Jetstar History

Jetstar History

Jetstar

Jetstar Prototype, N329J, in its final Lockheed color scheme

Herewith, some Jetstar historical photos, courtesy of Jim Goodall and his friends at the Lockheed Skunk Works

The Prototype Jetstar under construction at Burbank, with Kelly Johnson in the foreground, facing camera. Note the production crew, breaking for lunch, under the airplane!

The first two airplanes, N329J and N329K, were built in Burbank. All the remaining airplanes were built at Lockheed's Marietta, Georgia plant.

Kelly, and his new airplane

Historic Photo - taken at Edwards AFB before First Flight - 4 Sept 1957

Crew for the First Flight: Ray Goudey - Captain - Left Seat
Bob Schumacher - Copilot - Right Seat
Ernie Joiner - Flight Test Engineer

More about Ray here

Close-up of participants
Bob Schumacher - Co-Pilot for First Flight
Ernie Joiner - Flight Test Engineer
Kelly Johnson - Designer and Head of Lockheed Skunk Works
Jim Wood - Edwards AFB Flight Test (USAF)
Tony LeVier - Pilot of P-80 Chase Plane

See the original Data Plates and Certificate of Airworthiness he re

I was operating the radio ground station for the first flight. The flite was made from the main base at EAFB where we were operating from the weight hangar.Take off was at precisely 0900 which Kelly had specified about 9 months previously and later admitted that he shorted us on the time.

The chase plane pilot may have been Ray Crandall, I forget after 49 years.

Bob Klinger via Jim Goodall

Flying Magazine - October 1958

An early photo

Note: Single nose and main gear wheels, no slipper tank, new color scheme - one of several (quite a number, actually) used on the airplane.

Classic takeoff from Burbank, Connies in the background

Flying over Southern California mountains

First two Prototypes in flight

Note: Both with twin engine Bristol Orpheus installations. There were only four Orpheus engines ever made - all four flying in this photo (see below.) N329J Prototype in forground, wing slats extended, no slipper tanks. N329K - second airplane in back, slats up, slipper tanks installed. Second airplane later retrofitted with standard JT12 four engine installation. First airplane retained its twin configuration throughout its life. Slipper tanks from No. 2 were retrofitted to No. 1 when No. 2 got the four engine installation, along with a new, larger slipper tank configuration. Ultimately, there were three slipper tank configurations. Paint scheme # 3, of many. See some of the paint schemes here.

The standard 4 engine configuration - P&W JT12 engines

The final production configuration

Marketed as the Jetstar II, with four Garrett TFE-731 turbofan engines. Many similar after-market conversions.

An Ooops!

One version:

A reliable source advised of seeing the aircraft flame out and land in a field near Burbank. Herman "Fish" Salmon, Lockheed test pilot and friend of this individual, came by his house and they went together over to the aircraft. The airplane ran out of fuel or lost power just short of Burbank. (Perhaps we can get some Lockheed old-timers to shed some light and accuracy on this.) This photo of the aircraft being craned is obviously at an off airport location. I'm unable to find any records of this in the NTSB accident database, which extends back only to 1 Jan 1973..

Here's an update - second version:

The emergency landing, off airport, in 1962, was actually due to a design problem. The fuel supply froze. The pilot of that flight was Vern Peterson. He broke his back in the accident. After returning to flight status, he continued in flight test including the test program for the C-130 and C-141.

More information:

Following the accident, Fred Cavanaugh, Advanced Development Projects engineer, authorized installation of the production (dual wheel) nose gear. Although it is uncertain, it appears the landing took place with the gear down, with the resultant failure of the original nose gear.

In engine teardown reports from Bristol Siddeley, the accident date is given as 28 April 1962. The airplane had been flying about 90 minutes at 40,000 feet. During descent and approach to Burbank, only 50% thrust could be obtained, and the fuel boost pump pressures were noted as zero. Unable to make the field, the airplane was force landed in an open area. The engines continued to run at idle power throughout the landing. The teardown reports can be seen here. (coming)

Kelly and crew

This photo is labeled "Last Day of Senior Bowl". Kelly is seventh from left, and a lot older. Senior Bowl refers to the Skunk Works D21 ramjet drone program. See: http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/d21b001.html (Thanks to Eric Toler for this info.)

N329J in her final (and current) paint scheme

Note the dual nose wheels and the slipper tank off No. 2 airplane. See N329J today

Comments and more photos or information? - write me.

Some interesting factoids:

The pilot of the first flight, Ray Goudey, was also the pilot for the last.

