Electra! Jet-powered goddess.(Lockheed Electra)(Illustration)(Product/Service Evaluation)(Column)

Airpower, May, 2003 by Machat, Mike

A brand new airliner entered service in 1958. It had four giant propellers, yet was powered by jet engines. For performance, speed, and comfort, was it the best of both world's?

Author's Note: In the summer of 1978, I had occasion to fly from Los Angeles to Lake Tahoe California. I'd made the hour-and-a-half drive down to Orange County Airport for the simple reason that I wanted to experience a flight in a Lockheed Electra before it went out of commercial service the following year, aid soon I was standing at the Air California gate with about forty other Tahoe-bound passengers. As we waited to board the still-beautiful red, orange, and white airliner, a woman at the back of the line was heard to exclaim, "Oh no, Harold, look. That thing has propellers!"...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.