The Lockheed Model 10 Electra is an American twin-engined, all-metal monoplane airliner developed by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation , which was produced primarily in the 1930s to compete with the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2 . The type gained considerable fame as one was flown by Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan on their ill-fated around-the-world expedition in 1937.
19-447: Lockheed Electra refers to two distinct aircraft designs: Lockheed Model 10 Electra , a ten-passenger piston engine aircraft of the 1930s, which had two immediate variants: Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior , a six-passenger scaled-down version of the Model 10 Electra Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra , a twelve-passenger scaled-up version of
38-567: A number of non-commercial civil operators also purchased the new Model 10. In May 1937, H. T. "Dick" Merrill and J. S. Lambie accomplished a round-trip crossing of the Atlantic Ocean . The feat was declared the first round-trip commercial crossing of that ocean by any aircraft. It won them the Harmon Trophy . On the eastbound trip, they carried newsreels of the crash of the Hindenburg , and on
57-523: A regular employee, ultimately leading the Skunk Works in developing advanced aircraft such as the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird . The Lockheed Electra was one of the first commercial passenger aircraft with retractable landing gear to come equipped with mudguards as standard equipment, although aircraft with fixed landing gear commonly had mudguards much earlier than this. After October 1934, when
76-720: A star in the Pleiades . The prototype made its first flight on February 23, 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, Kelly 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
95-473: A total of 149 Electras. Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1937. General characteristics Performance Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists [REDACTED] Media related to Lockheed Model 10 Electra at Wikimedia Commons Harmon Trophy The Harmon Trophy is a set of three international trophies, to be awarded annually to
114-457: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Lockheed Model 10 Electra Some of Lockheed's wooden designs, such as the Orion , had been built by Detroit Aircraft Corporation with metal fuselages. However, the Electra was Lockheed's first all-metal and twin-engined design by Lloyd Stearman and Hall Hibbard . The name Electra came from
133-521: The Ninety-Nines based on research performed by Fay Gillis Wells . This work was not coordinated with the NAA or Smithsonian. The original awards were 24-inch-tall bronze statues. The aviator trophy depicts World War I flying ace Raoul Lufbery launching a biplane set next to an eagle about to take wing. The statuette was created by sculptor Roussadana M'divani . The Smithsonian Institution acquired
152-630: The USAAF 's C-36 . By the end of the war, the Electra design was obsolete, although many smaller airlines and charter services continued to operate Electras into the 1970s. Electras were popular as private planes for royalty in Asia and Europe. In India , the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir and the Maharaja of Jodhpur both purchased them for their personal use in 1937. The Electra was produced in several variants, for both civilian and military customers. Lockheed built
171-620: The "art of flying" and the awards did not recognize a superlative aviation achievement, rather recognized American aviation industry leaders. President Truman's staff questioned the award to Alexander de Seversky, Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington stating, "he [de Seversky] did absolutely nothing to deserve it." Truman also did not make time to present the 1948 award to Trans World Airlines CEO Ralph Damon or Brazilian aviation pioneer Francisco Pignatari The award to Pan American World Airways President Juan Trippe in 1946
190-598: The Clifford B. Harmon Trust as: Prior to World War II , the award was administered by the International League of Aviators ( Ligue Internationale des Aviateurs ), an organization founded by Harmon to serve as "an agent for Peace and National security." The League became defunct during the war and Harmon's death on June 25, 1945 in Cannes, France put the awards in turmoil. Harmon left $ 55,000 of his estate to continue funding
209-502: The Harmon Awards provided the vehicles are controlled by their pilots rather than from the ground." The advisory committee directed the trustees to alternate awarding the aeronaut trophy between balloonists and astronauts, but the trustees decided to offer the aviator award to aviation and astronaut recipients. A fifth trophy was created in 1969 to honor achievements in space flight. Some aviatrix awards from 1980–1990 were awarded by
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#1732838555307228-551: The Model 10 Electra Lockheed L-188 Electra , a 98-passenger turboprop aircraft of the 1960s Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Lockheed Electra . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lockheed_Electra&oldid=650842863 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
247-547: The Smithsonian after the presentation of the 1952 awards. The following is an incomplete list compiled from several sources. The Aeronaut, National and Astronaut categories have not been listed in a central location. The NAA and the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum worked to assemble a complete list to be published in conjunction with the NAA's hundredth anniversary in 2005, however this project
266-530: The US government banned single-engined aircraft for use in carrying passengers or in night flying, Lockheed was perfectly placed in the market with its new Model 10 Electra. In addition to deliveries to US-based airlines, several European operators added Electras to their prewar fleets. In Latin America, the first airline to use Electras was Cubana de Aviación , starting in 1935, for its domestic routes. Besides airline orders,
285-467: The aviator's trophy in 1950 from the Clifford B. Harmon Trust. The aviatrix trophy depicts a winged goddess cradling a falcon with outstretched wings. The aeronaut trophy was lost in Germany between May 1940 and October 1953 and was believed to have been sold as scrap. The three-foot-tall, 150-pound statue of five aviators holding the globe on their shoulders was found in a junk store and subsequently given to
304-654: The award in "perpetuity," but Harmon's relatives challenged the bequest. Ultimately, a trust fund of $ 48,431 was created in 1948 . During the period the awards were in litigation (1945–1948), the American Section of the League awarded the International Aviator Trophy to three U.S. leaders in aviation. However, since the awards were not approved by other League Sections, the awards are technically invalid. Also, these three awards were given without consideration to
323-711: The return trip from the United Kingdom , they brought photographs of the coronation of King George VI . Bata Shoes operated the Model 10 to ferry its executives between their European factories. Probably the most famous use of the Electra was the highly modified Model 10E flown by Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan . In July 1937, they disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean during an attempted round-the-world flight. Many Electras and their design descendants (the Model 12 Electra Junior and Model 14 Super Electra ) were pressed into military service during World War II , for instance
342-438: The world's outstanding aviator, aviatrix, and aeronaut ( balloon or dirigible ). A fourth trophy, the "National Trophy", was awarded from 1926 through 1938 to the most outstanding aviator in each of the twenty-one member countries and again from 1946–1948 to honor Americans who contributed to aviation. The award was established in 1926 by Clifford B. Harmon , a wealthy balloonist and aviator . The awards are described by
361-562: Was the only one presented without debate. Since 1997 or 1998, the National Aeronautic Association has been responsible for awarding the trophies. With the exception of the Aeronaut trophy, all are inactive. The trustees wrestled with how to treat space flight . Bound by the court to offer only three trophies, the trustees first agreed that "feats of piloting in both earth orbiting or outer space vehicles will be considered for
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