CV990 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (13 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 801 times:
Yes! We need them. I was in another topic with other visitors checking out what plane was best, the DC-10 or the L1011 and most said the L1011, and when I look to the past and see the planes Lockheed builted we see all of them wrote aviation history, lets see:
The L049/649/749/1049/1649 Constellation/Super Constellation/Starliner were marvelous airplanes and have a place in this history. Then we have the L188 Electra, well not so good as the Constellation but look to the military version, the P-3 Orion, loads of them builted and still flying in many air forces. Then the L1011, not so popular then the DC-10 but their safety record tell everything. And if we look a little to military aviation what do we have? We have the mostrous C-5 Galaxy, the muscle of USAF, we have also the radical F-104 Starfighter, we have the stealth F-117 NightHawk and to end this there is just one sentence for these guys from Lockheed - " When they built they builted GOOD " lets hope someone in Lockheed remembers to come with a new airliner in a near future. We had the Constellation in 1944, then we had L188 in 1955, then the 1011 in 1970 will we have another airliner in the 21st. Century?
TEDSKI From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 1, posted (13 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 715 times:
Because of poor sales of the L-1011, Lockheed closed out it's commercial aircraft business and continued with development of military aircraft like the C-130, C-5, and now the F-22.
Bruce From United States of America, joined May 1999, 5025 posts, RR: 17 Reply 2, posted (13 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 707 times:
Lockheed is still very much in business. Today they build fine military aircraft, parts, and working on aerospace projects.
Bruce Leibowitz - Jackson, MS (KJAN) - Canon 50D/100-400L IS lens
BryanG From United States of America, joined May 1999, 418 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (13 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 7 hours ago) and read 691 times:
You might say that Lockheed was smart. In the commercial market today the two big producers are fighting to undercut one another by just a few pennies on each order.
On the other hand, Lockheed/Martin is a government contractor, whose customers aren't afraid to pay top dollar for quality equipment. They're better off out of the passenger airliner business.
Convair880 From United States of America, joined Jun 2007, 8 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (13 years 5 months 3 weeks 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 668 times:
I don't know that we'll ever see Lockheed back in the commercial airliner arena and even if they did try, it would be like swimming upstream against a strong current in light of the competitors in the market.
But kudos to Lockheed for some of the aircraft they have produced, of which some have been mentioned in the other posts. Extra special kudos to Clarence 'Kelly' Johnson and the group out at the Skunk Works who brought us the U-2 and especially the SR-71 - a true technological marvel when you consider that it was designed and built back in the days of drafting boards and slide rules. Often overlooked except by those who have flown them is the C-130 Hercules. Take a look at how many different variants the Air Force has come up with for that aircraft - they'll be with us for awhile yet.....
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