The Plane That Disappeared With Amelia Earhart | Lockheed 10 Electra

foreign we're taking a look at the Lockheed model 10 Electra this was the first in a moderate line of twin engine aircraft designs that emerged in the 1930s notable for their exceptionally Sleek lines and beautiful looks most were used in The Civil Market primarily as passenger airliners but a few military designs emerged as well I plan to cover all of these over the next month or so so consider this at the beginning of a sort of disjointed mini-series that I will continue after I return from my overseas trip next month the Elektra Story begins in depressing times literally in 1932 the Lockheed Aircraft company was an ill-fated subsidiary of the defunct Detroit aircraft Corporation though the company had produced some good designs including the world famous and record setting Lockheed Vega it had not enjoyed huge Commercial Success this would soon change when the Lockheed Aircraft company was purchased and reformed into the Lockheed aircraft Corporation in June 1932. much of the finance was brought in by Robert E gross an investment banker and the company's management team soon elected a new president Lloyd Stearman himself already a well-established aircraft designer and manufacturer at first the new company planned to build a 10-seat single-engine all-metal transport which stiemon had drawn up earlier while doing work for Steam and avani Incorporated however convinced that the future of Passenger transport were to depend on the development of clean and fast twin engine aircraft Robert Gross convinced his associates that they should abandon the single engine design and go for a twin engine design Instead This proved to be exceptionally fortuitous as just a couple of years later single engine aircraft operating in the United States would be forbidden to carry passengers on scheduled flights at night or over terrain unsuitable for emergency Landings and considering the vast swathes of the US fit into that category with the Rocky Mountains to the west and the Appalachians to the east this could have been a real problem had Lockheed gone with the single engine approach this new aircraft continued at the trend of Lockheed using a Celestial themed names and the model 10 Electra was drawn up in the later part of 1933 to be built as a low-wing cantilever monoplane it was to have a combination for a crew of 2 and 10 passengers it was to be powered by a pair of Pratt and Whitney r985 wasp Junior air called 9-cylinder radial engines that were to be enclosed by Neca style cowlings and to driving two blade variable pitch propellers before construction of a prototype was completed scale models were tested in a wind tunnel at the University of Michigan initially the design had a single vertical tail winged to fuselage fillets and a forward raked windshield however an assistant to Professor Edward stalker the aerodynamicist who'd been entrusted with the testing identified these features as likely to cause stability problems the assistant's name was Clarence l Johnson though most of us would know him simply as Kelly Johnson one of the most prolific and influential U.S aircraft designers to ever live but his Future Fame in working on such projects as the P-38 Lightning the U2 the f-104 and the SR-71 Blackbird to name just a few was still ahead of him and Professor stalker did not believe Johnson's report that the model 10 would be unstable not too long after this in 1933 Kelly Johnson completed his Master's Degree and he ended up joining the design team at Lockheed the model 10 was still incomplete by this stage encountering various delays and he convinced whole Hibbard the chief engineer at the time that he believed it was still unstable and he asked permission to conduct further testing after wind tunnel testing of additional end plate fins near the end of the tail plane Johnson proposed a twin Finn and Rudder design and this proposal was quickly accepted with the model 10 Now featuring what would rapidly become a trademark tail design for Lockheed aircraft in the interwar period the Prototype Electro was finally completed in February of 1934. on the 23rd of that month and powered by 450 horsepower wasp Junior SBS it was flown for the first time at Burbank with pilot Marshall heedle at the controls the initial test flight results soon confirmed to Johnson in his other recommendations that the wing fillets curved fairings at the wing Roots should be removed and that the windshield should be modified to a different shape this was experimented with and the finalized windshield would not be settled upon until the production of the Electra was already underway with the fifth production aircraft being selected for the final design with the modifications made the performance and handling characteristics of the aircraft were deemed to be excellent and the Prototype Electra completed its airworthiness trials at Los Angeles in the spring following this the electro went through the process of getting its CAA approved type certificate allowing it to be operated commercially and Lockheed began to rapidly collect production orders from various customers throughout the spring and the summer months production models of the electro would eventually total 148 aircraft built across four commercial and five military variants by far the most numerous produced was the first the Electra 10-a with 101 of the 148 total being of this type these were delivered to four U.S airliners 10 overseas Airlines a few private customers and a couple went to various governments in its original form it had a wingspan of 55 feet a length of 38 feet 7 inches and a height of 10 feet 1 inch it was good for a top speed of 210 miles an hour and a cruising speed of 190 miles an hour over a maximum range of 810 miles after the model 10A there was the 10B through to the E 18 10 B's were built and they were the only major variant to not use the WASP Junior instead being powered by 440 horsepower right r1975 E3 whirlwinds they were sold to three U.S airlines Eastern Airlines being the dominant customer one being foreign and one being a private customer as well the model 10c was the result of Interest by Pan-American Airways who requested the engine to be changed to the 450 horsepower wasp SC1 an engine they had in Surplus eventually eight aircraft were produced to this modified specification with delivery being complete by May of 1935. the model 10d was a projected military development of the electro but it was never built and the model 10e was another order for Pan American and its subsidiaries this model came with more powerful engines the 660 horsepower wasp s3h1 and it also found customers in the private Market who valued high performance designs a few electors were also built for experimental use the most notable becoming known as the xc35 this was a single unique version of the aircraft that had been ordered by the war department as a test bed for pressurized cabins and high altitude operations Lockheed designed a new fuselage of circular cross-section with heavy doors smaller windows and internal bracing to cope with the stresses of pressurization but the original wing and tail surfaces remain the same to provide cabin pressurization and the necessary high altitude performance the experimental and turbo supercharged