I enjoy reading these old threads. This one I really know about. I have flown both and I owned a C-40, military version of the model 12A. The two aircraft have little in common other than the engines R985-AN 14-B. The Lockheed is the better of the two aircraft. The performance of the Lockheed is so much better, it flies faster lands slower, If you start looking at the external features of the two airplanes they have less in common the longer you look at them. The Lockheed has a long slender fuselage. The windshield on the beech is huge in comparison and has larger side windows, the Lockheed's small windshield is less drag, the tail wheel is small and much farther aft, the Beech has a large retractable tail wheel placed much farther forward. The main landing gear differs too, the Lockheed has a much longer travel and has fenders to keep debris from damaging the wing, the original tires were Goodyear 30X13X6 tires ( 30 inches tall 13 inches wide with a 6 inch hub) the tires are smooth, no tread, with multiple disk brakes. Most of the Lockheed's have been converted to the same wheel and tires as the Beech because the inability to find these tires, In the mid 1970"s there was one place that would recap these tires for $1000 each. Moving on, the engine cowling on the Beech Is straight with cowl flaps. The Lockheed uses streamlined NACA cowlings that do not need cowl flaps. The engine nacells are farther out the wing to allow the use of much longer prop blades. The props used on the Lockheed are Hamilton Standard 2 D30 constant speed props, the Beech uses 22 D30 constant speed full feathering props. The tail is much wider to put the rudders straight behind the props. All of the flight controls on the Beech are fabric, the Lockheed are all aluminum. The flaps on the Beech are plain flaps, the Lockheed's are huge split flaps, also when the flaps are lowered the ailerons droop down. The wings on the Lockheed has a very long chord, because of this the manual on the weight and balance is very simple if it will fit in the cabin and does not exceed the gross weight it's good. Other differences are the Beech uses hydraulics for most of the systems, flaps, landing gear, etc. The only hydraulics on the Lockheed are the brakes every thing else is electric. Because of the flaps the aileron droop and the strength of the tail wheel the Lockheed was meant to be landed three point the Beech needs to be wheel landed. I used to practice landing on the front of the runway numbers and be stopped before reaching the far side of the numbers. In 1936 when the aircraft was built there were much fewer paved runways. The Lockheed was designed to take off and land on grass using less than 1000 feet at gross weight. I owned the Lockheed for six years. I sold it for two reasons first I could not afford to feed it with the price of fuel going up, second I got married and bought a house. I also sold my cub a PA-11 and bought a Downer (Bellanca) 14-19-2. I still miss flying the old beast thou, It was fun. It is in a museum now, there are pictures of it on line. google it up using the registration number N93R. It looks much nicer than when I owned it I only had the fuselage polished, It was all I could do working by myself.
