Allan Lockheed

Loughead was born in Niles, California, on the 20th of January 1889. Flora Haines Loughead was a well-known novelist and journalist. The Loughead brothers attended elementary school only, but were mechanically inclined from an early age. He worked as a mechanic in San Francisco during the early 1900s. By 1909, he was driving race cars. ==Early experience with aviation==

Loughead began his aviation experience with the Curtiss Model D as an employee for James E. Plew. During 1910, he became a pilot. When Plew withdrew from aviation after two of his planes were wrecked and a student killed, Loughead became a flight instructor with the International Aeroplane Manufacturing Company in Chicago, and put on aerial exhibitions for 25% of the gate receipts. Later he said: "I was really rich the first week out. I made something like $850." During an exhibition at Hoopeston, Illinois, his rain-soaked airplane failed to climb enough and was entangled in telephone wires. At that point, he decided to build a better aircraft so he could collect all of the gate receipts. ==Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company==

Loughead returned to San Francisco in 1912 and went to work as an auto mechanic. Allan Lockheed recalled in 1942 that the Model G was built mostly with hand tools and called the aircraft "one of the first successful three place tractor seaplanes in the United States." While the Model G, the first plane to bear the Loughead (Lockheed) name, was far ahead of its time, few would pay $10 to fly in it. Mamlock soon lost his enthusiasm for aviation and seized the plane. He told the Lougheads if they wanted it back, they would have to repay his $4,000. Consequently, in the hopes of striking it rich, the Loughead brothers spent two unsuccessful years prospecting in California's gold country. With the financial aid of Alaskan pioneer Paul Meyer, Allan and Malcolm Loughead bought the Model G back in 1915 and opened a flying concession at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. In five months, they took 600 paying passengers aloft and netted $4,000. Henry Ford was one person who turned down a ride, saying, "I would not take even a straightaway flight four feet above the bay in anybody's aeroplane for all the money in California." In early 1916, the Loughead brothers moved the operation to Santa Barbara, where they were swamped by people wanting to make their first flight. In addition, they made charter flights to the off-shore islands, and local movie companies used the plane to take aerial footage. == Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company ==

In 1916, the brothers founded Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company in Santa Barbara to build a 10-place, twin-engined F-1 flying boat for their aerial sightseeing business. Walter Chrysler introduced the Lockheed brake system on the first Chrysler car in 1924. Malcolm sold his business to Bendix in 1932. == Real estate business ==

From 1920 to 1922, Allan Loughead was the Los Angeles sales manager for Lockheed brakes. In the summer of 1922, Allan Loughead operated a ride concession at Catalina Island. Called "The Thrill of Avalon", it consisted of a touring car body mounted on two seaplane floats and powered by an aircraft engine driving a pusher propeller. The skimmer proved to be too rough and noisy to be popular and lasted only a year. Later, when asked if he made any profit on the venture, Loughead laughed and said, "No, we went broke, which was not a new experience!" In 1922, Allan Loughead became a real estate salesman in the Hollywood area. He wrote in 1942 that the real estate business was "not interesting, but from a financial standpoint [it was] very successful." Whenever possible, Loughead and Jack Northrop would get together and discuss ideas about new aircraft. By now Northrop was an engineer with the Douglas Aircraft Company. In 1926, Allan Loughead and Jack Northrop decided to build a high-speed monoplane with a capacity of four passengers and a pilot in a streamlined fuselage using their patented monocoque construction. Northrop created drawings of the plane at home. The plane was to be powered by the new Wright Whirlwind engine. The only disagreement arose over the wing. Northrop wanted to use a self-supporting cantilever design that eliminated wing struts. Loughead believed the public wouldn't want to fly in a plane without visible wing supports. In the end, Northrop won. == Lockheed Aircraft Corporation ==