The following directly from Ray, to Jim Goodall, in response to this webpage:

Jetstar first flight -- pilot - Ray Goudey; second seat - Bob Schumacher; flight engineer - Ernie Joiner

Final flight to BC -- pilot - Ray Goudey; second seat - Ralph Kelly; crew chief - Don Bailey; passengers Kelly Johnson and others (Bill Park may have been with us, but I don't remember).

Failed engine -- After take off from Burbank, the left engine failed (sudden stoppage - later found the engine came apart inside). The safest landing option was Van Nuys. The brakes were OK. We landed at Van Nuys with no further problems.

Final flight info -- We landed at Abbottsford for the air show. After the air show, we flew to BC. On the way to BC, I had a little fun and did an aileron slow roll. I several times demonstrated in the Jetstar a slow roll with positive G's that allowed someone to pour coffee without spilling a drop.

I will try to locate the data I have on the last flight as well as any other information I have on the Jetstar and forward to anyone interested.

Ray Goudey

See Ray's revisit to the Jetstar Prototype airplane on May 18, 2006 here.

From Alan Brown, Director of Stealth Technology while at the Lockheed Skunk Works to Jim Goodall:

The reason is that I was on the last flight of the Jetstar as a Lockheed business jet when it lost the port engine on take-off. Ray Goudy, an ex-Lockheed test pilot, was in charge of the airplane, and the passenger list was something of a Who's Who of military aviation, all seated in order of importance from front to back. Up front were Kelly Johnson and 4-star General Al Slay, head of Systems Command. Then came Ben Rich with another four-star, Bob Dixon, who was head of TAC. Norm Nelson, our then program manager for Have Blue was on board, and I believe Col. Ken Staten. I know that the list was finalized by Captain Jack Twigg, the Air Force program manager for the Have Blue, and myself sitting in the two back seats.

We were at about 100 feet altitude, having taken off heading south from Burbank airport, when there was a god-almighty bang just to the left of Jack Twigg's ear. We were still in a state of shock when Kelly came bounding down the aisle, recognizing that we had blown a turbine wheel, and anxious to see if any of the hydraulic lines to the rudder and elevator had been severed. At the same time Ray Goudy put the airplane into what seemed like a right-turning knife edge, obviously recognizing that he had to land as quickly as possible, and that the Burbank runway probably wasn't long enough for an emergency landing. Kelly was satisfied, and went back to his seat, while I was looking down at houses and swimming pools in North Hollywood, having just passed over the Burbank cemetery!

It's interesting to note what passes through your mind at times like these. My first thought was that with my luck I'd probably pitch into the deep end of one of those swimming pools, and I'm not a very good swimmer! My next thought was that at least I'd make the front page of the L.A. Times. The paragraph would start, "Famous airplane designer killed in air crash over Burbank together with senior Air Force Generals" and finish with "among the other passengers were Captain Jack Twigg and Lockheed engineer Alan Brown"! Anyway, while this brief reverie was going through my mind, Ray had got the airplane flying right side up, and heading for Van Nuys airport. Kelly reminded Ray that as this was the prototype airplane, it probably still had the anti-spin parachute fitted from flight test days, and he might want to use it as an aircraft brake on landing. The reason for this thought was that the hydraulic brakes were normally actuated from the port engine auxiliary gearbox, and of course that was now lost.

So Ray brought the airplane into the north end of the main Van Nuys runway, deployed the spin chute as we crossed the end of the field, and brought the airplane to rest just in front of the main general aviation arrival station. Then we all sauntered out, all casual, as if we did this sort of thing every day!

As a postscript, Ray's girlfriend, Sue, ran the dispatch office for Lockheed's business aircraft, and was standing outside with one of the other pilots when she saw the huge puff of black smoke coming pouring out of the port engine. She was suitably scared to death, but the pilot standing next to her assured her that was quite normal and not to worry!

Hope this little bit of history is of interest.

Alan Brown.

Engines

According to correspondence found in the records we received from BCIT, from Bristol Siddley to Lockheed in 1963, they remind Lockheed that they had the only four Bristol 810D engines in existence! Serial numbers 130001, through 130004. Thus, they were cautioned, due notice was needed by the factory when overhaul times were close as they may have to manufacture components for the engines. At the Museum, we have three of these, the fourth (004) being the one that came apart on takeoff from Burbank.

Tom Cathcart

See more engine information here

Comments and more photos or information? - write me.

Ray Goudey and Alan Brown comments via Jim Goodall.

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Revised 1 May 2006
           18 May 2006
           19 May 2006
             21 May 2006
            11 Jun 2008