In reading the article on the Air Trooper in the March 23 issue of General Aviation News (The Littlest Warbird: Flying the Air Trooper), reference was made to the single-place airplane designed by John Thorp for Lockheed Aircraft during the Second World War. At the time Lockheed was still naming airplanes after celestial bodies and this aircraft was called the Little Dipper. Likewise, the two-place, side-by-side seat, low-wing pusher propeller airplane was called the Big Dipper and the 14-passenger commuter was named the Saturn.
A question was raised about the engine in the Little Dipper so I went back through an old logbook and can confirm it was a Franklin. The Little Dipper had a throw-over canopy but also had a small door on the right side of the fuselage ahead of the wing for easy access to the cockpit.
The Air Trooper looks more like the Sky Skooter than the Little Dipper and I suspect it flies more like the Sky Skooter also since the Little Dipper had spoilers and no flaps. Enclosed is a copy of a picture of Tony LeVier in the Little Dipper during off-airport testing and a photocopy of the in-house Lockheed publication showing the other airplanes mentioned above.
SID SHANNON
Corvallis, Ore.