Pratt and Whitney XR 1340-43 engine was selected ground testing began in early 1937 and the aircraft was very soon nicknamed the boiler on account of some deeply distressing noises made by The Doors which leaked noisily when cabin pressure was first applied after some quick modifications the aircraft ceased sounding like an aggravated tea kettle and it went up for its first flights in May of that year with many of the tests conducted at the hands of a lieutenant Ben Kelsey the xc35 provided the air core and the aircraft industry with vital research data and experience in the use of pressurized cabins and turbo supercharged engines moreover it also made some spectacular and record-setting flights including one from Chicago to Washington where it averaged 350 miles an hour and 20 000 feet in terms of its actual service life the model tens was especially varied it began primarily as it was intended as as a commercial transport it was operated in the United States by Chicago and Southern Continental Delta Eastern Hanford National Airways Northwest and Pan-American like the larger Boeing 247 and the Douglas dc2 the Electra offered a degree of comfort not previously experienced in U.S commercial Aviation and its high cruising speed 190 miles an hour the same as the dc2 despite the Electra having far less power endeared it to its passengers the Electra was beautiful Sleek fast and comfortable unfortunately its smaller size let it down when it came to the most important metric in commercial air travel and that was cost its seat cost per mile was slightly higher than its competition and this combined with the reduced seating capacity 10 on the Electra versus 14 on the dc2 2 reduced the elector's attractiveness to major airlines during a time of exceedingly Fierce competition as America's economy was finally bouncing back after the Great Depression because of this several Airlines replaced their electors with large aircraft in the late 30s and early 40s by 1942 of the U.S domestic Fleet of 322 aircraft just 16 were still model 10 electras but this was not the end of the Elektra not by any measure at all some would still be operated commercially in the United States well into the late 1960s obviously on smaller routes but still in service nonetheless additionally a large number of electors were pressed into use as military transports during the war in the U.S they were redesignated as the c36a B and C and they were used almost exclusively within the continental United States however several electorates were also purchased by the British and they saw widespread use as general and personal transports with one being used by the RAF as the personal transport for the governor of Bengal of course perhaps the most famous event tied to the Elektra happened before the second world war way back in 1937. in July 1936 a special version of the model 10e was built to the specifications of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart who was planning a series of flights to circumnavigate the world modifications included the installation of large fuel tanks in the fuselage taking the capacity from 200 to 1200 US gallons or 4542 liters and additional navigational equipment was also installed notably a DF Loop above the cabin Earhart made her first attempt on March the 17th 1937 with Captain Harry Manning as her Navigator assisted by Fred Noonan but it did not succeed having started from Oakland in California they were taking off from Luke field on Ford Island when the aircraft entered an uncontrolled ground Loop that damaged the landing gear fuselage Underside and both propellers there was much debate on the cause of the incident some claimed a burst right tire some blamed a landing gear collapse and some blamed Pilot's error but either way the flight was severely delayed as repairs had to be made this had a knock-on effect that has been considered by some to be significant in Earhart's appearance Captain Manning who was not only a navigator but also a pilot and the only one of the three considered to be a skilled radio operator abandoned his assistance in the flight as it had already taken up a lot of his planned personal absence this left just Earhart and Noonan who made their second attempt once repairs had been completed flying west to east their Lockheed Elektra carried them from Oakland to Miami then through the Caribbean South America Africa India and Southeast Asia and then on route from New Guinea to Howland Island they vanished and for the next 80 plus years people have been arguing about how and why they vanished did they run out of fuel ditch in the ocean and drown were they captured by the Japanese after straying too far north and being accused of spying or did they land on a deserted island of only to starve and then get eaten by coconut crabs who knows but that is a topic beyond the scope of today's video despite the black mark on its history for being Earhart's Chariot of Doom the model 10 Elektra proved itself to be a fast reliable and capable transport if a little on the small side it had already been on the way out of major service by the time the U.S found itself at War and after 1945 it's found itself being used by small so-called feeder Airlines or private operators the type did continue to see service for some considerable time in Central and South America being used by Brazil Costa Rica Ecuador and Panama to name a few all the way up to the 1960s though not produced in massive numbers quite a few model tens survived today partly thanks to several being in private hands for a considerable amount of time most are on display a or under Restoration in the United States including the xc35 which is currently in storage slash preservation and there are a couple kicking about in Canada and to New Zealand as well though not perfect as a transport the electorate was a very good aircraft and the first twin engine design to be built by Lockheed but it would not be the last and the model 10 quickly evolved into such designs as the electric Junior the super Electra and the militarized Lockheed Hudson but those aircraft will cover another day as always thank you all so much for watching and a big thank you of course to the patreon supporters now this is the last video that will go live before I am away in the UK for the next four weeks so I won't be able to update the patreon list until I return as I've obviously pre-recorded everything for the next few weeks FYI I will be attending the Royal International Air tattoo on the 15th more details to follow soon a big thank you of course to our wing Commander tier patrons our highest tier supporters and a warm welcome to David Rabinowitz who is the newest member of this special group right I'm off to uh furiously begin packing preparations but as always thank you all for your continued support and I will catch you all next time goodbye

Channel: Rex's Hangar

Views: 18,062

Keywords: Lockheed, lockheed aircraft, lockheed martin, lockheed electra, lockheed model 10 electra, amelia earhart, lockheed electra 10, rexs hangar, rex's hangar, aviation history, aircraft documentary, plane video, lockheed aircraft video, lockheed electra 10e, amelia earhart mystery, amelia earhart plane

Id: H2VBotrdSyk

Length: 16min 58sec (1018 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 17 2023