Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockhe...Electra_Junior

The Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior, more commonly known as the Lockheed 12 or
L-12, is an eight-seat, six-passenger all-metal twin-engine transport aircraft
of the late 1930s designed for use by small airlines, companies and wealthy
private individuals. A smaller version of the Lockheed Model 10 Electra, the
Lockheed 12 was not popular as an airliner but was widely used as a corporate
and government transport. Several were also used for testing new aviation
technologies.

After Lockheed had introduced its 10-passenger Model 10 Electra, the company
decided to develop a smaller version which would be better suited as a "feeder
airliner" or a corporate executive transport.[1] At the same time, the U.S.
Bureau of Air Commerce had also sensed the need for a small feeder airliner and
announced a design competition for one. In order for a candidate to qualify for
the competition, a prototype had to fly by June 30, 1936.

Lockheed based its candidate, which it named the Model 12 Electra Junior, around
a scaled down Electra. It would carry only six passengers and two pilots but
would use the same 450 hp (340 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior SB radial
engines as the main Electra version, the 10A. This made it faster than the
Electra, with a top speed of 225 mph (362 km/h) at 5,000 ft (1,500 m). Like the
Electra, the Model 12 had an all-metal structure, trailing-edge wing flaps,
low-drag NACA engine cowlings, and two-bladed controllable-pitch propellers
(later changed to constant-speed propellers). It also had the Electra's twin
tail fins and rudders, which were becoming a Lockheed trademark. The landing
gear was a conventional tail-dragger arrangement, with the main wheels
retracting backwards into the engine nacelles; as was often the case with
retractable gear of the period, the wheel bottoms were left exposed in case a
wheels-up emergency landing was necessary.

The new transport had its first flight on June 27, 1936, three days before the
competition deadline, at 12:12 PM local time, a time deliberately chosen for the
Model 12's number. As it turned out, the other two competition entries, the
Beechcraft Model 18 and the Barkley-Grow T8P-1, weren't ready in time for the
deadline, so Lockheed won by default. The "Electra Junior" name did not catch on
in the way that the original Electra's name had. Most users simply referred to
the aircraft by its model number, as the Lockheed 12.


Role
Civil and military utility aircraft

Manufacturer
Lockheed Corporation

First flight
June 27, 1936

Number built
130

Developed from
Lockheed Model 10 Electra

Operational history

Even though the Lockheed 12 had won the government's feeder airliner
competition, most of the airlines rejected it, and very few Lockheed 12s were
used as airliners. One notable airline user was the newly renamed Continental
Air Lines, which had a fleet of three Lockheed 12s that ran on its route between
Denver, Colorado and El Paso, Texas in the late 1930s. Another was British West
Indian Airways Ltd., which flew the Lockheed 12 on Caribbean routes in the
Lesser Antilles during the mid-1940s.

The Lockheed 12 proved much more popular as a transport for company executives
or government officials. Oil and steel companies were among the major users. A
number were purchased as military staff transports by the United States Army Air
Corps, which designated the type as the C-40, and by the United States Navy,
which used the designation JO, or in one peculiar case, R3O-2. With the arrival
of World War II, many civilian Lockheed 12s were requisitioned by the U.S. Army
and Navy, Britain's Royal Air Force, and the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Two civil Lockheed 12s ordered by British Airways Ltd. were actually intended
for covert military reconnaissance flights. Sidney Cotton modified these
aircraft for aerial photography and in civilian guise, overflew and photographed
many German and Italian military installations during the months preceding World
War II.

The main military user of the Lockheed 12 was the Royal Netherlands East Indies
Army Air Force, which bought 36. Sixteen of these were the Model 212, a version
created by Lockheed for training bomber crews, which had a .303 in (7.696 mm)
caliber machine gun in an unpowered, partly retractable gun turret on top of the
fuselage, a second .303-caliber machine gun fixed in the nose, and bomb racks
under the wing center section that could hold eight 100 lb (45 kg) bombs. The
other 20 aircraft were transport versions.

Lockheed built a total of 130 Lockheed 12s, ending production in 1941. With the
arrival of World War II, Lockheed concentrated its production efforts on more
advanced military aircraft, such as the Hudson bomber and the P-38 Lightning
twin-engined fighter. The Lockheed 12's market was left to the Beechcraft Model
18, thousands of which would eventually be produced.

A number of Lockheed 12s have survived to the present day, mostly in private
hands. Several of these are still flying.

Specifications (Model 12A)

General characteristics
Crew: 2
Capacity: 6 passengers[39]
Length: 36 ft 4 in (11.07 m)
Wingspan: 49 ft 6 in (15.09 m)
Height: 9 ft 9 in (2.97 m)
Wing area: 352 sq ft (32.7 m2)
Empty weight: 5,765 lb (2,615 kg)
Gross weight: 8,400 lb (3,810 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 8,650 lb (3,924 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior SB 9-cylinder air-cooled
radial engines, 450 hp (340 kW) each

Performance
Maximum speed: 225 mph (362 km/h, 196 kn) at 5,000 ft (1,500 m)
Cruise speed: 213 mph (343 km/h, 185 kn)
Range: 800 mi (1,300 km, 700 nmi)
Service ceiling: 22,900 ft (7,000 m)
Rate of climb: 1,400 ft/min (7.1 m/s)


Notable appearances in media

A Lockheed 12 appeared as the French airliner in the climactic final scene from
the 1942 film Casablanca. (The aircraft carries the Air France seahorse logo,
although Air France did not actually operate the type.) A "cut-out" stood in for
a real Lockheed 12 in many shots. No real aircraft appeared in the movie. Half
and quarter scale models were used instead.

Lockheed 12s have also appeared in movies as stand-ins for the Electra 10E used
by Amelia Earhart in her round-the-world flight attempt. Two played this role in
the NBC 1976 TV miniseries Amelia Earhart, and another did so in the 2009 movie
Amelia.




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