Lockheed Big Dipper
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The Lockheed Model 34 Big Dipper was an American two-seat monoplane, designed and built by Lockheed at
Burbank Burbank may refer to: Places Australia * Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane United States * Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County * Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place * Burbank, Illinois, ...
for research into the company's potential entry into the civil lightplane and military light utility aircraft market. Only one was built, and following its loss in an accident the program was abandoned.


Design and development

Developed by John Thorp and based on his work on Lockheed's
Little Dipper Ursa Minor (, contrasting with Ursa Major), also known as the Little Bear, is a constellation located in the far northern sky. As with the Great Bear, the tail of the Little Bear may also be seen as the handle of a ladle, hence the North Amer ...
lightplane project,Francillon 1982, pp. 277 the Lockheed Model 34, named "Big Dipper", was intended as a prototype for a lightplane to sell on the postwar market - Lockheed hoping to sell the aircraft at a price of $1500 - and as a potential 'flying jeep' for the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
. It was a low-wing cantilever monoplane with a fixed
tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', that is arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has one or more nose wheels in a single front undercarriage and two or more main wheels slightly aft of th ...
and a conventional
empennage The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third ed ...
; the cabin was enclosed, seating two in side-by-side positions. Unusually the Continental C100 piston engine was fitted in the center fuselage behind the cabin, driving a two-bladed
pusher propeller In aeronautical and naval engineering, pusher configuration is the term used to describe a drivetrain of air- or watercraft with propulsion device(s) after the engine(s). This is in contrast to the more conventional tractor configuration, whic ...
mounted at the rear of the aircraft.


Operational history

The Model 34 was built at Burbank from July 1945. To keep the project secret the aircraft was moved to Palmdale by road when completed, flight testing being conducted at
Muroc Dry Lake Rogers Dry Lake is an Endorheic basin, endorheic desert salt pan (geology), salt pan in the Mojave Desert of Kern County, California. The lake derives its name from the Anglicization from the Spanish name, Rodriguez Dry Lake. It is the central pa ...
. It first flew on 10 December 1945, and after 40 hours of flight testing was returned to Burbank for modifications, intended to correct a wing-root stall issue that had been identified. It was decided not to complete the modification, and the aircraft was to be flown back to Palmdale on 6 February 1946. To try to keep the Big Dipper secret, it was decided to use a shorter upward sloping runway nearer the factory; in the steep climb needed during takeoff from the shorter runway, the aircraft stalled and crashed. With the loss of the prototype, and the fact the expected rush of buyers for new lightplanes was failing to materialize amidst a glut of war-surplus aircraft,Westwick 2012, p. 66. the project, and a proposed high-wing four-seat "Super Dipper" derivative, was abandoned;


Specifications


See also


References


Notes


Bibliography

* * * {{Lockheed Martin aircraft
Big Dipper The Big Dipper (American English, US, Canadian English, Canada) or the Plough (British English, UK, Hiberno-English, Ireland) is an asterism (astronomy), asterism consisting of seven bright stars of the constellation Ursa Major; six of them ar ...
1940s United States civil utility aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Mid-engined aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1945 Aircraft with fixed tricycle landing gear Single-engined piston aircraft