Lockheed Vega

Vega
Red Lockheed Vega 5b flown by Amelia Earhart in breaking two world records.
Role	transport
Manufacturer	Lockheed Aircraft Limited
Designer	John Knudsen Northrop and Gerard Vultee
First flight	July 4, 1927
Introduction	1928
Status	6 surviving examples (?)
Primary users	Commercial air carriers United States Army Air Forces
Number built	132

The Lockheed Vega is an American six-passenger high-wing monoplane airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation starting in 1927. It became famous for its use by a number of record-breaking pilots who were attracted to the rugged and very long-range design. Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly the Atlantic single-handed in one, and Wiley Post used his to prove the existence of the jet stream after having flown around the world twice.

Designed by John Knudsen Northrop and Gerard Vultee, both of whom would later form their own companies, the aircraft was originally intended to serve with Lockheed's own airline routes. They set out to build a four-seat aircraft that was not only rugged, but one of the fastest aircraft of its era. Using a wooden monocoque fuselage, plywood covered cantilever wings and the best engine available, the Vega delivered on the promise of speed.

The fuselage was built from sheets of plywood, skinned over wooden ribs. Using a large concrete mold, a single half of the fuselage shell was laminated in sections with glue between each layer and then a rubber bladder was lowered into the mold and inflated with air to compress the lamination into shape against the inside of the mold. The two fuselage halves were then nailed and glued over a separately constructed rib framework. With the fuselage constructed in this fashion, the wing spar couldn't cut through the fuselage, so the single spar cantilever wing was mounted atop the aircraft. Only the engine and landing gear remained essentially unstreamlined, and on the production versions the undercarriage had teardrop shaped "spats" covering the wheels, while only the earliest versions lacked NACA cowlings and had the engine cylinders exposed to the airstream. It was powered by the Wright Whirlwind air-cooled radial engine, which delivered 225 horsepower (168 kW).

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