The Lockheed Lodestar served as an airliner as well as military transport
during WWII. Airlines such as National, QANTAS, BOAC and South African among
others operated the type. While the USAAF, RNAF, RAAF and Netherlands East
Indies Air Force operated them out of what is now named Indonesia till they
were over-run by Japanese forces. The scope and complexity of these war
time operations are beyond the remit of this site, though I do have extensive
details of ALL Lodestars no matter what their 'uniform' was. Please contact
me with any particular queries you may have [Michael
Zoeller].
The following info was on the WWW. Some of it is well known, some not.
I've included it in it's entirety:
"During World War II, the U.S. Navy (USN) acquired 68 Lockheed Model
18 Lodestar transports for its use and for use by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG)
and U.S. Marine Corps (USMC). In USN service, the Model 18 Lodestar was
designated R5O. Delivered between May 1940 and October 1943, the last R5O
was struck off the inventory in June 1950. The Model 18 was developed because
of problems with its predecessor, the Model 14 Super Electra (designated
PBO and R4O, q.v., in USN service). The first commercial operator of the
Model 14 was Northwest Airlines which purchased eleven aircraft. Three of
these aircraft crashed between May 1938 and January1939 causing the flying
public to lose confidence in the aircraft and Northwest returned the Model
14s to Lockheed and purchased the slower Douglas DC-3 (R4D, q.v., in USN
service) in March 1939. (During the same period, five Model 14s crashed
outside the U.S., one each in Canada, England and the Netherlands and two
in Rumania.) Recognizing that it had a big problem, Lockheed began work
on a replacement for the Model 14. The new aircraft used the wings, engines
and tail surfaces of the Model 14 with a redesigned, stretched fuselage.
Although very similar to the Model 14, a new model number, 18, was assigned
and the aircraft was given the name Lodestar to distant it from the previous
Electra family. The stretched fuselage improved directional stability and
allowed two more rows of seats in the aircraft thereby solving another problem
of the Model 14, i.e., high seat-mile cost. The resulting aircraft was a
twin-engined, all-metal, twin-tailed, mid-wing monoplane with the main landing
gear retracting into the engine nacelles. The tail wheel did not retract.
As with the Model 14, the aircraft was equipped with leading-edge slots
and Fowler flaps. Seven models of the aircraft were manufactured, the difference
being the specific Pratt & Whitney or Wright engine that powered the
machine. The specific engines were identified by a two numeric suffix to
the model number, e.g., Model 18-07s were equipped with two Pratt &
Whitney Hornet S1E2-G engines. The Model 18s could accommodate either 15-
or 18-passengers depending on whether or not a flight attendant and full
galley were provided. The Model 18 prototype was actually one of the Model
14 Super Electras that Northwest Airlines had returned to Lockheed. With
a new fuselage, this modified aircraft made it first flight on 21 September
1939. Two other Model 14s were also modified before the first production
Lodestar made its maiden flight on 2 February 1940 and received an Approved
Type Certificate (ATC) on 30 March 1940. The first airline to operate the
Model 18 was Mid-Continent Airlines of Kansas City, Missouri which began
service in March 1940 as soon as the ATC was awarded. Mid-Continent eventually
purchased four aircraft. Other U.S. airlines purchasing the aircraft included
Continental Airlines (5), Dixie Airlines (2), Inland Airlines (1), National
Airlines (3), Pan American World Airways (17, all to Pan Am subsidiaries,
i.e., 2 to Pacific Alaska Airways and 15 to Panair do Brasil) and United
Airlines (4). Overseas operators included the governments of South Africa
(1), Norway (3) and the Netherlands East Indies (29); overseas airlines
included Air Afrique (5) of Mozambique; Air France (3); British Overseas
Airways Corporation (BOAC) (9); Venezuela's Linea Aeropostal Venezolana
(LAV) (1); Brasils Navegacao Aerea Brasileira (2), South African Airways
(21); and Canada=92s Trans Canada Airlines (12) and Yukon Southern Airways
(2). The U.S. began a buildup of its military forces in 1940-41 and both
the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) and USN impressed a number of Model 18s
for their use. These impressed aircraft were (1) being operated by U.S.
airlines, (2) were being built by Lockheed or (3) had been ordered by the
airlines but production had not started. The USNs impressed aircraft are
described below; the USAAF impressed 102 aircraft designating them C-56,
C-57, C-59 and C-60. Most of these impressed aircraft were returned to their
owners or sold by 1944. The first true military aircraft was the C-60A ordered
by the USAAF on 5 February 1942 as an 18-seat paratroop transport; the 324
C-60As consisted of 52 C-60A-LOs, 45 C-60A-1-LOs and 227 C-60A-5-LOs. Lodestars
also served with the Netherlands East Indies Air Force, Royal Air Force,
Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal New Zealand
Air Force and South African Air Force."
