On the 110th anniversary of the Wright brothers’ first flight, owner-pilot John Magoffin pushed the throttle lever forward on his rare 1933 Lockheed Vega, the aircraft of choice of pioneer aviators, including Amelia Earhart (who flew one on her solo transatlantic record flight) and Wiley Post, who flew a Vega around the world twice.
Magoffin’s Vega is particularly rare in that it’s one of nine built by the Detroit Aircraft Corporation as part of the DL-1 series (for “Detroit Lockheed”). The Detroit-built Vega had aluminum fuselages, while the original Vega from Lockheed in California was plywood skinned. NC12288 was assembled from spare parts by Lockheed Chief Engineer Richard Van Hake, who was working after being laid off when Lockheed went into receivership.
