain, Royal Air Force, US Army Air Corps, US Army Air Force, US Navy, United States Coast Guard, Venezuela.
Aeroput (Yugoslavia) (now known as JAT Airways), British Airways, Canadian Airlines, Chicago & Southern, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Eastern Air Lines, Guinea Airways, Hanford, LARES (Romania), LAN Chile, LOT Polish Airlines (ten in 1936-1939), National Airways, Northwest Airlines, Pan American (Alaska Division), Trans-Canada Air Lines, Union Airways of N.Z. Ltd.
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