The Lockheed Model 33 Little Dipper, also known as Air Trooper, was an American single-seat monoplane, designed by John Thorp and built by Lockheed at

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

. Flown in 1944 and offered to the Army as a "flying motorcycle", it was evaluated as a potential entry for Lockheed into the civilian market, but the program was cancelled before the second prototype was completed.

Design and development

The design of the Model 33 originated with a private venture for a two-seat light aircraft by John Thorp, a Lockheed engineer.Francillon 1982, pp. 256-257. In April 1944, the company agreed to build the aircraft as the Lockheed Model 33. Due to wartime restrictions on materials, the company gained the interest of 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 ...

in the aircraft as an "aerial flying motorcycle" to equip a "flying

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

" under the name Air Trooper. The Army, willing to entertain the concept, authorized Lockheed to build two prototypes of the Model 33. The Model 33 was of ordinary light-aircraft design, with a low-mounted cantilever

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

wing and conventional empennage; powered by a Franklin 2A4-49 engine, it was fitted 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 proved to have

STOL A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft that can takeoff/land on short runways. Many STOL-designed aircraft can operate on airstrips with harsh conditions (such as high altitude or ice). STOL aircraft, including tho ...

performance.

Operational history

The Model 33 prototype first flew in August 1944. The handling characteristics of the aircraft were considered satisfactory, but the Army had lost interest in the concept, despite the prototype demonstrating its performance by landing and taking off again in the courtyard of

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As ...

. Lockheed had intended to market the type as an inexpensive light aircraft on the civilian market as the Little Dipper; with the military interest having evaporated, the prototype and the partially completed second aircraft were scrapped in January 1947 for tax reasons. Thorp, the aircraft's designer, would go on to develop the Thorp T-211 with lessons learned from the Little Dipper project.

Specifications

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

Little Dipper project on YouTube
{{Lockheed Martin aircraft

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 ...

1940s United States civil utility aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1944 Aircraft with fixed tricycle landing gear Single-engined piston aircraft