Lockheed XP-38 Lightning 37-457 at March Field, Riverside County, California, January 1939. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive)
27 January 1939: First Lieutenant Benjamin Scovill Kelsey, Air Corps, United States Army, made the first flight of the prototype Lockheed XP-38 Lightning, serial number 37-457, at March Field, Riverside County, California.
This was a short flight. Immediately after takeoff, Kelsey felt severe vibrations in the airframe. Three of four flap support rods had failed, leaving the flaps unusable.
1st Lieutenant Benjamin Scovill Kelsey, Air Corps, United States Army, 1937.
Returning to March Field, Kelsey landed at a very high speed with a 18° nose up angle. The tail dragged on the runway. Damage was minor and the problem was quickly solved.
Designed by an engineering team led by Hall L. Hibbard, which included the legendary Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson, the XP-38 was a single-place, twin-engine fighter designed for very high speed and long range. It was an unusual configuration with the cockpit and armament in a center nacelle, with two longitudinal booms containing the engines and propellers, turbochargers, radiators and coolers. The Lightning was equipped with tricycle landing gear. The nose strut retracted into the center nacelle and the two main gear struts retracted into bays in the booms. To reduce drag, the sheet metal used butt joints with flush rivets.
The prototype had been built built at Lockheed’s factory in Burbank, California. On the night of 31 December 1938/1 January 1939, it was transported to March Field aboard a convoy of three trucks. Once there, the components were assembled by Lockheed technicians working under tight security.
Lockheed XP-38 Lightning 37-457. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive)Lockheed XP-38 Lightning 37-457. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive)Left profile, Lockheed XP-38 Lightning 37-457. (U.S. Air Force)Lockheed XP-38 Lightning 37-457
The XP-38 was 37 feet, 10 inches (11.532 meters) long with a wingspan of 52 feet (15.850 meters) and overall height of 12 feet, 10 inches (3.952 meters). Its empty weight was 11,507 pounds (5,219.5 kilograms). The gross weight was 13,904 pounds (6,306.75 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight was 15,416 pounds (6,992.6 kilograms).
The Lightning was the first production airplane to use the Harold Caminez-designed, liquid-cooled, supercharged, 1,710.60-cubic-inch-displacement (28.032 liter) Allison Engineering Company V-1710 single overhead cam 60° V-12 engines. When installed on the P-38, these engines rotated in opposite directions. The XP-38 used a pair of experimental C-series Allisons, with the port V-1710-C8 (V-1710-11) engine being a normal right-hand tractor configuration, while the starboard engine, the V-1710-C9 (V-1710-15), was a left-hand tractor. Through a 2:1 gear reduction, these engines drove the 11-foot (3.353 meters) diameter, three-bladed Curtiss Electric variable-pitch propellers inward to counteract the torque effect of the engines and propellers. (Viewed from the front of the airplane, the XP-38’s starboard propeller turned clockwise, the port propeller turned counter-clockwise. The direction of rotation was reversed in the YP-38 service test prototypes and production P-38 models.) The engines have long propeller gear drive sections to aid in streamlining aircraft, and are sometimes referred to as “long-nose Allisons.”
The V-1710-11 and -15 had a compression ratio of 6.65:1. They had a continuous power rating of 1,000 horsepower at 2,600 r.p.m. at Sea Level, and 1,150 horsepower at 2,950 r.p.m. for takeoff. The combination of a gear-driven supercharger and an exhaust-driven General Electric B-1 turbosupercharger allowed these engines to maintain their rated power levels to an altitude of 25,000 feet (7,620 meters).
The -11 and -15 were 7 feet, 10.46 inches (2.399 meters) long. The -11 was 3 feet, 6.59 inches (1.082 meters) high and 2 feet, 4.93 inches (0.7348 meters) wide. It weighed 1,300 pounds (589.7 kilograms). The -15 was 3 feet, 4.71 inches (1.034 meters) high, 2 feet, 4.94 inches (0.7351 meters) wide, and weighed 1,305 pounds (591.9 kilograms).
A 1939 Allison Engine Company V-1710-33 liquid-cooled, supercharged SOHC 60° V-12 aircraft engine at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum. This engine weighs 1,340 pounds (607.8 kilograms) and produced 1,040 horsepower at 2,800 r.p.m. During World War II, this engine cost $19,000. (NASM)
The XP-38 had a maximum speed of 413 miles per hour (664.66 kilometers per hour) at 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) and a service ceiling of 38,000 feet (11,582.4 meters).
The XP-38 was unarmed, but almost all production Lightnings carried a 20 mm auto cannon and four Browning .50-caliber machine guns grouped together in the nose. They could also carry bombs or rockets and jettisonable external fuel tanks.
Lockheed XP-38 37-457. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive)
The prototype XP-38 was damaged beyond repair when, on approach to Mitchel Field, New York, 11 February 1939, both engines failed to accelerate from idle due to carburetor icing. Unable to maintain altitude, Lieutenant Kelsey crash landed on a golf course and was unhurt.
Testing continued with thirteen YP-38A pre-production aircraft and was quickly placed in full production. The P-38 Lightning was one of the most successful combat aircraft of World War II. By the end of the war, Lockheed had built 10,037 Lightnings.
