Lockheed L-188 Electra variant
Lockheed L-188 Electra L-188C
Long-range version of the Electra, with increased fuel capacity — 6,940 US gallons against the L-188A's 5,450 — and maximum take-off weight raised to 116,000 lb (53,000 kg) from the A model's 113,000 lb. It was the variant chosen by the type's intercontinental operators.
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History
More fuel, more weight, more range
The L-188C was Lockheed's answer to operators needing longer legs than the 188A allowed. The essential difference is tankage and weight: fuel capacity went from 5,450 to 6,940 US gallons and maximum take-off weight from 113,000 to 116,000 lb, that is from 51,256 to 53,000 kg. The design section of the reference article describes the same change as «room for 1,000 US gallons (3,800 L) more fuel».
The long-haul operators
The 188C was the long-route Electra. Northwest Orient Airlines ordered eighteen, delivered between July 1959 and June 1961. KLM — the only European airline to order the type from Lockheed — took twelve, delivered between September 1959 and December 1960, and used them in Europe and east to Saigon and Kuala Lumpur between September 1959 and January 1969. Qantas received four, delivered between October and December 1959, flying them to Hong Kong and Japan, to New Caledonia and to New Guinea, and later across the Indian Ocean to South Africa and across the Tasman. Tasman Empire Airways ordered three, Pacific Southwest Airlines another three and Garuda three more, the latter delivered in January 1961. Capital Airlines ordered five and cancelled; the five aircraft were sold to other operators.
The last Electra
The final airframe off the line was itself an L-188C, delivered to Garuda Indonesian Airways on 15 January 1961. Production ended that year after 170 aircraft.