My interest is what happened to these planes once they left military or
frontline airline service. Some passed on to smaller operators such as KarAir
in Finland, Panair in Brasil, Linjeflyg and Swedair in Sweden, NZNAC in
New Zealand and Canadian Pacific Airlines. While many passed on from military
store yard to any one of the plethora of post war conversion centres springing
up in the USA. Lodestar modification centres include: Dallas Aero Service,
Remmert-Werner, St. Louis, MO, Executive Aircraft Services Inc., Dallas,
TX, L.B.Smith, Miami, FL, Grand Central Aircraft, Glendale, CA, AiResearch
and Pacific Airmotive both in the Los Angeles area. And of course there
was Lear and Howard Aero.
After numerous tweaks and prods the Lodestar would re-emerge as a corporate
transport, for some it was just a coat of paint and some passenger seats
for others it was a lengthy re-build. The task of detailing the non Lear
and Howard Aero conversions would be a web site of it's own, something I
might do in my retirement (that's a 15 year wait!). Here are a few tit-bits
of information about three of the smaller aircraft modification centres:
Minnesota Airmotive Inc.
Requested in late 1954 to fly 8 x L.18s from Leon, Spain to Minneapolis,
MN. At this time the aircraft were being made airworthy in Spain. Six of
the aircraft were: 2144, 2147, 2148, 2151, 2152 and 2157. The other 2 x
were unknown at the time. All were originally with the RAF and had been
sold to the Spanish Air Force. 8 x reges were requested for these aircraft,
22.11.54 by the FAA in Europe. Reges were allocated 8.12.54 thus: 2144=N9926F,
2147=N9927F, 2148=N9928F, 2151=N9929F, 2152=N9930F
2157=N9931F, N9932F allocated to c/n 2068, 15.12.54 and N9933F allocated
to c/n 2020 also 15.12.54. All aircraft were to be converted to executive
use once in the USA. Minnesota Airmotive created a 260mph, $275,000 'Super
Lodestar' fitted with 85 USG capacity tip-tanks for extra range as well
as introducing extensive aerodynamic improvements, first aircraft to be
converted was N58MA (c/n 2157 see above). A large
number or former European registered L-18s had been acquired in the Spring
and Summer of 1956 by Minnesota Airmotive perhaps in anticipation of orders
for their Super Lodestar. Despite a country-wide demonstration tour in late
1956 and a doubling of its production capacity at its base at Wold Chamberlain
Field Minnesota Airmotive was only to complete two of these conversions.
It would be fair to say that many potential customers must have been put
off purchasing the Super Lodestar due to its high cost, as the cost of an
executive Lodestar was only in the region of $135,000 - $150,000.
Spartan Aircraft Co.
Spartan based in Tulsa was initially a manufacturer of training aircraft
in the 1930s, post war it became a modification centre specialising in Lockheed's
big twins the Ventura and the Lodestar. The bulk of their work involved
the Ventura but at least 9 Lodestars were worked on too. The company is
still in existence today as an avionics/aeronautics training school.
Dallas Aero Service
For the aviation department manager with a tight budget and a tired looking
Lodestar, Dallas Aero Service had their Dallaero Lodestar. The $5,000 modification
gave the aircraft an extra 30 mph speed increase according to their sales
literature of the time and they claimed that the conversion could pay for
itself within a year of normal operation. In the mid 1950s operating cost
for a Lodestar was approximately $200 per hour (compared to $184 ph for
a DC-3, $279 ph for a Ventura and $383 ph for a B.23) and average utilisation
would have been in the region of 50 hours per month. A total of 22 aircraft
were converted.
Hamilton Aviation
Hamilton Aviation in Tucson, Arizona under the guidance of former Lockheed
employee Gordon Hamilton licence built six executive 'Lodestars' by converting
Hudson bombers in a similar manner to that in which the first three L-18s
were converted from L-14s. Hamilton's former employer was amused by his
proposal and the FAA inspectors were amazed by what he'd done. With help
from Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, Lockheed's technical genius, licensing
and certification was granted. Proof of the strength of Hamilton's work
is the fact that many of his conversions were still in service until the
late 1970s