[WWII] Lockheed C-40

[Phaelen Bleux]

Lockheed 12 Electra Junior
When the Lockheed 10 Electra entered service, it was often considered too small for major airline operators but too big for smaller operations. To this end, Lockheed introduced the Model 12 Electra Junior--simply a scaled down version of the Electra for feederline operations. It did, however, retain the engines of its larger sister, offering improved performance. This six-passenger transport proved very successful, with 130 examples being built.
During WWII, it was used by the USAAC as the C-40. Other military users included Argentina, Canada, Cuba, the UK and the Netherlands East Indies. A specially modified 12-A was used by Sidney Cotton, a business executive of Dufaycolour Company, as a clandestine photo-reconnaissance spy plane over Germany in the months leading up to WWII.
The Electra Junior had a crew of two: pilot and co-pilot. The plane had a historical range of 800 miles. The plane uses 33.6 gallons of aviation fuel per hour at routine usage. A full load of fuel costs $52.

Lockheed Electra Junior 12-A
Subassemblies: Light Fighter-Bomber chassis +3; Light Fighter-Bomber wings +3; two Medium Weapon Pods +1; 3 retractable wheels +1.
Powertrain: Two 336-kW aerial HP gasoline engines [Pods] with two 336-kW props, 260-gallon standard fuel tank, and 8,000-kWs batteries.
Occ.: 2 CS, 6 PS Body
Cargo: 0 Body

Armor F RL B T U
All: 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3

Equipment:
Body: Autopilot, navigation instruments, medium radio transmitter and receiver, backup driver controls.

Statistics:
Size: 36'x50'x10' Payload: 1.44 tons Lwt.: 4.33 tons
Volume: 312 Maint.: 50 hours Cost: $16,215
HT: 9. HPs: 165 Body, 120 each Wing, 75 each Pod, 15 each Wheel.
aSpeed: 225 aAccel: 5 aDecel: 20 aMR: 5 aSR: 2
Stall Speed: 67 mph. Take Off Run: 449 yards. Landing Run: 449 yards.
gSpeed: 199 gAccel: 10 gDecel: 10 gMR: 0.5 gSR: 2
Ground Pressure: Very High. 1/8 Off-Road Speed.

Design Notes:
Historical wing area was 352 sf. Design aSpeed was 230 mph. Historical values for wing area and loaded weight were used for performance calculations. Design loaded weight was lowered 3% to the historical. The design purchases a 270-gallon fuel tank; the historical capacity is shown.
The design is a tight squeeze. . .some of the fuel tankage is shoved into the remaining space in the engine pods.

Variants:
The C-40 seated 7 passengers (3 built); the C-40A seated 5 (10 built).
The C-40B featured tricycle landing gear. 1 built.
The C40-D were 10 civilian Model 12-As impressed into military service.
The JO-1 was a single 7-seat plane used by the Navy; the JO-2 were 5 6-seat planes. The XJO-3 was a single plane with tricycle landing gear for carrier deck landing trials.
The Model 212 was a training aircraft used in the Netherlands East Indies. It featured with a forward-fixed .303-inch MG (Aircraft LMG) and a similar gun in a dorsal turret. It also featured underfuselage racks for 800 lbs. of bombs. 16 built.