Allan Haines Loughead - Lockheed Aircraft Corporation

Lockheed Aircraft Corporation

Loughead and Northrop now set out to form an aircraft company. Loughead's accountant friend, Kenneth Jay, introduced them to Fred S. Keeler, a successful brick, tile and china manufacturer. After reviewing their proposal, he agreed to help finance the project. As a result, using $22,500 from Keeler and $2,500 from Loughead, the four formed the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in December 1926, with Keeler as president, Loughead as vice president and general manager, Northrop as Chief Engineer and Stadlman as Factory Superintendent. They specifically incorporated the "Lockheed" spelling to associate themselves with Malcolm's successful brake company.

The company set up operations in a garage in Hollywood in January 1927. However, while Loughead continued his real estate business, he showed up every afternoon to help on the plane. The first major task was to build a concrete mold, shaped like an elongated bath tub, for molding half of the laminated wood fuselage. Two halves were made and then fastened to a skeleton framework of wood to form the complete fuselage. Next came the construction of the plywood-covered cantilever wing, the tail surfaces, the landing gear and mounting the engine. When it was finished, the company had invested nearly $17,500 in the plane, which was named the Vega. The result was an incredibly successful high-speed monoplane with a range of a thousand miles, a cruising speed of 185 miles per hour, and capacity for six people.

The timing of the Vega was propitious. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh's flight from New York to Paris renewed a tremendous interest in aviation. Soon after, James D. Dole, president of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, offered a prize of $25,000 ($324 thousand in 2011) to the first person to fly from North America to Hawaii after August 12, 1927. As a result, George Hearst, publisher of the San Francisco Examiner, bought the Vega for only $12,500 and entered it in the Dole Air Race under the name Golden Eagle. Later Loughead said, "The sales price represented a loss, but we were happy to absorb it. The prestige of selling the Vega to Hearst was tremendous." Besides, Hearst also ordered a Vega seaplane for a flight to Australia.

All the Lockheed personnel were on hand when the first Vega was trucked to a hayfield near Inglewood, California. There test pilot Eddie Bellande took it up on its first flight. Upon landing, he yelled, "Boys, she's a dandy, a real joy to fly!"