Lockheed test pilot Tony LeVier in the cockpit of P-38J-10-LO Lightning 42-68008. (Lockheed Martin)
Colonel William H. Councill, U.S. Army Air Forces, in the cockpit of his record-setting Lockheed P-80A-1-LO Shooting Star. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive)
26 January 1946: Colonel William Haldane Councill, U.S. Army Air Forces, a test pilot at the Flight Test Division, Wright Field, Ohio, made a record-breaking flight from Daugherty Field (Long Beach Airport), California, to overhead LaGuardia Airport, New York, in 4 hours, 13 minutes, 26 seconds. He was piloting a Lockheed P-80A-1-LO Shooting Star, serial number 44-85123. Colonel Councill flew as high as 41,000 feet (12,497 meters), but stayed at 35,000 feet (10,668 meters) for most of the flight. This flight set a new transcontinental speed record for the 2,457 miles (3,954 kilometers), averaging 584.82 miles per hour (941.18 kilometers per hour).
Colonel William Haldane Councill with Lockheed P-80A-1-LO Shooting Star 44-84999.John Paul Virgil Heinmuller (Smithsonian Institution)
The National Aeronautic Association representative, John P. V. Heinmuller, was the official timer. (Mr. Heinmuller was the Chief Timer of both the N.A.A. and the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. He was president of the Longines-Wittnauer Watch Co., inc. He had also timed Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight in 1927. Mr. Heinmuller was the author of Man’s Fight to Fly: Famous World-Record Flights and a Chronology of Aviation, 1944).
Colonel Councill was accompanied by two other P-80s flown by Captain John S. Babel and Captain Martin I. Smith. This was the longest non-stop flight by a jet aircraft up to that time.
Colonel Councill’s P-80A had been modified with the installation of a 100-gallon (379 liters) fuel tank in the nose in place of the standard armament of six machine guns. Along with 300-gallon (1,135 liters) wing tip tanks, the Shooting Star’s maximum fuel load had been increased to 1,165 gallons (4,410 liters).¹
The P-80s flown by Captains Babel and Smith also had the nose fuel tank installed, but carried 150-gallon (569 liters) wing tip tanks. They had to stop at Topeka, Kansas, to refuel. Ground crews met them with four fuel trucks, and they were airborne in 4 minutes and 6 minutes, respectively.
Colonel William H. Councill, U.S. Air Force, waves from the cockpit of his record-setting Lockheed P-80A-1-LO Shooting Star, 44-85123. (AP Wirephoto, Photograph 2012.201.B0243.0237, Oklahoma Historical Society)
William Haldane Councill was born 5 October 1911 at Bellevue, Pennsylvania. He was the second of four children of William Mansfield Councill, a manager for a fireproofing company, and Bertha Etta Wing Councill. He attended Perry High School, where he was a member of the Aero Club.
William H. Councill. (The Thistle of 1933)
Bill Councill studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (R.O.T.C.), and the Delta Upsilon (ΔΥ) fraternity. He was also a member of the Scabbard and Blade, and co-chairman of the Military Ball. Councill graduated in 1933 with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (B.S.M.E.).
William H. Councill was commissioned as a second lieutenant, Engineer Reserve, 1 June 1933. He was appointed a flying cadet and trained as a pilot, 1 October 1933 to 14 October 1935. He then received a commission as a second lieutenant, Air Reserve.
Lieutenant Councill married Miss Lillie Louise Slay at Wahiawa Heights, Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, 18 April 1936. They would have one daughter, Frances, born in 1943.
On 1 October 1938, Councill’s reserve commission was converted to second lieutenant, Air Corps, United States Army. Councill was promoted to first lieutenant, 1 October 1941.
During this time William Councill held a parallel commission in the Army of the United States. He was promoted to first lieutenant, A.U.S., 9 September 1940, and captain, A.U.S., 1 February 1942. On 1 March 1942, he was promoted to the rank of major, A.U.S. (A.C.), and to lieutenant colonel, 19 December 1942. On 3 July 1945, Councill advanced to the rank of colonel, A.U.S.
Major William Haldane Councill with his younger brother, 2nd Lieutenant David Elihu Councill, circa 1942. David Councill was killed when his B-24 bomber crashed in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, December 8, 1943. (Frances Councill/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Colonel Councill was rated as a command pilot. During World War II, he flew 130 combat missions with the the Lockheed P-38 Lightning .Thirteenth Air Force in the southwest Pacific area. He is credited with shooting down three enemy aircraft, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions in an air battle over the Solomons, 15 January 1943.
At 10:54 a.m., 5 April 1954, Colonel Councill took off from the Republic Aviation Company plant at Farmingdale, New York, in a Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star, en route to Langley Field, Virginia. He never arrived. An extensive search, other than locating a single wing tank, was unsuccessful. It was presumed that Councill went down in the Atlantic Ocean.
