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The Lockheed L-188 Electra first flew in 1957, and was the first turboprop airliner built in the USA. It delivered performance only slightly inferior to that of a full jet aircraft, at a lower operating cost.
On September 29, 1959, a Braniff Electra mysteriously broke up in flight over Buffalo, Texas, en route from Houston to Dallas. Just under six months later, on March 17, 1960, an Electra operated by Northwest Orient broke up in flight over Tell City, Indiana, en route from Chicago to Miami, FloridaFlorida is a southern state in the United States. It is known as the Sunshine State. Florida" is a Spanish adjective which means "flowery". It was discovered by Spanish explorers during the Easter season, which is called Pascua Florida in Spanish. Postal. NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA (established 1958) is the government agency responsible for the United States of America's space program and long-term general aerospace research. A civilian organization, it conducts (or oversees) re and Lockheed engineers eventually determined that the engine mounts allowed too much fore and aft movement of the propellers ("propeller whirl"), which created an aeroelastic phenomenonAerospace engineering No aircraft structure is completely rigid, so when it is subjected to aerodynamic forces it will normally deflect by a small amount. This effect can become very important at high speeds because any change in the shape of the body can called " flutterFlutter In electronics, rapid variation of signal parameters, such as amplitude, phase, and frequency. In structures, rapid periodic motion caused by interaction of structural mass, stiffness, and aerodynamic forces. Note Examples of flutter are; rapid va" in flight. This flutter, by pure chance, occurred at the wings' natural resonant frequency, setting up a negatively damped harmonic oscillation that eventually led to separation of a wing from the fuselage. The engine mounts were redesigned and the problem was solved.
Almost every airline in the US flew Electras, but the only European airline to order the type was KLMKLM (in full: Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij literally Royal Aviation Company usual English: Royal Dutch Airlines is an airline from the Netherlands. KLM is the Netherlands' main air carrier and operates from Schiphol Airport, near Amsterdam. KLM was; Britain's airlines used the Vickers ViscountThe Viscount was a medium-range turboprop airliner introduced in 1953 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world. It would go on to be one of the most successful of the first-generation post-war transports, with.
The Electras flew in commercial service until the mid-1970s, when many were sold to the United States Navy for use as P-3 Orion anti-submarine aircraft. Others were retired into air cargo use. A total of 144 L-188's were built, 57 of which have been destroyed in accidents as of September 2004, according to the Aviation Safety Network.
See also: List of civil aircraft