The Lockheed Model 8 Sirius is a single-engined,

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

-driven

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

designed and built by

Jack Northrop John Knudsen Northrop (November 10, 1895 – February 18, 1981) was an American aircraft industrialist and designer who founded the Northrop Corporation in 1939. His career began in 1916 as a draftsman for Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing ...

and Gerard Vultee while they were engineers at Lockheed in 1929, at the request of

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, and author. On May 20–21, 1927, he made the first nonstop flight from New York (state), New York to Paris, a distance of . His aircra ...

. Two versions of the same basic design were built for the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

, one made largely of wood with a fixed landing gear, and one with a metal skin and retractable landing gear, designated Y1C-25 and Y1C-23, respectively. Its basic role was intended to be as a utility transport.

History

A total of 15 Sirius aircraft were constructed in 1929 and 1930. The first and best known Sirius was bought by Lindbergh, and in 1931, as NR-211, it was retrofitted to be a

float plane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

."Lockheed Sirius "Tingmissartoq", Charles A. Lindbergh."
''Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum''. Retrieved: November 26, 2015. Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh flew it to the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

, where she wrote a book about their experiences there entitled ''

North to the Orient ''North to the Orient'' is a 1935 book by the American writer Anne Morrow Lindbergh. It is the account of the 1931 flight by her and her husband, Charles Lindbergh, from the United States to Japan and China, by the northern route over the Arctic ...

''. The aircraft was damaged in

Hankou Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers w ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, when it accidentally capsized while being lowered off the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

HMS ''Hermes'', and had to be sent back to Lockheed to be repaired. In 1931, György Endresz and Sándor Magyar made a successful US–Hungary transatlantic flight with a Lockheed Sirius 8A aircraft named ''Justice for Hungary''. In 1933, the Lindberghs set out again with their Sirius, now upgraded with a more powerful engine, a new directional gyro, and an

artificial horizon The attitude indicator (AI), also known as the gyro horizon or artificial horizon, is a flight instrument that informs the pilot of the aircraft Orientation (geometry), orientation relative to Earth's horizon, and gives an immediate indication of ...

. This time, their route would take them across the northern

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

, with no particular destination, but primarily to scout for potential new airline routes for

Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and more commonly known as Pan Am, was an airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States for ...

. While at a refueling stop in Angmagssalik,

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

, the

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

of the area gave the Sirius a nickname, " Tingmissartoq" or "one who flies like a bird". They continued on their flight and made many stops in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, then south to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, back across the southern Atlantic to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and back over

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

at the end of 1933, after 30,000 miles and 21 countries; droves of people turned out to greet them as they landed. The aircraft was in the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

in New York City until 1955, when ownership was transferred to the

National Museum of the United States Air Force The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is ...

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

. It was given to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

in 1959, and it went on display at the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...

when the original facility opened on the National Mall in 1976.

Variants

;Lockheed 8 Sirius: Single-engine, two-seat, long-range, high-performance aircraft; one built for Charles Lindbergh. ;Sirius 8: First production version, similar to the Lockheed 8 Sirius; one built. ;Sirius 8A: Equipped with an enlarged tail surface; eight built."Lockheed Sirius 8A NC117W."
''Delta Mike Airfield'', 2008. Retrieved: November 26, 2015. ;Sirius 8C: Four-seat version fitted with an enclosed cabin seating two passengers, located between the engine and the pilot's cockpit; one built. ;DL-2: Metal fuselage and wooden wings. One built by the

Detroit Aircraft Corporation The Detroit Aircraft Corporation was incorporated in Detroit, Michigan on July 10, 1922, as the Aircraft Development Corporation. The name was changed in 1929. The Detroit corporation owned the entire capital stock of the Ryan Aircraft Corp., Air ...

Operators

; *

Spanish Republican Air Force The Spanish Republican Air Force was the air arm of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic, the legally established government of Spain between 1931 and 1939. Initially divided into two branches: Military Aeronautics () and Naval Aeron ...

Nash, David
"Aircraft that took part in the Spanish Civil War."
''Aircraft of the Spanish Civil War''. Retrieved: January 15, 2015.

Specifications (Lindbergh's Sirius 8)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Francillon, René J. ''Lockheed Aircraft since 1913''. London: Putnam, 1982. ;

External links

Aircraft of the Smithsonian: Lockheed 8 Sirius

Lockheed Sirius in Geneva (1933)
{{Detroit aircraft

Sirius Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word (Latin script: ), meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbr ...

1920s United States civil utility aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1929 Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear