AVIATION: First U.S. Turboprop

The U.S. aircraft industry last week took a big stride into jet-age commercial flying. In Los Angeles, Lockheed Aircraft Corp. announced that it is building the first U.S. commercial turboprop (jet plus propeller) airliner, will have it in the air by 1958. Lockheed President Robert E. Gross announced his first order: $65 million from American Airlines for 35 of the fast, new planes, all of them to be delivered by 1959.

Called the "Electra" after Lockheed's first 200-m.p.h. transport (1934), the new plane will be a big improvement over Britain's seven-year-eld Vickers Viscount, which now dominates the commercial turboprop field. Slim and hightailed, the Electra will have four engines, will cruise at 410-440 m.p.h. for flights up to 2,000 miles, 25% faster and 1,000 miles farther than current Viscounts. It will carry 64 passengers (compared to Viscount's 48) in a cabin with big picture windows, a lounge, and wider seats, each with a combination desk-tray.

Specifications for the new turboprop had been laid down by American Airlines. American wanted the plane for medium-range routes to replace its 75-plane fleet of relatively slow (270 m.p.h.), twin-engined Convairs, had been shopping ever since Capital Airlines decided to import Vickers' 320-m.p.h. Viscounts last year. Convair, Douglas, Vickers and Lockheed all put in bids and, when Lockheed won, it was the first time that Lockheed had ever beaten Douglas for an important American Airlines contract.

As for Loser Douglas, it wasted no time taking off on a brand-new plane for long-range runs. Douglas announced that it would build a true-jet 80-to-125 passenger DC-8 transport to fly nonstop across the U.S. in less than five hours, planned to shell out between $40 million and $60 million to get the DC-8 in the air by 1958. Though Douglas has no firm orders for its DC-8, the company is betting that it will be the first U.S. planemaker to put a true-jet transport in airline service. Boeing Airplane Co., which gambled $20 million on its four-jet 707 transport last year, now has so many military orders for a bigger aerial tanker (the KC-135) version that the Air Force has asked the company to concentrate on defense production, forget about a commercial jet liner for the time being.