Lockheed L-188 Electra

AirlinerTech #5

by Jim Upton

This information-packed volume chronicles the development of the Electra, the original 14 airlines who flew the Electra, details of its trouble with Whirl mode, plus a look at how it came to be Lockheed's most tested airliner. AirlinerTech Volume 5.

100 pages, Paperback

First published February 19, 2000

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

In many ways a nice review of this significant but sometimes forgotten airliner. Nice overview of some the mechanical systems and discussion of the Allison engine. My favorite portion of the book is the description of airline service. The book suffers though, as it is often repetitive. I lost count of how many times I read that “80% percent of the wing is in the propwash”. You would honestly have no excuse for missing that question on the pop quiz. We also get the ELDORA system explained twice (complete with three diagrams), it being an obscure modification applied to only one airframe, one that had no airline application. Reminder: this is the Airliner Tech series. The examples of repetitive content are many, sadly.
Another annoying fault is a duplicate photo, once in color once in B&W, of the approach to Dutch Harbor. Photos overall are less than inspiring, half of them seemingly obtained when the author spent a couple of days flying in the Reeve Aleutian (RAA) system. My favorite? A B&W shot of the lavatory door on a RAA ship. I think the Lockheed archivist might have provided something more captivating.
I am slowly losing hope in this Airliner Tech series.