'The Lockheed SR-71, remarkably advanced for its time and unsurpassed in many areas of performance

The Lockheed U-2 first flew in 1955 providing much needed intelligence on Soviet bloc countries

Lockheed Corporation was an aerospace company founded in 1912 which merged with Martin Marietta in 1995 to form Lockheed Martin.

History

The Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company was established in 1912 by the brothers Allan and Malcolm Loughhead. This company was renamed the Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company and located in Santa Barbara, California.

In 1926, following the failure of Loughead, Allan Loughead formed the Lockheed Aircraft Company (phonetically spelled to avoid confusion) in Hollywood, California. In 1929 Lockheed became a division of Detroit Aircraft.

When Detroit Aircraft went bankrupt during the Great Depression, a group of investors headed by brothers Robert and Courtland Gross bought the company out of receivership in 1932. In 1934 Robert Gross was named chairman of the new company, the Lockheed Corporation, which was headquartered at the Burbank, California, airport. The company remained here for many years before moving to Calabasas, California.

In 1943 Lockheed began, in secrecy, development of a new fighter at its Burbank facility. This site adopts the name the "Skunk Works". In 1954 the first flight of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules took place, the aircraft is still produced in 2005. In 1956 Lockheed received a contract for the development of the Polaris Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM), this would be followed by the Poseidon and Trident nuclear missiles. In 1976 the Skunk Works began development of the F-117 Stealth Fighter.

Timeline

• 1912: The Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company established.
• 1916: Company renamed Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company.
• 1926: Lockheed Aircraft Company formed.
• 1929: In 1929 Lockheed became a division of Detroit Aircraft.
• 1932: Robert and Courtland Gross take control of company after the bankruptcy of Detroit Aircraft.
• 1932: Renamed as the Lockheed Corporation, recognizing the wider scope of the company's operation.
• 1943: Lockheed's Skunk Works founded in Burbank, California
• 1954: First flight of C-130 Hercules
• 1954: Maiden flight of U-2
• 1986: Acquired Sanders Associates electronics of Nashua, New Hampshire
• 1991: Lockheed, General Dynamics and Boeing begin development of the F-22, now the F/A-22
• 1993: Acquired General Dynamics' Fort Worth aircraft division, builder of the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
• 1995: Lockheed Corporation merges with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin

Product list

Lockheed's most advanced airliner, the L-1011 Tristar

Lockheed Trident I missile, introduced in 1979. Followed by Trident II in 1990

Planes

Some famous Lockheed planes:

• U-2 reconnaissance (TR-1)
• SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance (M-21) (YF-12)
• F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter
• F-104 Starfighter multi-mission fighter
• P-38 Lightning two-engine fighter
• P-80 Shooting Star jet fighter
• F-94 Starfire all-weather fighter
• S-3 Viking patrol/attack
• P2V Neptune maritime patrol
• P-3 Orion ASW patrol
• Lockheed Hudson maritime patrol/bomber
• C-130 Hercules medium combat transport (AC-130 gunship) (other variants)
• C-141 Starlifter long-range jet transport
• C-5 Galaxy heavy transport
• Lockheed JetStar business jet
• Lockheed Vega civil transport
• L-1011 TriStar airliner
• Lockheed Constellation civil transport
• L-188 Electra civil transport

Missiles

• Polaris
• Poseidon
• Trident

External links

• Lockheed Brothers (http://www.pbs.org/kcet/chasingthesun/innovators/lockheed.html) from PBS
• Lockheed Martin (http://www.lockheedmartin.com/wms/findPage.do?dsp=fec&ci=12912&sc=400)