The Famous Flying Lockheed Brothers
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THE FAMOUS FLYING By Walter J. Boyne Lockheed Brothers The three inventive brothers got things rolling in the 1920s and 1930s. Then they checked out. harles A. Lindbergh’s 1927 The basic Vega design would be simplify matters, the name hereinafter New York-to-Paris flight pro- transmuted into a series of remarkable is spelled Lockheed.) duced an explosion of aviation aircraft. Moreover, the Vega introduced Victor was an automotive engineer, Cactivity, as designers brought forth a a new aviation company with an odd but he made his aviation bones as a multitude of new and sometimes very slogan: “It takes a Lockheed to beat a writer, creating a stir with his 1909 Ve- unusual aircraft. One of these was the Lockheed.” hicles of the Air. In 1912, he published Vega, which made its first flight within The leader of this new firm was Al- a second book, Aeroplane Designing two months of the historic transatlantic lan H. Lockheed, one of three brothers for Amateurs. Victor also designed the flight. who would become major American Taft-Pierce-Lockheed V-8 engine, in There was a stark contrast between industrialists. These three—Allan 1911. The engine is now on display at Lindbergh’s airplane, Spirit of St. Louis, and his brothers Victor and Mal- the National Air and Space Museum’s and the Vega. Lindbergh’s airplane, a colm—all began life with the surname Udvar-Hazy facility in Chantilly, Va., highly modified version of the Mahoney- “Loughead.” Its origin was Scottish, just outside Washington, D.C. Later in Ryan M-2, was from a bygone era. It but it was spelled in the Irish manner life, Victor was editor of Motor magazine combined a conventional steel-tube-and- and was pronounced as “lock-heed.” and continued working in aviation. fabric fuselage with a wood-and-fabric The pronunciation never changed, but Malcolm and Allan began their work- wing, held together with drag-inducing the spelling changed twice. Victor was ing lives in San Francisco. Both were fas- struts. In contrast, the streamlined, all- the first to adopt a new spelling; he cinated by automobiles. Malcolm started wood Vega sported a cantilever wing went with “Lougheed.” Only much out in 1904 working for the White Steam and a molded, partially load-bearing later in life did Allan and Malcolm Car distributor, where he conceived and fuselage. change the spelling to “Lockheed.” (To later patented the hydraulic four-wheel 62 AIR FORCE Magazine / August 2006 engine in the glider, and he concentrated for an unsuccessful attempt at a trans- on making the Curtiss biplane airwor- continental flight. Rebuilt as a flying thy. He also learned to fly in the same boat, it continued to make money for manner that he was to use designing the Lockheeds, carrying sightseers and airplanes—he just did it, without any working with the movie industry. formal training. Plew purchased a sec- Allan and Malcolm Lockheed, ond Curtiss, and Allan, a natural pilot, Northrop, and Stadlman joined forces soon became a featured performer at to forge a new manufacturing method. air shows. The goal was to build a streamlined Neither Allan nor Malcolm was an aircraft, eventually to be called the S- engineer, but both were craftsmen, and 1, in large quantities and at low cost. inevitably they began to build aircraft Their concept featured use of a concrete of their own. Their first, the Lockheed mold in the shape of a fuselage half. Model G, was the largest seaplane yet Laminated, spiral strips of vertical grain built in America. The Model G was fabri- spruce were placed in three layers into cated in a garage near the San Francisco the mold. Each ply was coated with waterfront and made its first flight on waterproof casein glue and bonded for June 15, 1913. That was the start of a hours under immense pressure. The two long series of Lockheed successes. halves from the mold were connected Because it was the only aircraft flying to create a fuselage. in the Bay Area, the Model G created After designing and building their quite a sensation. The three-place biplane own engine, the brothers found that they made lots of money for its owners. Dur- had invested $30,000 in the S-1. It flew ing the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition, well, but it was too expensive to compete the Lockheed brothers grossed $6,000 with the hundreds of cheap, war-surplus carrying more than 600 passengers. Curtiss Jennys and Standard trainers Soon, Allan and Malcolm formed the flooding the postwar market. Lockheed Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Thus ended the first Lockheed ven- in Santa Barbara, Calif., and used the ture. Malcolm packed up and headed