Lockheed L-2000: America’s Lost Supersonic Airliner

Video from the channel Retro Transport about Lockheed, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 4:00. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

The video summarizes the history of the Lockheed L-2000, the supersonic airliner that Lockheed proposed in the 1960s under the US supersonic transport program, intended to surpass the Concorde with 200 to 250 passengers at Mach 2.7-3.0.

Lockheed, which had been researching the subject since the late 1950s and drew on its experience with the F-104 and the SR-71, adopted a fixed double-delta wing, titanium structure, drooping nose and Pratt & Whitney JTF17 engines, with cruise planned at 76,000 feet.

In 1966 the FAA chose the Boeing 2707, and Congress cancelled funding in 1971. The L-2000 never flew.