• Blog
MYSTERIOUS BILL'S GAMING BLOG

STOP BUYING AIRPLANES BILL!!!!!

5/29/2011

3 Comments

 
I can't help myself. It's like when I built or bought steam powered armored landships for GASLIGHT. I ended up with more than I'll every be able to use. Stop it Bill!! Stop it!!

Sigh.. At least this one will take less repainting than the last one I bought.

This time it's a Lockheed Orion. The pictures below are posed with my usual Pulp Miniature, Copplestone and Rattrap miniatures for scale purposes.
Picture
Picture
LOCKHEED MODEL 9 ORION – 1/46 ROUGHLY

Liberty Classics or Spec Diecast


The Lockheed Model 9 Orion was a single engine
passenger aircraft built in 1931 for commercial airlines. It was the first airliner to have retractable landing gear and was faster than any military aircraft of that time. Designed by Richard A. Von Hake, it was the last wooden monoplane design produced by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.

DESIGN

The Orion was the last design using many identical elements from the Lockheed designs preceding it. It primarily used all the elements of the
Altair, but included a forward top cockpit similar to the Vega, plus the NACA cowling introduced in the Air Express.] Lockheed used the same basic fuselage mold and wing for all these wooden designs (the Explorer wing was unique), hence the close similarities between them. The Orion featured an enclosed cabin with seating for six passengers. The Orion received its Approved Type Certificate on May 6, 1931.

Gerard F. Vultee was Lockheed's chief engineer in 1928 through 1931 and was involved in the designs of all the Lockheed variants of that time and specifically designed Charles Lindbergh’s Sirius.

Operational history

Although designed with the passenger market in mind, its speed made it a natural for air races. The first
Bendix race of 1931 had a showing of two Orions and three Altairs and one Vega in a race that had only nine aircraft competing. On 11 July 1935, Laura H. Ingalls flew a Lockheed Orion, powered by a Pratt & Whitney Wasp engine, from Floyd Bennett Field to Burbank, California, establishing an East-West record for women. Two months later she flew it back to set a West-East record.

The first Orion entered service with
Bowen Air Lines at Fort Worth, Texas, in May 1931. Many safe miles were flown in airline service and the headlines won by a few expert speed pilots proved the advanced design and reliability of the "Orion". Those that went into airline use as a passenger transport had their life span limited, however. In 1934 the Civil Aeronautics Authority issued a ruling prohibiting further use of single engine passenger aircraft from operating on all major networks. It also became mandatory to have a co-pilot and thus a two-seat cockpit arrangement on all such flights. The requirements of the ruling brought an end to the "Orion" as a passenger carrying airlines' airplane. They were then used for cargo or mail carrying or sold for private use and charter. Because the aircraft had a complicated wood construction and needed to be sent back to Lockheed in Burbank California to be repaired, they were often disposed of after any type of significant accident. At least 12 of the used "Orions" were purchased for service in the Spanish Civil War and destroyed in use.

The Orion Explorer was a modified 9E. It had a damaged wing replaced with the wing of the Explorer 7 after a crash, and was fitted with a 600 hp (482 kW)
Pratt & Whitney Wasp S3H1 engine. Fixed landing gear and later floats were also fitted. It was used by Wiley Post and Will Rogers for a round-the-world flight attempt, but both men died when the aircraft crashed in Alaska on 15 August 1935.

Variants

Orion 9

14 built, 410 hp (306 kW)
Pratt & Whitney Wasp A or 420 hp (313 kW) Pratt & Whitney Wasp C

Orion 9A Special

one aircraft with 450 hp (336 kW)
Pratt & Whitney Wasp SC engine

Orion 9B

two aircraft supplied to
Swissair, 575 hp (429 kW) Wright R-1820-E engine

Orion 9C

redesignated Altair DL-2A

Orion 9D

13 built

Orion 9E

three aircraft with 450 hp (336 kW)
Pratt & Whitney Wasp SC-1 engine

Orion 9F

one executive aircraft with a 645 hp (481 kW) Wright R-1820-F2 engine

Orion 9F-1

one executive aircraft with a 650 hp (485 kW) Wright SR-1820-F2 engine

UC-85

one Orion 9D to
USAAF in June 1942

Orion-Explorer

modified Orion 9E, 600 hp (482 kW)
Pratt & Whitney Wasp S3H1 engine

Specifications (Orion 9D)

General characteristics

Crew: one, pilot

Length: 28 ft 4 in (8.64 m)

Wingspan: 42 ft 9.25 in (13.04 m)

Height: 9 ft 8 in (2.95 m)

Wing area: 294.1 ft² (27.32 m²)

Empty weight: 3,640 lb (1,651 kg)

Max takeoff weight: 5,200 lb (2,359 kg)

Powerplant: 1×
Pratt & Whitney Wasp S1D1, 550 hp (410 kW) 

Performance

Maximum speed: 192 kn at sea level (220 mph, 354 km/h)

Cruise speed: 178 kn (205 mph, 330 km/h)

Range: 652 nmi (750 mi, 1,159 km)

Service ceiling: 22,000 ft (6,705 m)
3 Comments

    Mysterious Bill

    I've been gaming since the 1970's and even wrote some RPG adventures in the 80's for the Judges Guild. It seems that I can only get in miniatures is gaming at cons, but I do regularly play boardgames and RPGs.

    Archives

    February 2018
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010

    Categories

    All
    Airplanes
    Aliens
    American Civil War
    Betrayal At The House On The Hill
    Boardgames
    Books
    Cheapness
    Conventions
    Decatur Campaign
    Desperado
    Furniture
    Gaming At The Library
    Gamma World
    Gaslight
    Historical Wargames
    Horror
    Interwar
    Ironclads
    Movies
    Mutants
    Napoleonic
    Naval Wargames
    Pirates
    Pulp
    Pulp Alley
    Real History
    Robots
    Rpg
    Science Fiction
    Ships And Boats
    Skirmish
    Terrain
    The Shadow
    Very American Civil War
    Vsf
    Weird Vehicles
    Weird World War Ii
    Westerns
    Where Heroes Dare
    Wings Of War
    Zeppelins

    RSS Feed

    Links

    http://bunkermeister.blogspot.com/
    http://doctormerkury.blogspot.com/
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.