Electra's grandson: The Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar

The Lockheed Model 10 Electra twin-engine aircraft is best known as the aircraft used by Amelia Earhart in her ill-fated bid to circumnavigate the globe in 1937. However, it also spawned a number of descendants, including the Model 12 Electra Junior, the Wright Cyclone-powered Model 14 Super Electra, and the Hudson patrol bomber. One long-term derivative of the Electra that some aviation historians tend to overlook at times is the Model 18 Lodestar. During my April 2019 visit to the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California, I happened to notice two Model 18 Lodestars in a location for unrestored planes and armored vehicles, one of which was undergoing renovation. Therefore, I thought it might be worth writing a summary of the Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar, with some emphasis on the Lodestars I saw at the Planes of Fame Museum.

Top: Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar prototype (NX17385)

Bottom: National Airlines Model 18 Lodestar (civil registration NC18199)

Due to a poor sales record of the Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra, owing to the fact that the Super Electra was more expensive to operate than the Douglas DC-3. In order to improve the economics of the Model 14, Lockheed proposed the Model 18 Lodestar which differed from its predecessor in having a fuselage stretched by 5 feet 6 inches, and two more rows of seats (for a total seating capacity of 18 passengers) (Francillon 1982, pp. 185-186). The fourth Super Electra (returned to Lockheed by Northwest Airlines after a number of crashes involving the Super Electra) was selected by the Lockheed company to be converted to the Model 18 prototype, making its first flight in this forum on September 21, 1939. Two more Model 18 prototypes were produced from conversions of additional Super Electras, while the first new build Lodestar flew on February 2, 1940. Entry into service with Mid-Continent Airlines took place in March 1940, and the extra seats satisfied Lockheed's expectations for cheaper operating costs by putting the Lodestar's seat-mile costs to a similar level to that of the DC-3. Despite a minimal sales record of the Lodestar to US airlines due to the American airline industry being largely committed to the DC-3, the Model 18 received huge orders from foreign airlines, including South African Airways, Trans-Canada Airlines, and BOAC.

Left: Lockheed C-60 Lodestar in flight

Right: A Lockheed R5O-1, staff transport for the Secretary of the Navy, San Francisco, August 4, 1941

With the US building up its military aviation strength in 1940-1941, many Lodestars were impressed into service as the C-56, while many new-build Lodestars were designated C-60 by the US Army Air Force and R5O by the US Navy and US Marine Corps.* Ten Lodestars powered by two Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornets were designated C-59 and delivered to the Royal Air Force, while the C-57 designation was allocated to several Lodestar airframes fitted with the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engines (three were converted C-60s). Other foreign customers of the military Lodestars included New Zealand, Norway, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Haiti, Israel, Mexico, Netherlands, and South Africa; one Lodestar delivered to Brazil had been designated C-66 by the US Army Air Force and would later serve as the presidential transport of Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas (Francillon 1982). Meanwhile, the Lodestar would eventually spawn the a dedicated patrol bomber for the US Navy, the PV-1 Harpoon, which was used by the USAAF as the B-34 Lexington and B-37, as well as the armed forces of British Commonwealth countries. A revised version of the PV-1, the PV-2 Harpoon, had an increased wing area, bigger bombload, and provisions for eight 5-inch HVAR rockets under the wings. In all, 625 Model 18 Lodestars were constructed.

*A 21-seat troop transport version of C-60 was planned as the C-104 (later C-60C), of which 691 aircraft were ordered (serial numbers 43-16467/17123) (Andrade 1979, p. 78). However, the C-60C/C-104 never reached the hardware phase.

Side view of Lockheed C-60A Lodestar s/n 42-32181 painted in Royal Air Force colors at the Planes of Fame Museum, Chino, California.

The first Lodestar that I saw at the Planes of Fame Museum boneyard, C-60A serial number 42-32181, was part of a batch of 52 Lodestars originally earmarked for delivery to the Royal Air Force as FK261/FK312, but that order was canceled and planes on order instead delivered to the US Army Air Force in 1942. Later, 42-32181 was sold to Aerovías Coahuila and registered XB-BOC (later XA-GUH), before being sold to American Aircraft Corporation and registered N4652V in 1954. The aircraft was eventually transferred to Arthur Struble and registered N3779G; on April 17, 1969, N3779G suffered an engine failure while flying from Seattle, Washington to the Annette Islands in Alaska, so was forced to make an emergency landing at Port Hardy Airport in Port Hardy, British Columbia. In 1988 this Lodestar was donated to the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, being painted in RAF colors with the bogus serial AG711 so as to reflect its originally intended customer.

Lockheed C-60A Lodestar s/n 43-16462 (later registered NC44899, then NC1000B/N1000B) undergoing restoration at the Planes of Fame, Chino, California.

The other Lodestar on display in the boneyard at the Planes of Fame Museum, which is undergoing restoration, was built as a C-60A and delivered to the USAAF with the serial number 43-16462 in December 1943. After World War II, 43-16462 was sold to Aero Services on August 19, 1945, and assigned the civil registration NC44899. Nearly two years later, on March 28, 1947, the aircraft was acquired by Edwin W. Pauley and given the registration NC1000B (later changed to N1000B in 1981). In November 1985, N1000B was donated to the Planes of Fame Museum, and the civil registration for this aircraft was cancelled in December 2014. At the current time of writing, 43-16462/N1000B is undergoing restoration to static display.

The Model 18 Lodestar may be somewhat overlooked by experts on US civil/military transport planes, but this final descendant of the Lockheed Model 10 Electra would find a niche in the US Navy as a land-based maritime patrol bomber, breaking the USAAF monopoly on land-based bombers.

References:

Andrade, J. M., 1979. US Military and Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909. Leicester, UK: Midland Counties Publications.

Francillon, R.J., 1982. Lockheed Aircraft since 1913. London: Putnam & Company.