Editing Lockheed Model 10 Electra (section)

==Operational history==
[[File:Lockheed 10B VH-ASM Marshall Aws Bankstown 4.10.70 edited-2.jpg|thumb|left|Lockheed 10B of Marshall Airways (Australia) in 1970, had been initially delivered to [[Ansett Airways]] in 1937]]

After October 1934, when the US government banned single-engined aircraft for use in carrying passengers or in night flying, Lockheed was perfectly placed in the market with its new Model 10 Electra. In addition to deliveries to US-based airlines, several European operators added Electras to their prewar fleets. In Latin America, the first airline to use Electras was [[Cubana de Aviación]], starting in 1935, for its domestic routes.

[[File:Lockheed 10A Electra flight deck.jpg|thumb|Flight deck of a Model 10A, which has been updated with a more modern instrument panel]]

Besides airline orders, a number of non-commercial civil operators also purchased the new Model 10.<ref name= "Winchester p. 188">Winchester 2004, p. 188.</ref> In May 1937, [[Dick Merrill|H. T. "Dick" Merrill]] and J. S. Lambie accomplished a round-trip crossing of the [[Atlantic Ocean]]. The feat was declared the first round-trip commercial crossing of that ocean by any aircraft. It won them the [[Harmon Trophy]]. On the eastbound trip, they carried newsreels of the crash of the ''[[Hindenburg disaster|Hindenburg]]'', and on the return trip from the [[United Kingdom]], they brought photographs of the [[coronation of King George VI]]. [[Bata Shoes]] operated the Model 10 to ferry its executives between their European factories.

[[File:Amelia Earhart - GPN-2002-000211.jpg|thumb|Earhart and her customized Lockheed Electra]]
Probably the most famous use of the Electra was the highly modified Model 10E flown by [[Amelia Earhart]] and [[Fred Noonan]]. In July 1937, they disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean during an attempted round-the-world flight.<ref name= "Winchester p. 188"/>

Many Electras and their design descendants (the [[Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior|Model 12 Electra Junior]] and [[Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra|Model 14 Super Electra]]) were pressed into military service during [[World War II]], for instance the [[United States Army Air Forces|USAAF]]'s '''C-36'''. By the end of the war, the Electra design was obsolete, although many smaller airlines and charter services continued to operate Electras into the 1970s.<ref name= "Winchester p. 188"/>

Electras were popular as private planes for royalty in Asia and Europe. In [[India]], the [[Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir]] and the [[Maharaja of Jodhpur]] both purchased them for their personal use in 1937.<ref>''Straits Times'', 30 December 1937, Page 10.</ref>