Lockheed Model 44 Excalibur
| Model 44 Excalibur | |
|---|---|
| Role | 32-passenger airliner |
| National origin | United States |
| Manufacturer | Lockheed Corporation |
| Status | Cancelled |
| Number built | None |
| Developed into | L-049 Constellation |
The Lockheed Model 44 Excalibur was a proposed American airliner designed by Lockheed.[1] The Model 44 was the first four-engined design from the company[1], it was a low-wing monoplane with a retractable nose-wheel landing gear. Originally fitted with twin fins and rudders, the design ended up with three fins.[1] It was to be powered by four 1200hp Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasps. Pan American Airways was close to ordering the Excalibur when Lockheed abandoned the project and put all effort into the Model 49 Constellation that had been ordered by Trans World Airlines.[1]
Design and development
Around the late 1930s, American aircraft companies such as the Boeing Aircraft Company and the Douglas Aircraft Company started developing airliners capable of carrying a larger capacity of passengers and being able to travel at longer ranges than any previous airliner. Douglas, which had the majority of the airliner market with its Douglas DC-3 airliner, was having trouble finding customers for its new Douglas DC-4E (not to be confused with the later DC-4). Boeing also had trouble, as there were no airlines interested in their Boeing 307 airliner, which caused the development to come to a halt until 1937, when Pan American World Airways and Transcontinental & Western Air provided funding and five orders each. Thus, the 307 first flew on December 31, 1938 and entered service in July 1940.
Around this time, the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation was studying different airliner projects. The first was the Model 27, which had a canard configuration. The other two were the L-104 and L-105 respectively. The L-105 was smaller and wasn't as futuristic as the L-104 and would have engines rated each at 1,200 bhp. These studies led to Lockheed's Burbank facility unravelling the 'Model 44 four engined airliner in April 1939. Soon afterwards, the new airliner was dubbed Excalibur. The Excalibur looked like an enlarged Model 10 Electra. The Excalibur was to be powered by four Wright GR-1820 Cyclone 9 radial engines each rated at 1000 hp (745.69 kW), or four Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radials. The Excalibur was to have a wingspan of 95 ft 9 in (29.18 m), a length of 82 ft 6 in (25.146 m) and a maximum speed ranging from 250 mph to 280 mph (402.34 km/h and 450.62 km/h).Even though production had not begun yet, different variants of the Excalibur were laid out, the differences being the maximum number of passengers.
The Excalibur originally was to carry only 21 passengers at a cruising speed of 240 mph (386.24 km/h), but this was changed to 36 passengers at a cruising speed of 268 mph (431.3 km/h) with a cruising altitude of 12,000 ft (3,650 m). Also, the fuselage of the aircraft was increased in width, making it comparable to the Model 18 Lodestar. Last but not least, the wingspan was increased to be 95 ft 9 in (25.189 m) with an area of 1,000 sq ft (92.903 sq m) along with tricycle landing gear sporting a nose wheel which could be steered. With the revised specifications, the Excalibur could now effectively compete with the near monopoly Douglas had on the airliner market and bettered in performance compared to the Boeing 307 although lacking the range of the 307. The revision of specifications was partially due to Pan Am. which was also responsible for the addition of a third tailfin to the existing two tailfins. A variant designated the L-144 able to carry 40 passengers was planned, but was ultimately cancelled even though South African Airways had placed a potential order for two examples. A full scale mockup of the new Excalibur was constructed, including most of the airliner except the right wing.
The excentric billionaire Howard Hughes, who recently gained ownership Transcontinental & Western Air (dubbed TWA for short), decided to provide funding for the new Excalibur. Hughes had a plan in mind to vastly improve the characteristics of the Excalibur by increasing comfort, speed and profit of the aircraft. It was thus that Hughes invited three workers from Lockheed and Jack Frye (president of TWA) to a secret meeting at his Hancock Park residence. Two of the Lockheed employees present at the meeting were Clarence "Kelly" Johnson and Robert E. Gross. During this time, Hughes expressed his requirements for what he called the "airliner of the future". Specifically, the requirements would mean that the "airliner of the future" would need to be able to carry 36 passengers or 20 sleepers, have a six man crew, have a range of 3,600 miles (5,793.6 km), fly at a cruising speed of 300 mph (482.8 km/h) and have a weight from 23.5 to 25 metric tonnes. This new requirement meant the Excalibur would have to get a 100 mph (160.93 km/h) increase in speed and be able to fly 1,000 ft (304.8 m) higher. The Excalibur would also have to fly across the United States without stopping over. The first decision was to re-engine the Excalibur with Wright R-2600 radials, which had not been tested yet. The next decision was to start from scratch while saving the overall shape and triple tail configuration of the original Excalibur.
The new design differed so much from the original Excalibur, that a different model designation. First it was given the temporary designation L-104, then it was later officially designated the Model 49 or "Excalibur A". As time progressed on, the Model 49 would become a completely different aircraft from the original Model 44. Lockheed later dropped the name "Excalibur" as the new airliner had little to do with its predecessor. The end result was the Lockheed L-049 Constellation.
Specifications
Data from [1]
General characteristics
- Crew: 2
- Capacity: 32 passengers
Performance
See also
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
References
Notes
Bibliography
- Francillon, René J. (1982). :Lockheed Aircraft since 1913. London: Putnam & Company. ISBN 0-370-30329-6.
- Breffort, Dominique (2006). Lockheed Constellation: from Excalibur to Starliner Civilian and Military Variants. Paris: Histoire and Collecions. p. 176. ISBN 2915239622.