Northrop Gamma - The Plane That Had It All, March 1971 American Aircraft Modeler

The Northrop Gamma was as close to a one-size-fits-all aircraft as you would come by in the mid 1930's. It is pretty incredible to ponder the rapid development in aircraft and engines in the short three decades since the Wright brothers made their world's first powered flight in 1903. Airspeeds went from 30 miles per hour to more than 200 miles per hour. Engines went from 12 horsepower to nearly 1,000 horsepower in that timespan. The Northrop Gamma appeared in more than a dozen different versions including an air racer, a military bomber, a trainer, a high altitude weather research platform, a military attack airplane, and a seaplane. It was one of the first production designs to incorporate a completely enclosed cockpit - a welcome feature to pilots in cold weather. This story by Don Berliner gives some good background on the Northrop Gamma's colorful history.

Equally at home on floats, skis or wheels, this Northrop Gamma carried explorer Lincoln Ellsworth into previously untouched Antarctic regions.

DC-8's, 707's and 747's skim the top of the atmosphere in comfort, thanks to the work of Tommy Tomlinson and this Gamma Model 20.

A speed pilot's dream come true, the Northrop Gamma shone as a military craft, a scientific instrument, sport job deluxe, and even as a mail and passenger carrier.

There are military airplanes and commercial airplanes, and scientific airplanes, and sport airplanes. And there is at least one airplane which earned its place in the sun by being all these things and by looking so great that it could easily have attracted the world's attention by just sitting on the ramp, motionless. The Northrop Gamma was that plane.

It began as a speed pilot's dream come true; eventually it led to an Army bomber and to fast, comfortable high altitude passenger travel. Along the way, it pioneered flight in the Antarctic and set a fistful of transcontinental speed records. To do all this, it had to combine what were then the latest technical ideas with such radical concepts as wind-tunnel-designed wing fillets and large split flaps.

The beginning was February, 1932, when Frank Hawks decided his Travel-Air Mystery Texaco 13 wasn't fast enough and asked the manufacturers to come up with something better. It was to be financed by his employers, Texaco. Famed designer John K. Northrop played the major role in planning, and it was his brainchild that the Northrop subsidiary of Douglas set to work on. Designing began in May, 1932, and the first Gamma, named Sky Chief, was test flown on Dec. 3, 1932.

It was long and it was sleek and it was metal from cowl to tail cone. The elaborate wing-fuselage fillets eliminated all the troublesome interference problems encountered by other low-wing airplanes and actually reduced the total drag. It was possible to place the wing completely under the fuselage, which allowed for much greater space inside. Older planes had been forced to clutter up their cargo space with bulky wing spars, but now there was plenty of room for freight or passengers on planes like the Gamma or, later, the DC-3.

But what really counted was how quickly you could get from where you were to where you wanted to be. Frank Hawks showed how fast his big silver bird could do its job by flying from Los Angeles to New York (no simple trick in those days) at an average speed of 180 mph for the 2450 miles. Power for NR-12265 was a 14-cylinder Wright R-1510 Whirlwind, rated at 700 hp at sea level. The fame achieved in this and other speed runs was just what Texaco wanted, being worth far more than the plane's original purchase price of only $40,000.

The Sky Chief was flown by Hawks for more than a year, then sold to boat builder/racer Gar Wood in 1934. An accident during the 1936 Bendix Trophy Race from New York to Los Angeles finally destroyed the ship when it exploded in flight and sent pilot Joe Jacobson home in a parachute.

By any standards, the Gamma was a success, so nothing could be more logical than to build more. The second Gamma (Model 2B) went to Arctic explorer Lincoln Ellsworth in 1934. He and pilot Bert Balchen tried flying it to uncharted regions of the Antarctic that year. However, the plane was damaged when it became stuck in the ice and had to be returned home. Finally, on Nov. 23, 1935, Ellsworth and Canadian pilot Herbert Hollick-Kenyon took off from an island in the Weddell Sea and headed for Admiral Byrd's pioneering base at Little America. Their trip became one of the classics of exploration, as fierce weather, aggravated by radio failure, forced them to land repeatedly, finally making it to within 25 miles of their goal and then finishing the trip with a six-day sled ride.

