Aircraft Make & Model:
Lockheed 5C Vega
Speed:
180 mph maximum, 155 mph cruising
Engines:
Pratt & Whitney Wasp
No. flown by DL:
2 leased from Bowen Air Lines
RoutesFlown:
Ft. Worth, Texas, to Charleston, South Carolina (Air Mail Route 24)
Advantages:
Cantilever, or internally braced, wing design contributed to superior aircraft speed.
First Delivery:
early 1935
First Scheduled Service:
1935
Reason Aquired:
To carry mail; not used to carry Delta passengers.
Narrative:
Lockheed 5C Vega 1935-1937
The Lockheed 5C Vega was a wooden high-winged cabin monoplane with seating for up to six passengers, although Delta used its two leased planes for mail service only.
NC107W (serial 3160) Manufactured in April 1930, originally as a 5B model and later converted to a 5C model. The 5C had a higher tail and a greater gross weight than the 5B. Destroyed in an accident in Mexico on May 5, 1938, after it had left Delta service.
NC161W (serial 3167)
Manufactured in July 1930, originally as a 5B model and later converted to a 5C model. Dismantled in Mexico in June 1949.
Photos Credit
The two photos on this page are from the History of Aviation Collection at the University of Texas at Dallas as reproduced at the Ed Coates Civil Aircraft Photograph Collection site.
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