According to his commanding officer, Major General Earl W. Barnes,
“. . . He was a most capable, dependable and responsible officer who was conscientiously devoted to his tasks. His opinions on military matters were highly regarded by his superior officers. His pleasant personality, genial manner, and dry wit endeared him to the hearts of the many friends he had won during approximately twenty-one years of service in the United States Air Force. He was greatly beloved by those with whom he associated. . . I feel that our Country and the Air Force have lost an irreplaceable asset and a great leader.”
—Wing Family Annals, Wing Family of America, Inc., Des Moines, Iowa. Vol. 54, No. 1, at Pages 7 and 8
Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson with a scale model of a Lockheed P-80A-1-LO Shooting Star. Johnson’s “Skunk Works” also designed the F-104 Starfighter, U-2, A-12 Oxcart and SR-71A Blackbird. (Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Company, AD-8317)
The Lockheed P-80-1-LO was the United States’ first operational jet fighter. It was a single-seat, single engine airplane, designed by a team of engineers led by Clarence L. (“Kelly”) Johnson. The prototype XP-80A, 44-83020, nicknamed Lulu-Belle, was first flown by test pilot Tony LeVier at Muroc Army Air Field (now known as Edwards Air Force Base) 8 January 1944.
The P-80A was a day fighter, and was not equipped for night or all-weather combat operations. The P-80A was 34 feet, 6 inches (10.516 meters) long with a wingspan of 38 feet, 10.5037 inches (11.84919 meters) ² and overall height of 11 feet, 4 inches (3.454 meters).
The leading edges of the P-80A’s wings were swept aft 9° 18′ 33″. They had an angle of incidence of +1° at the root and -1° 30′ twist. There was 3° 50′ dihedral. The total wing area was 237.70 square feet (22.083 square meters).
The fighter had an empty weight of 7,920 pounds (3,592 kilograms) and a gross weight of 11,700 pounds (5,307 kilograms). The maximum takeoff weight was 14,000 pounds (6,350 kilograms).
Early production P-80As were powered by either an Allison J33-A-9 or a General Electric J33-GE-11 turbojet engine. The J33 was a licensed version of the Rolls-Royce Derwent. It was a single-shaft turbojet with a 1-stage centrifugal compressor section and a 1-stage axial-flow turbine. The -9 and -11 engines were rated at 3,825 pounds of thrust (17.014 kilonewtons). The J33s were 8 feet, 6.9 inches (2.614 meters) long, 4 feet, 2.5 inches (1.283 meters) in diameter and weighed 1,775 pounds (805 kilograms).
Colonel Councill’s record-setting P-80A-1-LO 44-85123, in squadron markings at the National Air Races, Cleveland, Ohio, September 1946. (Unattributed)
The P-80A had a cruising speed of 445 miles per hour (716 kilometers per hour) at 20,000 feet (6,096 meters). Its maximum speed was 548 miles per hour (882 kilometers per hour) at 2,700 feet (823 meters) and and 501 miles per hour (806 kilometers per hour) at 34,700 feet (10,577 meters). The service ceiling was 45,000 feet (13,716 meters).
The P-80A Shooting Star was armed with six air-cooled Browning AN-M2 .50-caliber aircraft machine guns mounted in the nose.
Several hundred of the early production P-80 Shooting stars had all of their surface seams filled, and the airplanes were primed and painted. Although this process added 60 pounds (27.2 kilograms) to the empty weight, the decrease in drag allowed a 10 mile per hour (16 kilometers per hour) increase in top speed. The painted surface was difficult to maintain in the field and the process was discontinued.
Lieutenant Howard A. Johnson, USAAF, with Lockheed P-80A-1-LO Shooting Star 44-85123. (FAI)
On 3 June 1946, Lockheed P-80A-1-LO Shooting Star 44-85123, flown by Lieutenant Henry A. Johnson, set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed Over a Closed Circuit of 1,000 Kilometers with an average speed of 745.08 kilometers per hour (462.97 miles per hour).³
Lockheed P-80A-1-LO 44-85123, photographed 22 June 1946 at the General Electric Air Research Laboratory, Schenectady, New York, by Richard Lockett. (Brian Lockett, Air-and-Space.com)
On 2 September 1946, Major Gustav Lindquist won the Thompson Trophy Race, J Division, at the National Air Races, Cleveland, Ohio, 1946, with the same airplane, averaging 515.853 miles per hour (830.185 kilometers per hour) over a 180-kilometer (111.85-mile) course.
Today, 44-85123 is in the collection of the Air Force Flight Test Museum, Edwards Air Force Base.
Lockheed test pilots Anthony W. (“Tony”) LeVier and David L. Ferguson stand in front of P-80A Shooting Star 44-85123 and an F-117A Nighthawk at the Lockheed Skunk Works, Palmdale, California, 17 June 1993. (Denny Lombard, Lockheed Martin)
¹ Thanks to Jeffrey P. Rhodes ofLockheed Martin for additional information on Colonel Councill’s Lockheed P-80A Shooting Star.
² Wing span with rounded wing tips. P-80As with squared (“clipped”) tips had a wing span of 37 feet, 7.5037 inches (11.46819 meters).
