Everything about Lockheed Aircraft Corporation totally explained
The
Lockheed Corporation (originally Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company) was an
American aerospace company founded in
1912 which merged with
Martin Marietta in
1995 to form
Lockheed Martin.
History
Origins
The
Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company was established in 1912 by the brothers
Allan and
Malcolm Loughead. This company was renamed the
Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company and located in
Santa Barbara, California.
In
1926, following the failure of Loughead, Allan Loughead formed the
Lockheed Aircraft Company (the spelling was changed to match its phonetic pronunciation) in
Hollywood, California. In
1929 Lockheed sold out to
Detroit Aircraft Corporation.
The
Great Depression ruined the aircraft market, and Detroit Aircraft went bankrupt. A group of investors headed by brothers Robert and Courtland Gross, and including
Walter Varney bought the company out of receivership in
1932. The syndicate bought the company for a mere $40,000. Ironically, Allan Loughead himself had planned to bid for his own company, but had raised "only" $50,000, which he felt was too small a sum for a serious bid.
In
1934,
Robert E. Gross was named chairman of the new company, the
Lockheed Corporation, which was headquartered at the
airport in
Burbank, California. The company remained there for many years before moving to
Calabasas, California.
The first successful construction that was built in any number (141 aircraft) was the
Vega, best known for its use to several first- and record setting flights by, amongst others,
Amelia Earhart,
Wiley Post and
George Hubert Wilkins
In the 1930s, Lockheed spent $139,400 to develop the
L-10 Electra, a small twin-engine transport. The company sold 40 in the first year of production.
Amelia Earheart and her navigator,
Fred Noonan, flew this plane on their failed attempt to circumnavigate the world in
1937. The Electra also formed the basis for the
Hudson bomber, which was supplied to both the British
Royal Air Force and the United States military before and during
World War II. Its primary role was submarine hunting.
Production during World War II
At the beginning of
World War II, Lockheed — under the guidance of
Clarence (Kelly) Johnson, one of the best known American aircraft designers — answered a specification for an interceptor by submitting the
P-38 Lightning fighter plane, a somewhat unorthodox twin-engine,
twin-boom design. The P-38 was the only U.S. fighter design to be built for the entire duration of the war. It filled ground attack, air-to-air, and even strategic bombing roles in all theatres of the war. The P-38 was responsible for shooting down more Japanese aircraft than any other type during the war; it also participated in the famous mission to kill Japanese
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the mastermind of the
Pearl Harbor attack. Also under Johnson, Lockheed developed a larger, less-successful version of the P-38.
All told, Lockheed and its subsidiary
Vega produced 19,278 aircraft during World War II, representing 6% of those produced in the war. This included 2,600
Venturas, 2,750
B-17 Flying Fortresses (built under license for
Boeing), 2,900 Hudsons, and 9,000 Lightnings.
Postwar production
During World War II, Lockheed, in cooperation with
Trans-World Airlines (TWA), had developed the L049
Constellation, a radical new airliner capable of flying 43 passengers between
New York and
London at a speed of 300 mph in 13 hours. Once the Constellation (affectionately called "Connie") went into the production, the military received the first production models. After the war, the airlines received their original orders of Constellations. This gave Lockheed more than a year's head-start over other aircraft manufacturers in what was easily foreseen as the post-war modernisation of civilian air travel. The Constellations performance set new standards which did in fact transform the civilian transportation market, but its signature tri-tail was the result of many of their initial customers not having hangars tall enough for a more conventional tail.
Lockheed produced a larger transport, the double-decked
R6V Constitution, which was intended to make the Constellation obsolete. However, the design proved underpowered, and only two prototypes were ever built.
Skunk Works
In
1943, Lockheed began, in secrecy, development of a new jet fighter at its Burbank facility. This fighter, the
P-80 Shooting Star, became the first American jet fighter to score a kill. It also recorded the first jet-to-jet aerial kill, downing a
MiG-15 in Korea, although by this time the F-80 (as it came to be known in June 1948) was already considered obsolete.
Starting with the P-80, Lockheed's secret development work was conducted by its Advanced Development Division, more commonly known as the
Skunk Works. This organization has become famous and has spawned many successful Lockheed designs, including the
U-2 (late 1950s),
SR-71 Blackbird (1962) and
F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter (1970s). The Skunk Works often created high quality designs in a short time and sometimes with limited resources. Today the generic term "skunk works" implies a place for the development of secret projects.
Projects during the Cold War
In
1954, the
C-130 Hercules, a durable four-engined transport, flew for the first time. The type remains in production in 2007.
In 1956, Lockheed received a contract for the development of the
Polaris Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (
SLBM), this would be followed by the Poseidon and Trident nuclear missiles.