Loughead and Northrop set out to form an aircraft company. Loughead's accountant friend, Kenneth Jay, introduced them to Fred S. Keeler, a successful brick and ceramics manufacturer. After reviewing their proposal, he agreed to help finance the project. As a result, using $22,500 from Keeler and $2,500 from Loughead, the four formed the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in December 1926, with Keeler as president, Loughead as vice president and general manager, Northrop as chief engineer and Stadlman as factory superintendent. The timing of the Vega was propitious. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh's flight from New York to Paris renewed interest in aviation. Soon after, James D. Dole, president of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, offered a prize of $25,000 ($ in 2020) to the first person to fly from North America to Hawaii after August 12, 1927. As a result, George Hearst, publisher of the San Francisco Examiner, bought a Vega for $12,500 and entered it in the Dole Air Race under the name Golden Eagle. Later Loughead said, "The sales price represented a loss, but we were happy to absorb it. The prestige of selling the Vega to Hearst was tremendous." Hearst also ordered a Vega seaplane for a flight to Australia. The acquisition was through an exchange of stock. == Later career ==

In 1930, Loughead formed the Lockheed Brothers Aircraft Corporation in Glendale, California, and developed the experimental Olympia Duo-four, a five-place high-wing monoplane with two engines mounted side by side in the wood monocoque fuselage nose. It had a plywood-covered wing and wheel pants. The fuselage was covered with a two-piece moulded-under-pressure plywood skin. He made numerous flights in this plane demonstrating its extremely safe single-engine performance. This fourth commercial aircraft venture by Loughead lasted until 1934. In 1934, Loughead, tired of the many mispronunciations of his name, legally changed it from Loughead to Lockheed. Lockheed spent the period from 1935 to 1936 as a consultant. In 1937, Lockheed formed the Alcor Aircraft Corporation in San Francisco and developed the Alcor C-6-1, an 8-place, low-wing plane that also had excellent single-engine performance. Unfortunately, the prototype C-6-1 was lost over San Francisco Bay. During a 1938 test flight, the Alcor prototype went out of control. A pilot and a passenger bailed out, "leaving the plane to descend in slow circles until it hit the waters of the Golden Gate and sank, as related in the 1957 Lockheed history, "Of Men and Stars." The Alcor company folded in 1939. "I guess Alcor was the final burnout for Dad," said his son, Allan Jr. "He got only enough money from the insurance to pay off the creditors and close the doors." Afterwards, Lockheed continued to make design studies of aircraft, such as fighters and bombers, for war use. In 1941, Lockheed became Vice President of the Berkey & Gay Furniture Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he served as general manager of the Aviation Division and Director of Aircraft Engineering. In August 1941, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Jesse H. Jones appointed Lockheed to the Cargo Plane Committee, which also included Andre Preister, William Bushnell Stout, Luther Harris, and J.W. Crowley. The committee was charged with drawing up basic design recommendations for a cargo plane for the Aviation Division of the Defense Supplies Corporation. The committee's work was completed and accepted in January 1942. In October 1942, Lockheed became the general manager of the Aircraft Division of Grand Rapids Store Equipment Company, making parts for Navy fighters. After the war, Allan Lockheed continued his career as a real estate salesman in California, while also occasionally serving as an aviation consultant. In the mid-1950s, Lockheed Aircraft Corporation asked Allan Lockheed to return as a consultant, mainly to help on the "Of Men and Stars" history being prepared by Lockheed public relations writer Phil Juergens." Lockheed's son John Lockheed said that "Dad was delighted to come back to Lockheed." Allan Lockheed Jr., said, "It was a tremendous boost to his morale to be able to rejoin the company." In 1961, Allan Lockheed moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he lived in semi-retirement. He continued as a consultant for the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. Once, when someone asked Lockheed what he did in the early days of aviation, he answered, "I survived!" == Death ==

Allan Lockheed died of liver cancer in Tucson on May 26, 1969, at the age of 80. == Legacy ==

Lockheed was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, in 1986. His daughter, Beth, was present, and his son John accepted the award on Lockheed's behalf. ==References==