Lockheed XC-69 Constellation 43-10309 (L-049 NX25600) in flight. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive)
9 January 1943: At the insistence of the United States Army Air Forces, Boeing’s Chief Test Pilot, Eddie Allen, made the first flight of the Lockheed L-049 Constellation prototype, NX25600, from Lockheed Air Terminal at Burbank, California, to Muroc Army Airfield (today known as Edwards Air Force Base). Lockheed’s Chief Test Pilot, Milo G. Burcham, was the co-pilot.
Lockheed XC-69 Constellation 43-10309 (L-049 NX25600) in flight. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive)
Also on board were Lockheed’s chief research engineer, Clarence L. (“Kelly”) Johnson; Rudy Thoren, Johnson’s assistant; and Dick Stanton, chief mechanic.
The Lockheed Constellation was designed by a team led by Chief Engineer Hall Livingstone Hibbard, left, and Chief Research Engineer Clarence Leonard “Kelly” Johnson. (Lockheed)
When the flight ended after 58 minutes, Allen said, “This machine works so well that you don’t need me anymore!” With that, Allen returned to Seattle.
The Los Angeles Times reported:
SUPER TRANSPORT PLANE IN DEBUT
Lockheed’s Air Marvel Makes First Flight; Believed to Be World’s Largest and Fastest; Built Like Fighter, Can Outspeed Jap Zero
BY MARVIN MILES
Into the winter sky yesterday swept a brilliant new star—Lockheed super-transport Constellation.
First of a galaxy to come, the four-engine colossus sped down the long east-west runway at Lockheed Air Terminal, skipped nimbly off the concrete and boomed upward with the surging roar of 8000 unleashed horses.
A few breath-taking seconds’ full throttle had written a matter-of-fact climax to two years of secret development that evolved a 60-passenger transport faster than a Jap Zero fighter.
There were no fanfares, no speeches—simply an unvarnished war production takeoff, emphasizing as nothing else could the grim driving need for huge work planes to carry the battle swiftly to the ends of the earth.
Yet it was the first significant aviation event of 1943.
Lockheed XC-69 Constellation 43-30109 during its first flight, 9 January 1943. (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company)
Built along the slim, graceful lines of a fighter the craft is faster than any four-engine bomber now in service. It can cross the continent in less than 9 hours,fly to Honolulu in 12. Even at half power its cruising speed is approximately 100 miles per hour faster than that of a standard airliner!
Within its supercharged cabin, air-density will remain at the 8000-foot level when the Constellation is cruising at “over-the-weather” altitudes up to 35,000 feet. So great is its power that the monster can maintain 25,000 feet on three engines, 16,500 on two.
As for economy of operation, the new sky queen can fly her full load hour after hour using but one gallon of gasoline per mile.
Lockheed XC-69 Constellation 43-10309 (L-049 NX25600) at Lockheed Air Terminal, with engines running. Looking west-northwest across the San Fernando Valley. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive)
ONE TAXI TEST
At the controls when the super-transport lifted its tricycle gear in flight were Eddie Allen, Army pilot and veteran four-engine flyer, and Milo Burcham, Lockheed test pilot noted for his substratosphere testing of the P-38. Also in the ship were C.L. (Kelly) Johnson, chief research engineer for the aircraft company; Rudy Thoren, Johnson’s assistant, and Dick Stanton, chief mechanic.
Chief Research Engineer Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson (left) and Chief Engineering Test Pilot Milo G. Burcham, with the XC-69 Constellation. (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company)
There was but one taxi test yesterday, highlighted by a brief blaze in one of the four engines following a backfire as the ship turned to roll back to the head of the runway.
The fire was doused quickly and the Constellation stood ready for her maiden flight, he nose into a gentle breeze, the focal point of hundreds of eyes of workers, Army guards and officials watched expectantly.
Each engine “revved up”in turn, sending deep-throated echoes over the sun-drenched terminal.
Then the four black propellers whirled as one.
The Constellation shot forward, the wind in her teeth, a hurtling, bellowing land monster—until her propellers plucked her from the earth in an incredibly short span of runway and sent her thundering triumphantly toward the sun.
GLIDES BACK EASILY
In a moment she had almost vanished, only to bank in a wide turn and drone back over the terminal twice before leading her covey of lesser following craft off toward the desert to the Army airport at Muroc Dry Lake where she landed gracefully an hour later.
Prototype Lockheed L-049 Constellation NX25600 at Muroc Dry Lake on the high desert of southern California, 9 January 1943. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive)
Shortly before dusk the giant craft returned to the Burbank terminal, slipped down the long “landing groove” of air and settled easily to the runway.
Her debut was over.
Today she will begin the exhaustive test flights to determine her performance before she is turned over to T.W.A. and the Army for the grueling business of war. . . .
—Los Angeles Times, Vol. LXII, Sunday morning, 10 January 1943, Page 1, Columns 1 and 2; Page 2, Columns 2 and 3. The article continues in Column 4. (The photographs are not a part of the original article.)
The prototype Lockheed XC-69, 43-10309 (NX25600), landing at Lockheed Air Terminal, Burbank, California, 1943. (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company)
The Lockheed Model 49-46-10, company serial number 049-1961, was designated XC-69 by the U.S. Army Air Forces and assigned serial number 43-10309.