During the 1960s, Lockheed began development for two large aircraft: the
C-5 Galaxy military transport and the
L-1011 TriStar wide-body civil airliner. Both projects encountered delays and cost overruns. The C-5 was built to unclear initial requirements and suffered from structural weaknesses, which Lockheed was forced to correct with its own money. The Tristar competed for the same market as the
Douglas DC-10; delays in
Rolls-Royce engine development caused the Tristar to fall behind the DC-10. Both the C-5 and L-1011 projects caused Lockheed to lose money during the 1970s.
Other Lockheed designs included the
F-104 Starfighter (late 1950s), the world's first Mach 2 fighter plane; jet transport; and the
C-141 Starlifter and four-engined jet transports.
Lockheed bribery scandals
The Lockheed bribery scandals encompassed a series of illegal
bribes and contributions made by Lockheed officials from the late 1950s to the 1970s. In late 1975 and early 1976, a sub-committee of the
U.S. Senate led by Senator
Frank Church concluded that members of the Lockheed board had paid members of friendly governments to guarantee contracts for military aircraft. In 1976, it was publicly revealed that Lockheed had paid $22 million in bribes to foreign officials in the process of negotiating the sale of aircraft including the F-104 Starfighter, the so-called "Deal of the Century".
The scandal caused considerable political controversy in
West Germany, the
Netherlands and
Japan. In the U.S. the scandal nearly led to the ailing corporation's downfall, as it was already struggling due to the commercial failure of the
L-1011 airliner.
Timeline
Divisions
Lockheed's operations are divided between several groups and divisions, many of which continue to operate within Lockheed Martin.
Aeronautical Systems Group
Lockheed-California Company (CALAC), Burbank, California.
Lockheed-Georgia Company (GELAC), Marietta, Georgia.
Lockheed Advanced Aeronautics Company, Saugus, California.
Lockheed Aircraft Service Company (LAS), Ontario, California.
Lockheed Air Terminal, Inc. (LAT), Burbank, California, now Bob Hope Airport and owned by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.
Missiles, Space, and Electronics Systems Group
Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, Inc., Sunnyvale, California.
Lockheed Space Operations Company, Titusville, Florida.
Lockheed Engineering and Management Services Company, Inc., Houston, Texas.
Lockheed Electronics Company, Inc., Plainfield, New Jersey.
Marine Systems Group
Lockheed Shipbuilding Company, Seattle, Washington.
Lockport Marine Company, Portland, Oregon.
Advanced Marine Systems, Santa Clara, California.
Information Systems Group
Datacom Systems Corporation, Teaneck, New Jersey.
CADAM Inc., Burbank, California.
Lockheed Data Plan, Inc., Los Gatos, California.
DIALOG Information Services, Inc, Palo Alto, California.
Metier Management Systems, London, England.
Integrated Systems and Solutions, Gaithersburg, MD.
Product list
A partial listing of aircraft and other vehicles produced by Lockheed.
Airliners and civil transports
Lockheed Vega
Lockheed L-10 Electra
Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior
Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra
Lockheed Lodestar
Lockheed Constellation, famous airliner
Lockheed Saturn
L-188 Electra
Lockheed JetStar, business jet
L-1011 TriStar, wide-body airliner
Military transports
C-69/C-121, military transport version of the Constellation
Lockheed R6V Constitution, large transport aircraft
C-130 Hercules, medium combat transport (AC-130 gunship) (other variants)
C-141 Starlifter, long-range jet transport
C-5 Galaxy, heavy transport
Fighters
P-38 Lightning, twin-engine counter-rotating propeller fighter
P-80 Shooting Star, the United States Air Force's first operational jet fighter
T-33 Shooting Star, trainer jet
F-94 Starfire, all-weather fighter
F-104 Starfighter, multi-mission fighter, the "missile with a man in it"
F-117 Nighthawk, stealth fighter
F-16 Fighting Falcon, multirole fighter (Originally General Dynamics)
F-22 Raptor, air superiority stealth fighter
Patrol and reconnaissance
Lockheed Hudson, maritime patrol/bomber
PV-1 Ventura and PV-2 Harpoon, Maritime patrol/bomber
P2V Neptune, maritime patrol
P-3 Orion, ASW patrol
Lockheed U-2, reconnaissance (TR-1)
SR-71 Blackbird, reconnaissance (A-12) (M-21) (YF-12)
S-3 Viking, patrol/attack
YO-3A Quiet Star
Helicopters
CL-475
CL-595 (Model 286), Rigid-rotor helicopter
XH-51A/B, composite thrust helicopter testbed aircraft modified from the CL-595
AH-56A Cheyenne, prototype composite thrust attack helicopter
Missiles
Polaris
Poseidon
Trident
Space technology
X-7
X-17
X-24C
Corona
Agena
Apollo Launch Escape System
Hubble Space Telescope
Sea vessels
Sea ShadowFurther Information
Get more info on 'Lockheed Aircraft Corporation'.
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