Originally Posted by
Top_Gunn
Tuesday afternoon clue:
Looking for a warbird.
1. Only a few of them produced, but all the ones that were manufactured were used by the one service that acquired them.
2. Some were civilian aircraft converted to military use, others were built specifically for the military, though based on civilian aircraft.
3. Twin engines, crew of two.
4. A trainer, but some of them were used in other roles.
5. Strictly speaking, it might have been more accurate to say "looking for a class of warbirds," because there was a fair amount of variation among the less than 30 of them used.
6. One of them played a minor part in a very-well-known operation and the major role in an incident that still remains somewhat mysterious.
7. A portion of one of them is (or at least was: my info may not be up to date) on display in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
8. A portion of one of them ....
I'll take a shot, if for no other reason than to get it out of the way. How about the Lockheed Electra 10; specifically the B and E versions?
Electra 10-B
Powered by
Wright R-975-E3 Whirlwind, 440 hp (340 kW) each; 18 produced
· Seven impressed by the U.S. Army Air Forces as
C-36C, redesignated as
UC-36C in 1943.
· One built as
XR3O-1 for the
U.S. Coast Guard for use by the
Secretary of the Treasury.
Electra 10-E
Powered by
Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp S3H1, 600 hp (450 kW) each; 15 produced. The version used by
Amelia Earhart.
· Five impressed by the U.S. Army Air Forces as
C-36B, redesignated as
UC-36B in 1943.
The
Lockheed Model 10 Electra was a twin-engine, all-metal
monoplane airliner developed by the
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation 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 on her ill-fated around-the-world expedition in 1937.
Probably the most famous use of the Electra was the highly modified Model 10E flown by
aviatrix Amelia Earhart. It appeared in a little-known cameo role in the 1936 MGM romantic comedy Love On The Run with Clark Gable and Joan Crawford. At the controls is Hollywood stunt pilot and Earhart technical advisor Paul Mantz. The aircraft's registration number R16020 has been disguised but is briefly visible on the upper surface of the right wing. The scene was probably shot in late August 1936. The entire film can be rented or purchased from Youtube but the airplane only appears in this one and a half minute clip. In July 1937, Earhart and her navigator
Fred Noonan disappeared with this Electra during an attempted round-the-world flight. Despite an unprecedented, extensive search by the
U.S. Navy—including the use of search aircraft from an
aircraft carrier—and the
U.S. Coast Guard,
no traces of them or their Electra were ever found.
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 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
[SUP].[/SUP]
Electra 10-E Special serial no. 3501, the XC-35 is currently in storage in the collection of the
National Air and Space Museum.