Model G to generate income while they east to sell his patented hydraulic four- By Walter J. Boyne concentrated on their second design, the wheel brakes. He eventually sold the THE FAMOUS FLYING F-1. It was an even larger flying boat. patent to Bendix Corp. Allan worked With twin engines, it was able to carry as the California distributor of his a pilot and nine passengers. brother’s brakes. He also dabbled in Malcolm Lockheed (l) and Allan Lockheed take the controls of an early For this venture, the Lockheeds en- real estate. Lockheed Brothers Lockheed flying boat. Three Lockheed joyed some good fortune: They acquired In 1926, however, Allan returned brothers—Allan, Malcolm, and Vic- the talents of 20-year-old engineer- to aviation. He organized a new firm, tor—began their careers in aviation in draftsman Jack K. Northrop. (See “The the Lockheed Aircraft Corp., and set San Francisco just after the turn of the Low-Drag World of Jack Northrop,” about building what would become century. October 2005, p. 76.) Another good the Vega. Allan’s timing for the Vega hire was Anthony Stadlman, who later was as good as the timing for the S-1 would loom large in Lockheed Aircraft had been bad. Corp. He had several factors working for brake. Allan in 1906 went to work in a The F-1 was promising, and America’s him. First was the arrival of the Wright San Francisco automobile repair shop. April 1917 entry into World War II Whirlwind air-cooled radial engine. He was adept behind the wheel and was prompted the brothers to seek a Navy Second was the boom in the stock hired by the Corbin automobile firm to contract for mass production. Allan went market, which made it easy to acquire demonstrate their cars in hill-climbing to Washington where he succeeded in financing for his venture. Third, Jack exhibitions. impressing Lt. Cmdr. Jerome Hunsaker, Northrop, who had been working at then running the Navy’s aircraft engi- Douglas and moonlighting at Ryan, Enter the Airplane neering section. Hunsaker authorized a once again became available and joined Meanwhile, Victor had been commis- Navy test program for the F-1 and gave Lockheed. sioned by an investor, James E. Plew, to Allan a contract to build two Curtiss Northrop and Lockheed believed obtain the rights to a tandem-wing glider. HS-2L flying boats under license. that the manufacturing techniques they Plew’s goal was to install an engine and The small Lockheed plant was hum- had patented for their S-1 could be thus create a powered aircraft to sell. ming within a few months. The F-1 made revived for an entirely new airplane. He also ordered Victor to buy a Curtiss a nonstop flight to San Diego on April The molds could turn out six shells, biplane. Victor enlisted Allan to work 12, 1918, and work on the Curtiss boats or three fuselages, per week. on the two-aircraft fleet in Chicago. Vic- proceeded smoothly. Extremely light and strong, the tor later had a long falling out with the fuselage could accommodate engines other brothers. They reconciled shortly Armistice and Pain of as much as 715 horsepower. It was before his death in 1943. The Nov. 11, 1918 Armistice dashed clean and adaptable; one could cut Allan Lockheed, however, soon dis- hopes for larger contracts. However, the virtually anywhere to create access covered the infeasibility of installing an F-1 was converted to a land airplane hatches, doors, and so forth. Although AIR FORCE Magazine / August 2006 63 Despite the loss of the prototype in the Derby, the Vega itself became an instant sales success. Moreover, bad publicity from the loss of Golden Eagle was quickly offset by a long series of other famous flights. Photos courtesy ofWalter Boyne Capt. George H. Wilkins ordered a Vega after seeing test flights of the prototype and partnered with Alaskan airmail pilot Carl B. Eielson to make an epic, danger-filled trans-Arctic journey in April 1928. The two flew from Point Barrow in northern Alaska across the Arctic to Spitzbergen, north of Nor- way. Wilkins was knighted, and Eiel- son was awarded the Harmon Trophy and the Distinguished Flying Cross. They proclaimed the advantages of the Vega’s speed, strength, and comfort, and Lockheed was established as a The Lockheed Model G, shown here, was the largest seaplane built in America at going concern. the time. Allan and Malcolm gave rides to paying customers to raise money for Ultimately, 129 Vegas were built, their next project, the F-1. and they were flown by almost every famous American aviator of the time. the fuselage had a standard length and ance in the Dole Derby would bring Amelia Earhart in 1932 crossed the diameter—for Lockheed had only the publicity on a scale that only a Hearst Atlantic in her bright red Vega.