The Constellation was operated by a flight crew of four: two pilots, a navigator and a flight engineer. It could carry up to 81 passengers. The airplane was 95 feet, 1 3⁄16 inches (28.986 meters) long with a wingspan of 123 feet, 0 inches (37.490 meters), and overall height of 23 feet, 7⅞ inches (7.210 meters). It had an empty weight of 49,392 pounds (22,403.8 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight of 86,250 pounds (39,122.3 kilograms).
The XC-69 was powered by four air-cooled, supercharged, 3,347.662-cubic-inch-displacement (54.858 liter), Wright Aeronautical Division Cyclone 18 745C18BA2 engines. Also known as the Duplex Cyclone, these were a two-row, 18-cylinder radial engines with a compression ratio of 6.5:1, which required 100/130-octane aviation gasoline. They were rated at 2,000 horsepower at 2,400 r.p.m., or 2,200 horsepower at 2,800 r.p.m. for takeoff, (five minute limit). The 745C18BA2 was 6 feet, 4.26 inches (1.937 meters) long, 4 feet, 7.78 inches (1.417 meters) in diameter and weighed 2,595 pounds (1,177 kilograms). The engines drove 15 foot, 2 inch (4.623 meter) diameter, three-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic 43E60 constant-speed propellers through a 0.4375:1 gear reduction.
The L-049 had a cruise speed of 313 miles per hour (504 kilometers per hour) and a range of 3,995 miles (6,429 kilometers). Its service ceiling was 25,300 feet (7,711 meters).
In this photograph of the Lockheed XC-69 prototype at Lockheed Air Terminal, the civil experimental registration numbers, NX25600, are visible on the rudder and under the left wing. Looking northeast, the Verdugo Mountains of Southern California are in the background. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive)This is a rare color photograph of the prototype Lockheed XC-69 Constellation, 43-10309, (L-049 NX-25600) with a Lockheed UC-101, 42-94148 (ex-Vega 5C NC14236) at Lockheed Air Terminal, Burbank California. This picture represents 15 years of technological advancement. (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company)
The prototype XC-69 was later re-engined with Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp 2SC14-G (R-2800-83) engines and designated XC-69E. These had a Normal rating of 1,700 horsepower at 2,600 r.p.m., to 7,300 feet (2,225 meters), 1,500 horsepower at 17,500 feet (5,334 meters), and 2,100 horsepower at 2,800 r.p.m. for Takeoff.
Lockheed XC-69 Constellation 43-10309. (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company)Lockheed XC-69 Constellation 43-10309. (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company)
After the war, the Constellation prototype was sold to Howard Hughes’ Hughes Aircraft Company for $20,000 and registered as NX67900. In May 1950, Lockheed bought the prototype back from Hughes for $100,000 and it was again registered as NC25600. It had accumulated just 404 flight hours up to this time.
The prototype Lockheed XC-69 Constellation, 43-10309, is parked at Howard Hughes’ Culver City airport. In the foreground is the Hughes XF-11, 44-70155. Photographed 7 July 1946. (University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries)The prototype Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation NX25600 (XC-69 43-10309), flying above an inversion layer. The San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California are in the background. (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company)
Lockheed then converted 049-1961 to a prototype for the L-1049 Super Constellation with another registration, NX6700. In 1952, it was once again converted, this time as an aerodynamic test aircraft for the U.S. Navy PO-1W radar early warning aircraft (later redesignated WV-1 and EC-121 Warning Star). It was also used to test the Allison YT56 turboprop engine by placing it in the #4 position.
Lockheed L-1049 prototype NX6700 as an aerodynamics test aircraft for the U.S. Navy PO-1W airborne early warning Warning Star. (SDASM Archives)
Finally, in 1958, the first Constellation was purchased as a source of spare parts by California Airmotive Corporation and was dismantled.
Lockheed built two XC-69 prototypes. Twenty-two C-69s and 856 Constellations of all types were produced. The Lockheed Constellation was in production from 1943–1958 in both civilian airliner and military transport versions. It is the classic propeller-driven transcontinental and transoceanic airliner.
Your intrepid TDiA correspondent with “Bataan,” General Douglas MacArthur’s Lockheed VC-121A Constellation, 48-613, at Valle Airport, Arizona, 3 July 2012. (Photograph by Mrs. TDiA)
The Lockheed XP-80 prototype, 44-83020, at Muroc Army Air Field, 8 January 1944. (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company)Milo Garrett Burcham
8 January 1944: At Muroc Army Air Field (later to become Edwards Air Force Base), the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation’s chief engineering test pilot, Milo Garrett Burcham, took the prototype Model L-140, the Army Air Forces XP-80 Shooting Star, 44-83020, for its first flight.
Tex Johnston, who would later become Boeing’s Chief of Flight Test, was at Muroc testing the Bell Aircraft Corporation XP-59 Airacomet. He wrote about the XP-80’s first flight in his autobiography:
Early on the morning of the scheduled first flight of the XP-80, busload after busload of political dignitaries and almost every general in the Army Air Force arrived at the northwest end of the lake a short distance from our hangar. Scheduled takeoff time had passed. I was afraid Milo was having difficulties. Then I heard the H.1B fire up, and he taxied by on the lake bed in front of our ramp. What a beautiful bird—another product of Kelly Johnson, Lockheed’s famed chief design engineer—tricycle gear, very thin wings, and a clear-view bubble canopy. Milo gave me the okay sign.
