[4] In Chicago, Victor Loughead convinced Plew to acquire rights to one of the Montgomery's gliders[5] and to buy a Curtiss pusher biplane.

[3] When Allan left for Chicago, he said, "I expect to see the time when aviation will be the safest means of transportation at 40 to 50 miles per hour, and the cheapest, and I'm not going to have long white whiskers when that happens.

[3] When two of Plew's trained pilots could not get the Curtiss airborne, Allan said: "I've got a $20 gold piece that says I'll make it fly, and I'm offering three-to-one odds!

[6] When Plew withdrew from aviation after two of his planes were wrecked and a student killed, Loughead became a flight instructor with the International Aeroplane Manufacturing Company in Chicago, and put on aerial exhibitions for 25% of the gate receipts.

[7] Allan Lockheed recalled in 1942 that the Model G was built mostly with hand tools and called the aircraft "one of the first successful three place tractor seaplanes in the United States.

[3] With the financial aid of Alaskan pioneer Paul Meyer, Allan and Malcolm Loughead bought the Model G back in 1915 and opened a flying concession at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.

[3] Henry Ford was one person who turned down a ride, saying, "I would not take even a straightaway flight four feet above the bay in anybody's aeroplane for all the money in California.

[3] In addition, they made charter flights to the off-shore islands, and local movie companies used the plane to take aerial footage.

[3] In 1916, the brothers founded Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company in Santa Barbara to build a 10-place, twin-engined F-1 flying boat for their aerial sightseeing business.

[3] When the F-1 was completed, Allan Loughead and a crew of three flew it from Santa Barbara to San Diego in April 1918, setting a record of 181 minutes for the 211-mile flight.

[3] The Lougheads attempted to demonstrate the long-range potential of the F-lA by making the first flight from Santa Barbara to Washington, D.C. Their crew included pilot Orvar Meyerhoffer, co-pilot Aaron R. Ferneau, and mechanic Leo G. Flint.

[6] Albert and Elisabeth were so impressed with their flight to Santa Cruz Island that they presented Allan and Malcolm with the Belgian Order of the Golden Crown.

Intended to be "the poor man's airplane", it featured an innovative molded plywood monocoque fuselage for which the Lougheads, Northrop and Tony Stadlman received a patent.

Called "The Thrill of Avalon", it consisted of a touring car body mounted on two seaplane floats and powered by an aircraft engine driving a pusher propeller.

[3] In 1926, Allan Loughead and Jack Northrop decided to build a high-speed monoplane with a capacity of four passengers and a pilot in a streamlined fuselage using their patented monocoque construction.

Soon after, James D. Dole, president of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, offered a prize of $25,000 ($372,000 in 2020) to the first person to fly from North America to Hawaii after August 12, 1927.

As a result, George Hearst, publisher of the San Francisco Examiner, bought a Vega for $12,500 and entered it in the Dole Air Race under the name Golden Eagle.

The Travel Air Woolaroc landed after 26 hours and 16 minutes aloft, and Art Goebel and Bill Davis crawled out to claim the $25,000 first prize.

Arctic explorer Captain George Hubert Wilkins had seen the Golden Eagle from his San Francisco hotel window during a test flight.

Wilkins was knighted by King George V of the United Kingdom, while Eielson received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Harmon Trophy from President Herbert Hoover.

After he and Eielson arrived in Antarctica in December 1928, they used the Vegas to make the first flights in history over the continent, and to explore much of its uncharted territory from the air.

[3] The Wilkins expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic brought Lockheed Aircraft a flood of orders, which required a move to new facilities in Burbank, California, in March 1928.

The Vega, Explorer and Air Express, and the variants that stemmed from them, were used by the biggest names in aviation, Art Goebel, Bob Cantwell, Frank Hawks, Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post, Roscoe Turner, Jimmy Doolittle, and others, to set a number of distance, speed and endurance records.

The Vega was a high-wing, cantilever monoplane manufactured using the two-piece moulded-under-pressure streamlined plywood fuselage skin construction developed in Santa Barbara.

Part of the reason Northrop left was that Lockheed's management refused to invest in developing new metal aircraft and chose to maximize revenue from its proven wood designs.

[3] Unhappy with this situation, Allan Loughead resigned as president and general manager on June 3, 1929, and later sold his Detroit Aircraft stock for $23 a share.

A pilot and a passenger bailed out, "leaving the plane to descend in slow circles until it hit the waters of the Golden Gate and sank, as related in the 1957 Lockheed history, "Of Men and Stars.

[3] In 1941, Lockheed became Vice President of the Berkey & Gay Furniture Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he served as general manager of the Aviation Division and Director of Aircraft Engineering.

[6] In August 1941, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Jesse H. Jones appointed Lockheed to the Cargo Plane Committee, which also included Andre Preister, William Bushnell Stout, Luther Harris, and J.W.

In October 1942, Lockheed became the general manager of the Aircraft Division of Grand Rapids Store Equipment Company,[6] making parts for Navy fighters.