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The Lockheed C-57 was the designation given to Twin Wasp powered Model 18 Lodestars that were used by the USAAF during the Second World War.
The Lodestar was similar in layout to most Lockheed transport aircraft of the inter-war years. It had low mounted tapered wings, with a moderate dihedral. The fuselage had flat sides, and a rather more pointed nose than earlier models. It had a high mounted tail, with twin vertical control surfaces at the ends. The standard version had a row of small cockpit windows on both sides, and a cabin door towards the rear of the left side of the aircraft.
The Twin Wasp was a fourteen cylinder two-row air cooled radial engine, and this was the main difference between the C-57 and the C-56s and C-59s, the designation for those impressed Lodestars that used single row radials.
A total of twenty C-57s were impressed during the Second World War.
The C-57-LO was the designation given to thirteen Model 18-14s powered by R-1830-53 Twin Wasps.
The C-57B-LO was the designation given to seven Model 18-08s powered by R-1830-53 Twin Wasps.
The C-57A-LO was the designation given to a different model of the Lodestar, but none were impressed.
The C-57C-LO was the designation given to three of the purpose built USAAF C-60As that were re-engined with 1,200hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830-43 Twin Wasps.
The sole C-57D-LO was the designation given to one of the C-57Cs after it was given R-1830-92 engines.
The C-57 was one of several aircraft types used by the 19th Troop Carrier Squadron from 1943-1946, when the squadron was based in Hawaii.
Engines: R-1830-53 Twin Wasp twin row radial engine
Power: 1,200hp
Crew: 4
Wing span: 65ft 6in
Length: 49ft 10in
Height: 11ft 10in
Empty weight: 11,630lb
Gross weight: 20,500lb
Payload: 2,160lb or 18 passengers
Lockheed Aircraft Since 1913, René J Francillon