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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. The Great Depression ruined the aircraft market, and Detroit Aircraft went bankrupt. A group of investors headed by brothers Robert and Courtland Gross 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» been known for its use to several first- and record setting flights by, amongst others Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post and 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. Post-war 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 on the other aircraft manufacturers. 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 (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 2006. 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. In 1976, the Skunk Works began secret development of the F-117 Stealth Fighter. Other Lockheed designs included the F-104 Starfighter (late 1950's), the world's first Mach 2 fighter plane; L-1011 TriStar wide-body jet transport; and the C-141 Starlifter and C-5 Galaxy four-engined jet transports. Japanese Lockheed Scandal In 1976, Lockheed was involved in a major scandal involving the Japanese Marubeni Corporation and several high ranking members of Japanese political, business and underworld circles. Lockheed had hired underworld figure Yoshio Kodama as a consultant in order to influence Japanese airlines, including the Japanese All Nippon Airways, to purchase the L-1011 aircraft instead of the competing Douglas DC-10. It was revealed that Lockheed had paid approximately $3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka for aid in the matter. The resulting judicial process carried on for a decade, and led to the arrest of Tanaka (after his resignation due to another scandal), among others. In the United States, Lockheed chairman of the board Daniel Haughton resigned from his position. Netherlands Lockheed Scandal In the Netherlands, the "Lockheed scandal" related to the purchase of F-104G Starfighters for the airforce in which Prince Bernhard was implicated in charges of receiving bribes from Lockheed in order to ensure the aircraft would win out over the Mirage V for the purchase contract. The scandal also directly gave rise to the American Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which made it illegal for American persons and entities to bribe foreign government officials. Germany Lockheed Scandal Many senior figures in the West German Air Force (such as Erich Hartmann) voiced their doubts about the Lockheed F-104 and considered it a fundamentally flawed and unsafe aircraft, strongly opposing its adoption by the German Air Force. Events subsequently validated the low opinion of the aircraft (282 crashes and 115 German pilots killed on the F-104 in non-combat missions; allegations of bribes culminating in the Lockheed scandal). Timeline Divisions Lockheed's operations were divided between several groups and divisions, many of which continue to operate within Lockheed Martin. Aeronautical Systems Group Missiles, Space, and Electronics Systems Group Marine Systems Group Information Systems Group Product list
Airliners and civil transports Military transports Fighters Patrol and reconnaissance Helicopters Missiles Space technology Sea vessels Further reading See also | |||||||||||
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