Lockheed Vega

The Lockheed Vega is an American high-wing monoplane airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation from 1927, seating five to seven people. John Knudsen Northrop and Gerald Vultee designed it as a rugged aircraft that was also one of the fastest of its day, using a wooden monocoque fuselage of laminated plywood, a cantilever wing and a Wright Whirlwind radial engine. The first Vega flew on 4 July 1927, and by the end of 1928 sixty-eight had been built. The Vega 5 of 1929 added a Pratt and Whitney Wasp engine and a new cowling, which raised speed enough to carry two more passengers. Record-breaking pilots were drawn to its speed and range: Amelia Earhart flew one solo across the Atlantic, and Wiley Post used one to show that the jet stream exists. It was also hard to land and gave poor forward visibility.