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The Harpoon
traces its legacy back to the Lockheed Model 14 Super
Electra, 12 passenger transport. Lockheed had developed the
Super Electra as an airliner, the first of 112 entering
service with Northwest in October 1937. With war clouds
building in Europe, the British began looking across the
"pond" for aircraft that might meet their military
requirements. In 1938 the British Purchasing Committee (BPC)
visited the United States looking for both single and multi
engine training aircraft. North American was selected to
provide 200 Harvard trainers and Lockheed was visited for
discussions on using modified Model 14s as multi engine
trainers. Some months previous, Lockheed had been
experimenting with a bomber version of the Model 14. When
the British arrived Lockheed had a mockup displayed sporting
gun turrets in the nose and upper rear fuselage. A bomb bay
capable of carrying a load of 3300 lbs of vertically stacked
bombs and a crew of four rounded out Lockheed's hopeful
bomber. Impressed with the aircraft's potential as a patrol
bomber, the BPC requested several changes in the mock-up,
including the relocation of the navigator to the nose,
eliminating the nose turret. Lockheed complied with these
requests, and 24 hours later the changes were made. Shortly
thereafter, Lockheed executives traveled to London and
returned with a contract for the purchase of 200 Model 214
aircraft. These were to be designated the Hudson I under the
British naming conventions. Eventually the British would
purchase over 800 and receive 1170 under "Lend Lease"
agreements.
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information
SPECIFICATIONS
Span: 75 ft.
Length: 51 ft. 1 in.
Height: 13 ft. 3 in.
Weight: 36,000 lbs.
Armament:
9 - .50 caliber machine guns; 8
- 5 inch HVAR rockets; 2 - 1000 lbs. bombs could be carried
on wings in place of drop tanks; 4000 lbs in bombs or depth
charges.
Engine: Two Pratt and
Whitney R-2800-31s 2000 hp.
Serial Number:
C/N:
PERFORMANCE
Maximum speed: 282 mph.
at 13,900 feet
Range: 1,790 miles
Service Ceiling: 23,900
ft.
Additional
Information provided by:
PV-2
Harpoon
Other Links
of Interest:
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