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Aile

Help for the identification of a plane

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Of the three I’ve got to admit the L-10 looks the most like it.

See these links for comparative photo’s:
Lochead 10E:http://www.aircraftmodels.com/images/racers/L-10.jpg
Loadstar:http://www.100megspopup.com/photo4phood/webaircraft/lsfmc60-6a.jpg
Beech 18:http://www.arc-duxford.co.uk/images/beech_18.jpg

(you'll have to cut and paste the loadstar URL because for some reason the website will not let you see it just by clicking on the link).

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It barely carried 12 jumpers to altitude.
It was know as a Lockheed L-10 Electra.

I jumped this a/c out of Barnwell South Carolina many many times. It was operated by Bobby Frierson at his Vikings of Denmark DZ. It was a little slower and smaller than the more common Beech 18. (This one in particular was reputed to be the next serial number built after Amelia Earharts ill-fated a/c which disappeared in the South Pacific.)

Bobby put all kinds of handles on the a/c and we had a ball climnbing all over it. The videos, or shall I say Super 8 and 15mm movies, were a lot of fun. On one of the exits a jumper ran along the roof only to fall off the opposite side just short of the horizontal.

The Lockheed Lodestar carried 30 jumpers and was powered by much larger engines, depending on modification status. The nose was totally different, not as blunt and much longer. It was a much more powerful and roomy a/c and very fast in cruise. I have an old dislocation injury from being slammed into the top of the door during exit because the floor fell out form underneath our feet momentarily.

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Quote

It was know as a Lockheed L-10 Electra.



I actually spent about 4 summers helping restore a Lockheed 10A. Any Lockheed 10 person would yell at you that it's not an L-10, it's a Lockheed 10! Lockheed never called it L-10.

I probably know the Lockheed 10A better than I know any other plane because I've been inside it everywhere from inside the nose (to work on the back of the instrument panel) all the way to the tip of the tail (to clean out 60+ years of crap).

This particular one is 4 serial numbers from Amelia Earhart's. Originally the VIP transport for the Secretary of the Navy in about 1935.

Dave

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I actually spent about 4 summers helping restore a Lockheed 10A. Any Lockheed 10 person would yell at you that it's not an L-10, it's a Lockheed 10! Lockheed never called it L-10.

I probably know the Lockheed 10A better than I know any other plane because I've been inside it everywhere from inside the nose (to work on the back of the instrument panel) all the way to the tip of the tail (to clean out 60+ years of crap).

This particular one is 4 serial numbers from Amelia Earhart's. Originally the VIP transport for the Secretary of the Navy in about 1935.

Dave



Please forgive my ignorance. I'm not a "Lockheed person".

Was the airplane on the Skies Call cover a Lockheed Electra or not?

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The A model was by far the most common. Cant remember the numbers off the top of my head but only something like 6 E models were made. Basically the same, but the E had bigger engines and associated changes to the engine mounts and landing gear. I think there is currently one existing E model, being restored in NJ, and an A model that was converted to an E for a round the world flight a few years ago. There are a few A models still flying...maybe about 5 of them or so. The one I worked on is being restored to museum condition...it'll never fly again.

Dave

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Hello Aile,
My name is Gary Holbrook, and I can give you information on the plane in the photo. It is most certainly a Locheed 10E, and the photo was taken out at Raeford, NC during August of 1978. The photo was taken by Andy Keech, by attaching an Olympus camera to a boom in front of the nose of the airplane (the boom was airbrushed out of the photo). I had broken my wrist a week or so before this photo was taken, so I was not fortunate enough to be in some of his first 10E photographs. This plane is also on the inside front cover of Skies Call 2, and and also used for photos 42-48. I was fortunate enough to be in a few photos that were taken during the following weekends (you can see the cast on my right hand on photo 44). At the time the plane was owned by both Bobby Frierson and Gene Paul Thacker, if my memory serves me corrrectly. A few of the names in the cover photo: Phill Rogge, Mike Griggs, Mike Morasuke, Matt O'Gwynn, Ed Christy, Dave Mangis, Bill Mathews, and Pat Van Bibber. Please contact me at [email protected] if you have any other questions.
Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge

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Wait, let me add one more name to the list; the pilot was (Dangerous) Dan Bossard. Dan would fly anything (day or night) just to get us to altitude. I checked my logbook, it appears that we regularly did 16-ways out of the 10E. Take care.
Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge

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Hi Gary,
10-4 on the 10E! As Gene Paul tells the story here at the bar, Bobby had the plane at his place when it crashed or whatever and 1/2 of it burned up. Gene says that Bobby said,"Well Gene Paul, the plane caught on fire and your half burned up!!!" That's always good for a laugh or two over a beer here at the Raeford bar. "Aviators grill and Pub"
SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

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http://freespace.virgin.net/m.zoeller/

Nice website ALL about Lockheed twins. Sure would like to make a Lodestar jump again. I never missed them much til they were all gone. The Learstar was the best sounding jump plane ever, those stacks made it sound like a cross between a Harley and a dragster when idling. The Learstar had vicious stall characteristics. To speed it up Bill Lear eliminated the leading edge slats that Lockheed thought were necessary. That was all good until you got careless about airspeed then suddenly you might be in a very quick roll followed by a spin. Not to be trifled with.
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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The two faces grinning at the camera belong to Phill and Tanya McCormick. I believe they lived in Atlanta at the time. The plane was definitely a Lockheed 10. It is probably the lens which makes the nose look longer, like a Loadstall. If I remember correctly, Dan Bossard told me it was 36 numbers from Amelia Earhart's.

That picture was one of a series we did with Andy Keech on that plane. That plane had huge wings and would tolerate the odd things we did on it. And I have to say that Gene Paul tolerated the lunacy quite well. I think the maximum number of people we had outside at once was 17. The thing would fly at 85 and had an amazing number of bars to walk and hold on to. If you were one of the first out and sitting on the wing, it was quiet enough to hold a conversation about the dive or how slow the exit was going, etc.

Ed Christy
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