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Lockheed Corporation

The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer. Lockheed was founded in 1926 and merged in 1995 with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin. Its founder, Allan Lockheed, had earlier founded the similarly named but otherwise-unrelated Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company, which was operational from 1912 to 1920.

For other uses, see Lockheed.

Industry

December 13, 1926 (1926-12-13)

1995 (1995)

Merged with Martin Marietta

,
United States

90,000[2]

History[edit]

Origins[edit]

Allan Loughead and his brother Malcolm Loughead had operated an earlier aircraft company, Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company, which was operational from 1912 to 1920.[3] The company built and operated aircraft for paying passengers on sightseeing tours in California and had developed a prototype for the civil market, but folded in 1920 due to the flood of surplus aircraft deflating the market after World War I. Allan went into the real estate market while Malcolm had meanwhile formed a successful company marketing brake systems for automobiles.[4]


On December 13, 1926, Allan Loughead, John Northrop, Kenneth Kay and Fred Keeler secured funding to form the Lockheed Aircraft Company in Hollywood (spelled phonetically to prevent mispronunciation).[5] This new company used some of the same technology originally developed for the Model S-1 to design the Vega Model. In March 1928, the company relocated to Burbank, California, and by year's end reported sales exceeding one million dollars. From 1926 to 1928 the company produced over 80 aircraft and employed more than 300 workers who by April 1929 were building five aircraft per week. In July 1929, majority shareholder Fred Keeler sold 87% of the Lockheed Aircraft Company to Detroit Aircraft Corporation. In August 1929, Allan Loughead resigned.


The Great Depression ruined the aircraft market, and Detroit Aircraft went bankrupt. A group of investors headed by brothers Robert and Courtland Gross, and Walter Varney, bought the company out of receivership in 1932. The syndicate bought the company for a mere $40,000 ($858,000 in 2023). Ironically, Allan Loughead himself had planned to bid for his own company, but had raised only $50,000 ($824,000), which he felt was too small a sum for a serious bid.[6]


In 1934, Robert E. Gross was named chairman of the new company, the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, which was headquartered at what is now the airport in Burbank, California. His brother Courtlandt S. Gross was a co-founder and executive, succeeding Robert as chairman following his death in 1961. The company was named the Lockheed Corporation in 1977.


The first successful construction that was built in any number (141 aircraft) was the Vega first built in 1927, best known for its several first- and record-setting flights by, among others, Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post, and George Hubert Wilkins. In the 1930s, Lockheed spent $139,400 ($2.29 million) to develop the Model 10 Electra, a small twin-engined transport. The company sold 40 in the first year of production. Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, flew it in their failed attempt to circumnavigate the world in 1937. Subsequent designs, the Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior and the Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra expanded their market.

Prewar production[edit]

The Lockheed Model 14 formed the basis for the Hudson bomber, which was supplied to both the British Royal Air Force and the United States military before and during World War II.[7][8] Its primary role was submarine hunting. The Model 14 Super Electra were sold abroad, and more than 100 were license-built in Japan for use by the Imperial Japanese Army.[9]

Lockheed-California Company (CALAC), .

Burbank, California

Lockheed-Georgia Company (GELAC), .

Marietta, Georgia

Lockheed Advanced Aeronautics Company, .

Santa Clarita, California

Lockheed Aircraft Service Company (LAS), .

Ontario, California

Lockheed Air Terminal, Inc. (LAT), Burbank, California, now Bob Hope Airport and owned by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.

Lockheed Vega

Lockheed Model 10 Electra

Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior

Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra

Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar

airliner

Lockheed Constellation

first model of the Lockheed Constellation

Lockheed L-049 Constellation

improved Lockheed Constellation

Lockheed L-649 Constellation

further improved Lockheed Constellation

Lockheed L-749 Constellation

largest produced model of the Lockheed Constellation

Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation

last model of the Lockheed Constellation

Lockheed L-1649 Starliner

Lockheed Saturn

Lockheed L-188 Electra

business jet

Lockheed JetStar

wide-body airliner

Lockheed L-1011 TriStar

Vega Aircraft Corporation

Lloyd Stearman

California during World War II

Allan and Malcolm Loughead (Lockheed) Their Early Lives in the Santa Cruz Mountains

from PBS

Lockheed Brothers

The Jetmakers

Lockheed Martin: Our History

Camouflaged plant during WW II

Lockheed Monorail by Kim Pedersen

from the Atlanta History Center

Lockheed Aircraft Corporation Photographs

from the Kennesaw State University Archives.

Joe B. Gabriel Digital Image Collection