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Description
| Manufacturer: | Lockheed | |
| Base model: | VZ-10 | |
| Designation: | VZ-10 | |
| Nickname: | Hummingbird | |
| Designation System: | U.S. Air Force | |
| Designation Period: | 1956-1962 | |
| Basic role: | VTOL Research | |
Specifications
| Not Yet Available |
Known serial numbers
Recent comments by our visitors
| Ken Paul Gibsonville, NC | I was the "junior" flight test engineer assigned to 2-4503, the first Hummingbird to fly and the first to crash. My "senior" was Ernie Brooks, lead FTE for the program. Wynne Daughters was the FTE for 2-4504. I was away at National Guard summer camp (Hunter Army Airfield, Savannah, GA) the day of the Cobb County crash, but was able to catch a flight back to Dobbins on an L-19 in time to visit the crash site with John Williams, the lead instrumentation engineer, before nightfall. He was most aggitated because the "strip chart" data recordings, which were sensitive to heat and light, were laying there in full view but we couldn't retrieve them. Later, when we were trying to do the investigation, the several feet of the last moments of data were all blackened and unuseable. I do remember, grimly, that the torso (NO appendages) of the pilot Ingram was fully visible, still strapped to the seat. 03/31/2011 @ 16:14 [ref: 37150] |
| TOM MCAFEE WINSTON SALEM, NC | WHILE WORKING IN FLIGHT TEST AT LOCKHEED I WAS AWAIR OF BOTH CRASHES; 10 JUNE 1964 AND 14 MARCH 1969; THE STORY OF THE SECOND CRASH, WAS THAT THE AIRCRAFT BECAME INVERTED IN LEVEL FLIGHT WITH NO RESPONSE TO CONTROL. THE PILOT HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO EJECT WHILE INVERTED. THAT TAKES GUTS!!!! 12/01/2010 @ 11:54 [ref: 33864] |
| Rob Elliott , GA | Video showing Hummingbird test flights can be seen at:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=577_1243691437 02/19/2010 @ 05:02 [ref: 25743] |
| Rob Elliott Marietta, GA | It crashed in my neighborhood (Addison Heights Subdivision, Cobb County) on Verney Drive. If you go to Google Earth and search on Verney Drive, and then look in the SW quadrant of the intersection of Chance Road, Suholden, Shannon and Verney Drives, the Hummingbird crashed between the 1st and 3rd houses on the right side of the road (assuming you have "vitually" driven down Chance Road and turned left onto Verney at the intersection of Suholden with Chance/Shannon; I'm not sure where Chance changes to Shannon). The second house (driveway shows up as VERY white compared to the other two on Google Earth) was not there at the time. I'm willing to bet that a metal detector might hit "pay-dirt", so to speak, on the northern side of that newer driveway.
I was at home at the time (we lived on Kelly Drive, one block north). As I remember, the crash occured in the morning, and it was loud. My dad (a Lockheed production supervisor at the time) was also home, and was on scene within minutes (I remember looking out the South window of the family room and seeing his red Carmen Ghia speeding up Suholden Drive towards the crash site). The crash made the national news and there were cars up and down the street for days after it happened. A guy working on the roof of the last house on the left (Chance/Shannon address) just before Verney, fell off of the roof and broke his arm. I also remember perfectly round burn marks, a few feet in diameter, in the front yard of the 1st house on right (Verney address, previously alluded to in the first paragraph); I suppose these were from "blobs" of jet fuel. Our neighbor's daughter, Marilyn (Shannon address) was riding her bike at the time near the intersection when the plane crashed. She was unhurt, but hysterical. 02/17/2010 @ 08:46 [ref: 25740] |
| Otha H Vaughan Huntsville, AL | To Don Danielson and or Mike Sutton:
I am researching the life of Dr James Frank Sutton who worked on the Lockheed Hummingbird and would like to correspond with either of you about Frank's work. Frank was my mechanical engineering Professor at Clemson College in the 50'swhen I was working toward my Masters. 10/23/2008 @ 19:38 [ref: 22909] |
| Donna Watkins Marietta, GA | I also was a 6 year old kid playing in the yard and saw the plane go down. I ran across the street to the neighbor, Bill Pressley, that was cutting grass and I told him what I saw. He called and reported it, as he was a firefighter for Lockheed. It did go down in Cobb County and it seemed like it was in a unfinished subdivision. I remember going to the site to see it the day after the crash and a few times after that just to see if we could find anything. 04/26/2008 @ 03:52 [ref: 20722] |
| Buck , GA | My dad worked in the security end of things at Lockheed. I remember him working the Hummingbird crash. (I could have sworn it crashed it in Paulding County, GA, but apparently my memory fails me. I've since read it crashed in Cobb County.) In any event, it crashed near a site favored by moonshiners, and I vividly recall the chatter among the investigators that the plane may have been mistaken for the dreaded revenuers--and shot down!
True or not, it made for some interesting conversations around the dinner table. 02/02/2008 @ 17:04 [ref: 19517] |
| tamara , CA | I have a Lockheed Stockholders Newsletter from March 1962 that discusses the Hummingbird and has an artist rendering of the plane. It also has a blurb about the f-104 with artist rendering. I am interested in selling the newsletter. Does something like this have much value? 08/20/2007 @ 15:19 [ref: 17694] |
| Steve Williams Sun City, CA | I was stationed in Oklahoma City, in 1964. My neighbor, Bill Ingraham, was the pilot that was killed in the fatal crash of the first Hummingbird. I would like to hear from someone that knew Bill and the details of the crash. Also He had a son about three years old (In 1964) His son was absolutely facinated with aircraft. Bill procured a cardboard "cockpit" and that 3 yr. old would spend half of his time playing with it. I sure would like to contact Bill's widow and/or son. 07/09/2007 @ 10:29 [ref: 17049] |
| Terry Doherty Hickory, NC | I worked my way through Ga Tech at Lockheed-Georgia until I graduated in 1968. One of my fondest memories was of the day I watched the Hummingbird taxi out toward the runway. I was driving to the flightline and just had to stop and stare! The VZ-10 was stopped on the taxi-way. The Delta Dagger chase plane was in takeoff position on the runway. The Dagger started his takeoff roll just as the VZ-10 vertically rose from the concrete, turned 90 degrees so both were headed (East). Wham! Bang! Zip! The VZ-10 was a small DOT on the horizon and the Dagger was just lifting off the end of the runway! VERY IMPRESSIVE! I'm 61 now; was 23 then. Still one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. 06/13/2006 @ 11:42 [ref: 13513] |
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