This was the initial flight of America’s second jet fighter, and what a flight it was. Milo taxied along in front of generals and politicians, turned south and applied full power. I could see the spectators’ fingers going in their ears. The smoke and sand were flying as the engine reached full power, and the XP-80 roared down the lake. Milo pulled her off, retracted gear and flaps, and held her on the deck. Accelerating, he pulled up in a climbing right turn, rolled into a left turn to a north heading, and from an altitude I estimated to be 4,000 feet[1,219 meters] entered a full-bore dive headed for the buses. He started the pull-up in front of our hangar and was in a 60-degree climb when he passed over the buses doing consecutive aileron rolls at 360 degrees per second up to 10,000 feet [3,048 meters]. He then rolled over and came screaming back. He shot the place up north and south, east and west, landed and coasted up in front of the spectators, engine off and winding down. I have never seen a crowd so excited since my barnstorming days. I returned to the office and dictated a wire to [Robert M.] Stanley [Chief Test Pilot, Bell Aircraft Corporation] “WITNESSED LOCKHEED XP-80 INITIAL FLIGHT STOP VERY IMPRESSIVE STOP BACK TO DRAWING BOARD STOP SIGNED, TEX“ I knew he would understand.
—Tex Johnston: Jet-Age Test Pilot, by A.M. “Tex” Johnston with Charles Barton, Smithsonian Books, Washington, D.C., 1 June 1992, Chapter 5 at Pages 127–128.
A few minor problems caused Burcham to end the flight after approximately five minutes but these were quickly resolved and flight testing continued.
The XP-80 was the first American airplane to exceed 500 miles per hour (805 kilometers per hour) in level flight.
Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson with a scale model of a Lockheed P-80A-1-LO Shooting Star. Johnson’s “Skunk Works” also designed the F-104 Starfighter, U-2, A-12 Oxcart and SR-71A Blackbird. (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company)
The Lockheed XP-80 was designed by Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson and a small team of engineers that would become known as the “Skunk Works,” in response to a U.S. Army Air Corps proposal to build a single-engine fighter around the de Havilland Halford H.1B Goblin turbojet engine. (The Goblin powered the de Havilland DH.100 Vampire F.1 fighter.)
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation was given a development contract which required that a prototype be ready to fly within just 180 days.
Milo Burcham, on the left, shakes hands with Clarence L. Johnson following the first flight of the Lockheed XP-80, 8 January 1944. (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co.)
The XP-80 was a single-seat, single-engine airplane with straight wings and retractable tricycle landing gear. Intakes for engine air were placed low on the fuselage, just forward of the wings. The engine exhaust was ducted straight out through the tail. For the first prototype, the cockpit was not pressurized but would be on production airplanes.
As was customary for World War II U.S. Army Air Forces aircraft, the prototype was camouflaged in non-reflective Dark Green with Light Gull Gray undersides. The blue and white “star and bar” national insignia was painted on the aft fuselage, and Lockheed’s winged-star corporate logo was on the nose and vertical fin. Later, the airplane’s radio call, 483020 was stenciled on the fin in yellow paint. The number 20 was painted on either side of the nose in large block letters. Eventually the tip of the nose was painted white and a large number 78 was painted just ahead of the intakes in yellow block numerals. Early in the test program, rounded tips were installed on the wings and tail surfaces. This is how the XP-80 appears today.
The highly-polished Dark Green and Light Gull Gray Lockheed XP-80 prototype parked at Muroc Dry Lake, 1944 (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co.)
The XP-80 is 32 feet, 911/16 inches (9.9997 meters) long with a wingspan of 37 feet, ⅞-inch (11.2998 meters) and overall height of 10 feet, 21/16 inches (3.1004 meters). It had a Basic Weight for Flight Test of 6,418.5 pounds (2,911.4 kilograms) and Gross Weight (as actually weighed prior to test flight) of 8,859.5 pounds (4,018.6 kilograms).
The Halford H.1B Goblin used a single-stage centrifugal-flow compressor, sixteen combustion chambers, and single-stage axial-flow turbine. It had a straight-through configuration rather than the reverse-flow of the Whittle turbojet from which it was derived. The H.1B produced 2,460 pounds of thrust (10.94 kilonewtons) at 9,500 r.p.m., and 3,000 pounds (13.34 kilonewtons) at 10,500 r.p.m. The Goblin weighed approximately 1,300 pounds (590 kilograms).
Cutaway illustration of the Halford H.1B Goblin turbojet engine. (FLIGHT and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER)
The XP-80 has a maximum speed of 502 miles per hour (808 kilometers per hour) at 20,480 feet (6,242 meters) and a rate of climb of 3,000 feet per minute (15.24 meters per second). The service ceiling is 41,000 feet (12,497 meters).
