P3 Orion is the military version of the Lockheed Electra II, and the C-130 Hercules is the high wing version (different fuselage, essentially the same wing).
It was designed as the "first class service" airplane when jets were not reliable enough for passenger plane use, I think around 1952. I think the Hercules went into service in 54, but I would be wrong. As a result of the expected competition for jet service, the Electra was VERY powerful for the time, I think those turbo-props are 4000 shp or so. It flew at 470 or 480 mph at 45,000 ft, although usual operations were more like 20,000 I think due to fuel consumption. Not a whole lot slower than the 707 or DC-8, neither of which were speed demons. NOT the worlds most comfortable planes, they shook like hell and the wings visibly "flapped" in flight, especially at low speed. Delta had their first class cabin in the rear, it was the quietest part of the plane. Only airplane I ever got close to getting airsick on. On the other hand, as CR Smith, the founder of American said, you had to be an idiot to crash one. Barring mechancial failures, all you ever had to do to get out of trouble was open the throttles and pull up, it had tremendous power at low speeds due to the props. It is possible to make a normal landing in one a full landing weight, then open the throttles after touchdown and fly it off the runway. I suspect you could fly it almost like a Hercules in an emergency -- hold the nose down on the runway just past V2 and pull back on the stick -- the Herkybird will climb at 45 degrees at full take-off weight doing that, probably need a shallower climb to keep from slamming the tail on the runway on an Electra. P3s have some incredible on station air time, they are very fuel efficient at submarine tracking speeds. Being replaced with 737 variants, I suspect mainly because the are all getting very old with incredible hours on them and no new parts, the Electra went out of service in the early 70s and I don't think Lockheed made any past the late 60s/ On Dec 5, 2021, at 11:25 AM, Floyd Thursby via Mercedes wrote: > I got to ride on a P3 once in college. A buddy of mine was in ROTC and there > some sort of recruiting thing where the Navy was giving rides on a P3 so he > signed us up. The pilots were a coupla hotshots, and we were the only others > on board, so they put on a show for us. It was lots of fun, the airplane was > very powerful and could do a lot. My buddy eventually became a fighter pilot > and I lost track of him after a few years. > > --FT > > On 12/5/21 12:05 PM, Allan Streib via Mercedes wrote: >>> AFAIK only the B52 is the only older (1952) design still on duty. >> The P3 Orion is based on the Lockheed L-188 Electra, I think they are still >> on duty? I don't know if that's older than the 707 but gotta be close. >> >> _______________________________________ >> http://www.okiebenz.com >> >> To search list archiveshttp://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >> >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >> > -- > --FT > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
