Lockheed Electra

Back about 1966 there was a nice four engine Lockheed Electra with a seven foot wingspan shown in an old issue of American Modeler. Was done from plans, but whose?


Wm.

William:

Can't direct you to an Electra plan, but a possible alternative is a plan of the current Orion, and bash it to look like the earlier Electra.

Bill.

I have a big collection of old magazines, and their little captions to pictures cause more problems than they seem to be worth. If you do not have a complete and full set, somewhere an issue or two later the answer is posted.

Naw, a friend of mine used to fly them out of Palm Springs many years ago. He fell in love with them, located the picture for me, and wanted me to ask around.


Wm.

William:

Try this:

http://www.geocities.com/superelectra/

Might be more than you wanted.

Bill.

Wholey, scamolians! There is a lot of information by tapping one line.

My friend hauled out yet another picture. SIG had a big array of pictures from the 1965 Nationals of those who used their balsa. Was another Electra in the advertisement. Nothing about who built it, nor whose plans were used. BUT they did use SIG wood.


Wm.

William:

What the hey, so long as they used Sig balsa nothing else matters does it? I wonder if the whole airplane would have fallen apart if just one sheet of Midwest balsa got stuck in somewhere?

Haw.

Glad you appreciate the Electra site.

I was surprised to find that only 170 Electras were built, but as I said the P-3 was a development, and Lockheed built more than 700 of the Orion variant.

Bill.

We had several of the airlines which used the Electra on the west coast. Seems they were touching down in Palm Springs every half hour. In speaking to other captains, they were used a bit past their prime as short range jets had not been developed sufficiently for the airport. Interesting statement in that PSP was receiving commercial A/C like Fokker F-27s, DC-3s and the like, PLUS President Kennedy came in with the Boeing Air Force One, and they even had an emergency (and secret) landing of a B-36.

Based upon the traffic, I would have thought there to be numerous Electra's produced.

In telephoning last night, another friend indicates he had a set of plans for the big model Electra. Last saw them in the 1970's when he moved. Has not saw them since. So, someone made a set back then. A.M.A. archives do not list anything large, but they have some little bitty one noted, which may be a glider or rubber powered. They too have no clue as to who did the plans. Then again, after locating the plans, I wonder if SIG balsa is specified via part number.

Wm.