Unusual for a prototype, the XP-80 was armed. Six air-cooled Browning AN-M2 .50-caliber machine guns were placed in the nose. The maximum ammunition capacity for the prototype was 200 rounds per gun.
The Halford engine was unreliable and Lockheed recommended redesigning the the fighter around the larger, more powerful General Electric I-40 (produced by GE and Allison as the J33 turbojet). The proposal was accepted and following prototypes were built as the XP-80A.
Lockheed built 1,715 P-80s for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. They entered combat during the Korean War in 1950. A two-seat trainer version was even more numerous: the famous T-33A Shooting Star.
Lockheed XP-80 Shooting Star 44-83020 was used as a test aircraft and jet trainer for several years. In 1949, it was donated to the Smithsonian Institution. 44-83020 is on display at the Jet Aviation exhibit of the National Air and Space Museum. It was restored beginning in 1976, and over the next two years nearly 5,000 man-hours of work were needed to complete the restoration.
The prototype Lockheed XP-80 Shooting Star, s/n 140-1001, 44-83020, at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum. (NASM)
Flight and chase crew for the first flight of the Lockheed CL-329 Jetstar, N329J. Left to right: Robert Schumacher, copilot; Ernest L. Joiner, flight test engineer; Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson, designer; Jim Wood (USAF Flight Test), Ray Jewett Goudey, Pilot, and Tony LeVier, Chief Test Pilot, chase plane for the first flight). (Lockheed Martin)
4 September 1957: At 8:58 a.m., the first prototype Lockheed JetStar, N329J, c/n 1001, took off from Edwards Air Force Base in the high desert of Southern California. In the cockpit were Lockheed test pilots Ray J. Goudey, pilot, with Bob Schumacher, co-pilot. After a 39 minute flight, the JetStar landed back at Edwards. Test pilot Tony LeVier flew chase in a Lockheed T2V-1 SeaStar, an advanced naval variant of the Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star.
The Los Angeles Times reported:
New JetStar Plane Takes to Air Ahead of Deadline
Lockheed’s new JetStar turbine-powered utility transport was test-flown for 39 minutes yesterday out of Edwards Air Force Base.
With Pilots Ray Goudey and Robert Schumacher at the controls, the twin-engine, 10-passenger jet lifted off the runway just two minutes ahead of a deadline set 241 days ago when engineering started on the 500-m.p.h. aircraft.
The pilots described the flight as “silky smooth” and added the JetStar showed ample speed, responsive handling and remarkably low sound levels in both cabin and cockpit.
Easy of Access
A unique feature of the swept-wing plane is the location of its Bristol Orpheus engines (totaling 10,000 thrust pounds) mounted in pods on both sides of the rear fuselage aft of the wing. This position places them well clear of passengers and fuel areas and permits an uncluttered wing configuration and easy accessibility for maintenance.
The new transport is 58 feet long, spans 53 feet (with a 34-deg. sweep angle) measures 21 feet in over-all height and incorporates a horizontal stabilizer mounted high on teh vertical fin and clear of jet exhaust.
1700-Mile Range
Pressurized and designed for a range of 1700 miles and a cruising altitude of 40,000 feet, the JetStar was designed and built with Lockheed funds after the Air Force reported a need for a small, fast transport for utility passenger and cargo work and trainer operations.
Expansion of the project beyond the prototype stage depends on military acceptance of the plane.
—Los Angeles Times, Vol. LXXVI, Thursday Morning, September 5, 1957, at Page 15, Columns 1 and 2
Two CL-329 JetStar prototypes were built at the Lockheed plant at Burbank, California. All production aircraft were built at Lockheed Marietta in Georgia.
The Lockheed CL-329 JetStar was 58 feet, 10 inches (17.932 meters) long with a wingspan of 53 feet, 8 inches (16.3358 meters) and height of 20 feet, 6 inches (6.248 meters). It had a wing area of 523.00 square feet (48.59 square meters). The CL-329 had an empty weight of 15,139 pounds (6,867 kilograms) and gross weight of 38,841 pounds (17,618 kilograms).
The JetStar I wing leading edges were swept 33° (30° sweep at ¼-chord). The had 2° dihedral and an aspect ratio of 5.3. The wings incorporated a leading edge flap and double-slotted trailing edge flap. For roll control, the wing used ailerons. There were no spoilers. The vertical fin could pivot fore and aft to change the horizontal stabilizer’s angle of incidence.
The CL-329 was powered by two Bristol Siddeley Engines Ltd. Orpheus BOr.3 Mk.803 turbojet engines. (These were produced as the Wright TJ37A1.) The Mk. 803 was rated at 4,130 pounds of thrust (18.37 kilonewtons), and 4,850 (21.57 kilonewtons) at Sea Level for takeoff; later, BOr.3 Orpheus Mk.810D engines were installed These were rated at 4,850 pounds (21.57 kilonewtons.) Each engine had a dry weight of 990 pounds (449 kilograms).
The second JetStar prototype would be powered by four Pratt & Whitney JT12 engines.
The CL-329 had a cruise speed of 613 miles per hour (987 kilometers per hour). Its maximum speed was630 miles per hour (1,014 kilometers per hour), or 0.92 Mach. The airplane’s ceiling was 52,000 feet (15,850 meters), and its range was 1,725 miles (2,776 kilometers).
