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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1002.PDF
114 FLIGHT The American Scene . . . LOCKHEED at BURBANK UNLIKE the other major aircraft factories in the Los Angelesarea, the headquarters of the Lockheed Aircraft Corpora-tion are situated north of the city, in Burbank, adjacent to Hollywood. The main plant now has a floor area greatly exceed-ing 6,000,000 sq ft and more than 25,000 people are currently on the payroll. The Corporation also has an assembly plant andflight test centre at Palmdale, a Missile Systems Division at Van Nuys (both in California) and another huge aircraft-productionplant near Marietta, Georgia (over 4|m sq ft and 15,000 employees) which has now built many hundreds of Boeing B-47sand is in production with the C-130 freighter. At present the predominant development programme in theCalifornia division is that for the F-104 Air Force fighter. Powered by an afterburning Wright J65, this aircraft is being kept morecompletely "under wraps" than any other machine now flying in the United States, although it is no secret that it is consideredthe fastest aircraft yet developed for combat purposes in any country in the world. The following facts can be stated with authority. The firstprototype made its maiden flight in February 1954; other proto- types have since flown and progress is rated "highly satisfactory."One machine was unfortunately lost as a result of an armament explosion and another was successfully landed after sufferingdamage during high-speed firing trials (empty cases from the gun armament were drawn into an intake, puncturing the internaltank and causing neat fuel to be drawn into the engine). Lockheed consider the swept wing as a characteristic only oftransonic aircraft. The F-104, being "highly supersonic," has a straight wing reportedly of no more than 22ft span and withedges literally like those of a knife. Dwarfing the wing is a great missile-like fuselage housing fuel and power unit, pilot, arma-ment and equipment. Although the weight is less than that of a Sabre (the figure of 15,000 lb has been published), the wing-loading cannot but be high and performance at extreme altitude would seem to suffer thereby. It should, however, be recordedthat a ceiling of 60,000ft has been quoted for this aircraft; and one of the Lockheed engineering test pilots, Tony Le Vier, hasreportedly zoomed to 70,000ft from a maximum-speed run at medium altitude. The same pilot is also quoted as saying thathe has flown the YF-104 "through the barrier" with his hands behind his head. One point which may not be immediately apparent is thatafterburners really begin to pay off at Mach numbers well above unity, and it seems probable that at about 35,000ft the reheatthrust exceeds the drag of the F-104 up to a Mach number of about two. On the other hand, the two curves must run fairlyclose together, so that the excess thrust available for acceleration cannot be large. A rocket would seem to be indicated, purelyfor acceleration purposes. A large number of 104s are on order and it seems possible thatthe type may be in service by die end of next year. It has been suggested that later versions will be powered by the J79, a greatnew General Electric variable-stator engine, specifically developed for supersonic flight and already flying beneath a B-45. Withsuch an engine, particularly with an afterburner, acceleration to the M = 2 regime should be violent, although the problem offinding sufficient tankage may be made more acute. It will be interesting to see whether or not the U.S. Air Force can everemploy the basic F-104 design as an all-weather machine. The following is the statement on the F-104 appearing in theCorporation's annual report dated December 31st, 1954. "Just 359 days after the go-ahead, we flew this supersonic daysuperiority fighter. Air Force orders later placed the F-104 A in production, and I believe it will become one of America's first-line fighters in future years and provide us a long, steady pro- duction program. The more than 135 flights by two proto-types have shown exceptional performance. There is considerable military interest in F-104s adapted to other than daysuperiority uses." Although not a native of California, the Lockheed C-130Hercules freighter is a machine of outstanding technical merit, and has been well described in previous issues of Flight (suchas that of December 10th last). Several Hercules have now come off the assembly line at the company's Georgia division and thosenow being built are powered with production Allison T56 engines which are currently giving something better than 3,500 e.h.p.The prototype happened to be at Burbank during our visit— undergoing an engine change—and the bold design and out-standing engineering of the whole airframe were very apparent. The main loading door under the rear fuselage (which, inci-dentally, does not taper in plan until the tailplane is reached) is hinged at its forward end and can be swung downward for load-ing, unloading and air-dropping. During these operations the undersurface of the rear fuselage aft of the door is hinged upwardsand it is a remarkable fact that, although the entire door assembly withstands the cabin pressure differential of at least 6 lb/sq in,it provides unrestricted access to the entire fuselage cross section of 9ft by 10ft. In flight, opening of the door can hardly bedetected by the pilot at any airspeed suitable for dropping. Apart from the curious XFV-1 vertical-rising prototype, theonly other new military machine is the T2V trainer now in pro- duction for the U.S. Navy. Developed from the well-known TV(U.S.A.F. = T-33), this curiously-shaped aircraft is the first pro- duction application of boundary-layer control in the form ofblown flaps. The "supercirculation" thereby induced greatly increases the maximum lift coefficient during slow-speed flyingand landing; at take-off, however, if full engine power is required, no compressed air is available to blow over the flaps. The T2Vis fully equipped for carrier-operation and is considered the most highly developed jet trainer in the United States. Production of the T-33 is still continuing, as also is that ofthe evergreen Neptune. When the prototype of the latter machine first appeared ten years ago, Lockheed did not expect that itwould remain in production in 1955, nor that it would prove so amenable to the "beefing and stretching" process made famous byLockheed airliners. Actually the Neptune has suffered little stretching, but has had plenty of weight increase and literallythousands of detail modifications. Production is now running at the rate of about eight aircraftper month. All are generally designated P2V-7, although air- craft for the two chief customers, the U.S. Navy and the R.C.A.F.,differ in a number of respects. The former, who have had well over a thousand Neptunes, are now receiving machines whichstrictly speaking are four-engined, in that a pair of Westinghouse J34 turbojets are carried in pods under the wings. These boosterturbojets are employed during maximum-weight take-offs and during combat or any other occasion when climb or speed isparticularly desirable; and, in spite of their considerable weight, the U.S. Navy's -7s are good for over 310 knots when new. TheR.C.A.F. Neptunes, which are now replacing Lancasters and are also equipping new squadrons, have no turbojets, neither do theymount a dorsal turret; on the other hand, all -7s are equipped with a "stinger" tail housing magnetic airborne detectionequipment. A successor to the Neptune is now in the works at Burbankbut remains strictly classified. We ourselves saw an earlier pro- jected Neptune successor in mock-up form although we under-stand that the present machine differs considerably both from the Neptune and earlier thoughts of a replacement. The main Burbank factory is still full of Lockheed's "First Although it is a product of Lockheed's Georgia division, the C-130 Hercules is briefly referred to in the accompanying text. If Allisons can develop a suitable airline unit in time, the civil Electra (right) will be powered by four engines basically similar to those of the C-130.
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