VH-ADS  (1)    Lockheed 14H2 Super Electra                         (c/n  1431)

                           

                               These two images were taken by Harry Broe (via Bob Livingstone).   The Lockheed 14 series
                               was the forerunner of the Lockheed 18 Lodestar.  It was also the aircraft around which the
                               Lockheed Hudson bomber was developed early in WW II.   The Super Electra was designed
                               to compete with the DC-2/DC-3 models being produced by Douglas at the time.       It never
                               received much success in the USA (only Northwest Airlines purchased them) and most of the
                               112 built were exported.    Interestingly, the Japanese built more Lockheed 14s than the parent
                               company, turning out 119 license-built examples which served as Army Type LO transports with
                               the Allied code name of "Thelma".
                               VH-ADS was, in fact, an ex-Northwest machine (actually, they had sold it to Continental after only
                               a  year's operation because they quickly found out that the airliners were not nearly as economical to
                               run as the DC-3).  Continental, in turn, sold it to the W.R. Carpenter Company of Sydney to operate
                               a Sydney to Rabaul service.
                               For a complete history of this aircraft go to:
                                                                                           http://www.adastron.com/lockheed/electra/vh-ads.htm