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Old 16th Jul 2010, 12:28
  #11362 (permalink)  
Ridge Runner
 
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Yep, but technically not Lockheed.

Designed by Lockheed's subsidiary AiRover Company, which by 1938 became the Vega Airplane Company, the Vega Starliner was a five/six-seat low-wing cabin monoplane with retractable landing gear and an unusual powerplant. This comprised two Menasco C6S-4 inline engines (the 640hp Menasco Unitwin 2-544), mounted side-by-side driving a common gearbox for a single propeller. They could operate independently in an emergency. It was built with both a twin-fin/rudder and the single arrangement shown here (the Starliner 22).

First flown on 22 April 1939, The resulting Starliner had a mixed construction airframe with a typical Lockheed tapered wing with split flaps, a side-door cabin a pilot and five passengers. In 1940 the project was abandoned after some 85 flight test hours, the Starliner was too small to appeal to the airlines, and too large for most private customers. The aircraft ended its days in film studios, fate unknown.



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