![]() Together the men sat down and pencilled out what TWA wanted and what Lockheed thought they could achieve. In exchange for financing a new design, the two airline men would get an agreement that would prevent Lockheed selling it to any direct competitors for two years after it entered service. Hughes owned the majority of TWA stock, and wanted an airliner that would eclipse the competition and give 'his' airline the first non-stop trans-continental services. Hibbard, and Chief Research Engineer Clarence 'Kelly' Johnson. ![]() Gross, Vice-President and Chief Engineer Hall L. Frye, and joining them were three of the most important men at Lockheed: President Robert E. On 21 June 1939, only two months after the L-44 was announced, tycoon and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes called a secret meeting at his bungalow a1 the Beverly Hills Hotel. In order to push technology and trans-national business forward, a greater leap was really needed, but this would require massive investment and a firm commitment from the airlines. The vast majority of airliners in service in the USA were DC-3s, and there seemed no reason why the DC-4E would not also be an equal success, taken up in vast quantities by happy airline customers. By this stage, however, Douglas had a virtual stranglehold on the market. The last configuration studied, which was a 36-seater with many features that would later be found on the Constellation, was designated L-144 or Excalibur V Lockheed's Vega subsidiary assigned the TDN V-II 5 to the same design, for which they presumably hoped to share production. ![]() The Excalibur was given the Temporary Designation Number (TDN) L-I05 before it received the Model Number L-44, and a mock-up was constructed, consisting of at least a fuselage, tail and port wing. Unit that stood only a little over 3ft (0.9m) higher than the crown of the fuselage, and a tricycle undercarriage. TNE LOCKIIEEJ) COA/STELLAT/OH AS O/ /C/IVALLY COHCE/VEP /N /939, SHOW/Nt THE REVERSE FLOW COWl-INC, SMOOTH W/NLJSN/ELLJ AND GENE.QAi. Later sketches of the Excalibur show a central third fin on a tail Cruising at 269mph (433km/h) at 12,000ft (3,658m), it would cut hours and at least one stop from the journey between the American east and west coasts. Powered by a quartet of R-1830 engines, the Excalibur would be a match for the DC-4E that Douglas had proposed in conjunction with Transcontinental and Western Airlines (TWA), United, American and Pan Am in 1935. Successful Lockheed L-l0 Electra, and this new project, named Excalibur to maintain the theme of myth and legend then in use by the company for its products, closely resembled a scaledup tricycle-undercarriage Model 10. All the design elements had been proven in the The Model L-44 was an elegant design, with a tapering fuselage and a wide twin-finned tail, and provision for 32 passengers. At that time, the Douglas DC-3 had been in service for less than three years, and while it had revolutionised air travel in terms of speed and comfort, a trip from New York to Los Angeles by DC-3 still took 17 hours and involved three intermediate stops. (Lockheed via author)ĭEVELOPMENT A STAR IS BORN When Lockheed's four-engined airliner proposal, known as the Model L-44, was made public in April 1939, it could be seen that this was a great leap forward in airliner design and for transportation in the USA. PREVIOUS SPREAD:TWA Super Constellation over New York city (Author's Collection)īELOw:Some of Cubana's Constellation flights from May to Havana in the mid-ġ950s featured a Calypso band in association with the Tropicana resort. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available For details write to Special Sales Manager at Motorbooks International Wholesalers & Distributors, Galtier Plaza, Suite 200,380 Jackson Street, St Paul, M 55101-3885, USA. MBI Publishing Company books are also available at discounts in bulk quantity for industrial or sales-promotional use. We use them for identification purposes only. We recognize that some words, model names and designations, for example, mentioned herein are the property of the trademark holder. All recommendations are made without any guarantee on the part of the author or publisher, who also disclaim any liability incurred in connection with the use of this data or specific details. The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. With the exception of quoting brief passages for the purpose of review no part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from the Publisher. © 2001 Jim Winchester Previously published by Airlife Publishing Ltd, Shrewsbury, England. This edition first published in 2001 by MBI Publishing Company, Galtier Plaza, Suite 200,380 Jackson Street, St Paul, MN 55101-3885, USA. ![]()
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