Vega was merged with LAC on 31 December 1941 and finally absorbed by LAC in November 1943. The Vega Airplane Company, formed in August 1937 as the AiRover Company and renamed Vega Airplane Company in 1938, was a wholly owned subsidiary of LAC that had been established to built light, general aviation aircraft. In subsequent discussions with the British, LAC proposed a more advanced design with more powerful engines and based on the performance estimates, the RAF ordered 300 aircraft in May 1940 this order was increased to 675 aircraft later in the year.īy 1940, LAC was building the Hudson and the P-38 Lightning in their Plant B-1 and did not have the capacity to build the Ventura there so it was decided to build the Model 37, as the new aircraft was designated, in the Vega Airplane Company's Plant A-1 at the Union Air Terminal in Burbank, California. The British decided that the latter mission had a higher priority and in February 1940, they placed an order with LAC for 25 medium bombers to be designated Ventura Mk. In September 1939, LAC submitted a proposal to the British Air Ministry for a new, improved aircraft, based on the Model 18 Lodestar, that could serve as a replacement for (1) the Hudson in the maritime reconnaissance and antisubmarine warfare (ASW) roles and/or (2) the Bristol Blenheim in the light or medium bomber role. (For a brief of history, see the description of the R30.) In June 1938, LAC had received its largest order to date from the British Purchasing Commission for the Lockheed Hudson, a military version of the Model 14, to be used by the Royal Air Force's (RAF's) Coastal Command in the maritime reconnaissance role by May 1943, a total of 2,941 Hudsons were delivered including 20 for the USN which designated them PBOs, q.v. The Lockheed Aircraft Corporation (LAC) of Burbank, California, had concentrated on building all-metal, twin-engine commercial transport aircraft in the 1930s all of these transports, i.e., the Models 10 (USN R2O and R3O), 12 (USN JO), 14 (USN R4O) and 18 (USN R5O), had been purchased by the U.S.
Lockheed PV Ventura / Harpoon by Jack McKillop LOCKHEED PV VENTURA and HARPOON
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