Performance, stability and control tests for the prototype Lockheed CL-329 JetStar began at Edwards Air Force Base, California, 27 February 1958. This aircraft is JetStar 6 N9202R, c/n 5002. (United States Air Force 170303-F-ZZ999-999)Lockheed Model CL-329 JetStar prototype, N329J, c/n 1001, forced landing, Northridge, California, 26 April 1962.Ray Jewett Goudey, 1940
Ray Jewett Goudey was born at Los Angeles, California, 25 September 1921. He was the first of six children of Raymond Freeman Goudey, a municipal sanitation engineer, and Gladys Ellen Jewett Goudey. Ray attended John Marshall High School in Los Angeles, graduating in 1940.
Ray Goudey learned to fly in 1937. He earned his commercial and flight instructor licenses in 1939, and Airline Transport Pilot license in 1943.
From 1940 through 1942, Goudey was a flight instructor for United Flying Schools at Vail Field, Montebello, California.
On 25 September 1942, Ray Goudey registered for Selective Service (conscription). He was described as having a dark complexion, black hair and hazel eyes. Goudey was 5 feet, 11 inches (1.80 meters) tall and weighed 150 pounds (68 kilograms).
Ray J. Goudey was commissioned an ensign, United States Navy, 22 June 1943. During World War II, he served as an acceptance pilot for the Navy at the Grumman, Chance Vought, and Curtiss production plants, and the Naval Aircraft Factory.
Lieutenant (j.g.) Ray Goudey married Mrs. Crystal Relph Tanner, 12 December 1945. They would have six children. They divorced in April 1966.
Ensign Ray Jewett Goudey, United States Naval Reserve.
Lt. (j.g.) Goudey was promoted to lieutenant, 19 November 1948.
Ray Goudey was hired as a test pilot for Lockheed in 1952.
Goudey married Jeanette Nelson in Reno, Nevada, 29 September 1993.
Ray Goudey flew 258 different aircraft, including 74 Lockheed models. He was the third pilot to fly the Lockheed XF-104 Starfighter, and was the development test pilot for that program. Goudey flew the XF-104 to Mach 1.75 in 1954. He conducted flight tests of the F-80A and T-33A Shooting Star and the F-94 Starfire interceptor. He flew the Lockheed U-2 for more than 2,200 hours. He served as an engineering test pilot on the Lockheed L-188 Electra, the RC-121 Warning Star, the P-3A and P-3B Orion maritime patrol bomber, and the S-3A Viking anti-submarine warfare aircraft. Goudey was also a helicopter pilot, flying Lockheed’s CL-475, XH-51A, CL-126 and L-286, and the AH-56A Cheyenne compound attack helicopter. Goudey conducted most of the flight testing of the S-3A Viking. He was involved in many Skunk Works programs, including the Have Blue stealth fighter prototype.
Goudey had in excess of 23,708 flight hours. (He was not allowed to log approximately 1,000 hours flown while working with the Central Intelligence Agency.)
Ray Jewett Goudey died 28 February 2019 at the age of 97 years. His remains were interred at the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.
“The first three production JetStar executive transports, along with the second JetStar prototype (white tail, registered N329K) sit on the Lockheed-Georgia Company flightline in Marietta, Georgia, in 1960. Officially designated JetStar 6, a total of eighty aircraft were built, but many were later upgraded as JetStar 8s or JetStar 731s. After the test program was completed, the JetStar at the bottom (N9201R) was delivered to the Federal Aviation Administration while the aircraft next to it went to NASA. In the background at the left is the C-130B Hercules modified as a boundary layer air control test aircraft (US Air Force serial number 58-0712) while at right is the second US Marine Corps KC-130F tanker (US Navy Bureau Number 147573) built.” (Lockheed Martin/Code One Magazine)
27 January 1939: First Lieutenant Benjamin Scovill Kelsey, Air Corps, United States Army, made the first flight of the prototype Lockheed XP-38 Lightning, serial number 37-457, at March Field, Riverside County, California.
The Lightning was the first production airplane to use the Harold Caminez-designed, liquid-cooled, supercharged, 1,710.60-cubic-inch-displacement (28.032 liter) Allison Engineering Company V-1710 single overhead cam 60° V-12 engines. When installed on the P-38, these engines rotated in opposite directions. The XP-38 used a pair of experimental C-series Allisons, with the port V-1710-C8 (V-1710-11) engine being a normal right-hand tractor configuration, while the starboard engine, the V-1710-C9 (V-1710-15), was a left-hand tractor. Through a 2:1 gear reduction, these engines drove the 11-foot (3.353 meters) diameter, three-bladed Curtiss Electric variable-pitch propellers inward to counteract the torque effect of the engines and propellers. (Viewed from the front of the airplane, the XP-38’s starboard propeller turned clockwise, the port propeller turned counter-clockwise. The direction of rotation was reversed in the YP-38 service test prototypes and production P-38 models.) The engines have long propeller gear drive sections to aid in streamlining aircraft, and are sometimes referred to as “long-nose Allisons.”