This modified Gamma Model 2E was the prototype of the bomber version supplied in quantity to the Chinese to use against the invading Japanese in the years just before World War II.

This rare Model 2L Gamma was used as the flying test bed for the Bristol Hercules sleeve-valve engine which was later to power such vital combat aircraft as the Bristol Beaufighter.

Even without television, the world quickly became aware of such exploits, and the Gamma was very much in the spotlight. The third one built (2C) was a basic Gamma, but with enough modifications to make it an attack bomber for the U.S. Army. Designated the YA-13, it was powered by a Wright R-1820 Cyclone engine which gave it an estimated top speed of 207 mph. The YA-13 never got very far, as the single prototype was converted into the XA-16 in 1935, with a new Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp as power. The XA-16 remained one of a kind, too, although it led directly to the Northrop A-17, of which more than 200 were built in 1935-37. It was one of the most widely used U.S. military planes of the pre-World War II period.

The Gamma Model 2D certainly was one of the most significant airplanes of its day and directly influenced the millions who travel high and fast and relaxed on DC-8's and 747's. Once owned by TWA President Jack Frye who used it as a personal transport, this Gamma was turned into a flying laboratory for research into the conditions of sustained high altitude flight.

Pilot D. W. "Tommy" Tomlinson and NX-13758 spent many hours cruising above 30,000 feet and discovered what is generally accepted today: that most of the bad weather is below. Smooth, efficient flying results when the ship goes upstairs and there is a substantial increase in true air speed as a properly-equipped airplane gets up into thinner air. From the Gamma, TWA then moved to an Instrumented Douglas DC-1 and thence to the Boeing Stratoliner, the first pressurized air liner.

With its long-range speed capabilities so readily apparent, it was not surprising that such speed enthusiasts as Jackie Cochran wanted the Gamma. Hers was something different, being powered by a 700 hp Curtiss Conqueror liquid-cooled V-12 tucked into a slim cowl. It was her plan to fly it in the MacRobertson Race from England to Australia in 1934, but the airplane was badly damaged on its delivery flight. The Model 2G was rebuilt with a Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp in the nose. Jackie started the 1935 Bendix Race in it but dropped out early because of severe weather.

Howard Hughes then took over Cochran's NR-13761 and proceeded to blast speed records in all directions: Los Angeles to New York in January, 1936, at 255 mph; Miami to New York in April, 1936, at 250 mph; Chicago to Los Angeles in May, 1936, at 215 mph.

Yet another Gamma got into the racing game: NC-2111 owned by publisher and physical culture fadist Bernarr McFadden. Carrying the owner's name in huge letters along the side, it was flown to third place in the 1935 Bendix Trophy Race at 202 mph by Russell Thaw.

The largest number of Gammas built were Model 2Es, 51 of them came off the assembly lines. For the most part, they were military versions, destined for the Chinese Air Force which, in the mid-1930's, already was fighting what would become the Pacific half of World War II. Armed with just three .30 cal. machine guns and carrying about 1000 lbs. of bombs, they probably were at quite a disadvantage against the fast, maneuverable little Japanese fighter planes.

Other Gammas mainly 2Es - went to a number of countries for a variety of reasons. One that got as far as Sweden was SE-ADW Smaland, used by a predecessor of today's Scandinavian Airlines System in night airmail flying until aileron flutter proved its undoing. At least two found their way to Great Britain, one being a Model 2E used for experimental purposes by the Air Ministry, and the sole Model 2L used by Bristol as a flying test bed for its Hercules sleeve-valve engine.

Rumors aside, only one complete Gamma is known to be in existence: the ski-equipped Polar Star, which is on display in the Smithsonian's Silver Hill, Md., facility. It is in excellent condition, except for some dents and scratches acquired many years ago when it was slithering around the ice. But that's what history is made of.

Northrop Gamma - The Plane That Had It AllMarch 1971 American Aircraft Modeler

Northrop Gamma - The Plane That Had It All
March 1971 American Aircraft Modeler