Lockheed Model 8 Sirius

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Family of touring aircraft

title: "Lockheed Model 8 Sirius" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["lockheed-aircraft", "1920s-united-states-civil-utility-aircraft", "single-engined-tractor-aircraft", "low-wing-aircraft", "aircraft-first-flown-in-1929", "aircraft-with-fixed-conventional-landing-gear"] description: "Family of touring aircraft" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Model_8_Sirius" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Family of touring aircraft ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox aircraft"]

Field	Value
name	Model 8 Sirius
logo	Lockheed Sirius Logo.png
logo_size	165px
image	File:Lockheed 8 Sirius 'Tingmissartoq' at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC.jpg
caption	Sirius at National Air and Space Museum
type	Utility transport
manufacturer	Lockheed Aircraft Limited
designer	Jack Northrop
Gerard Vultee
first_flight	1929
introduction	1929
number_built	15
variants	Lockheed Altair
::

The Lockheed Model 8 Sirius is a single-engined, propeller-driven monoplane designed and built by Jack Northrop and Gerard Vultee while they were engineers at Lockheed in 1929, at the request of Charles Lindbergh.

History

In 1929 and 1930 15 Sirius aircraft were constructed.

The first and best known Sirius was bought by Lindbergh and named Tingmissartoq which in 1931, as NR211, was turned into a float plane. Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh flew it to the Far East, where she wrote a book about their experiences there entitled North to the Orient. The aircraft was damaged in Hankou, China, when it capsized while being lowered off the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes, and had to be sent 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. This time, their route would take them across the northern Atlantic, with no particular destination, but primarily to scout for potential new airline routes for Pan Am. While at a refueling stop in Angmagssalik, Greenland, the Inuit 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, Russia, then south to Africa, back across the southern Atlantic to Brazil and back over New York City 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 in New York City until 1955, when ownership was transferred to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. It was given to the Smithsonian Institution in 1959, and it went on display at the National Air and Space Museum when the original facility opened on the National Mall in 1976.

Variants

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Lockheed_Sirius_Paul_Mantz.jpg" caption="Paul Mantz's Lockheed Sirius photo ship"] ::

;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. ;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.

Operators

;Spain

Spanish Republican Air Force

Specifications (Lindbergh's Sirius 8)

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Lockheed_8_Sirius_3-view_Aero_Digest_March,1930.png" caption="Lockheed 8 Sirius 3-view drawing from Aero Digest March,1930"] ::

References

Notes

Bibliography

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

References

Donovan, M. Regis. [http://98.230.169.187:8080/aero/ShortHistory.html "A Short History of the Wooden Wonders."] {{webarchive. link. (2015-12-08 ''rustysparks.com''. Retrieved: November 26, 2015.)
[http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?object=nasm_A19600014000 "Lockheed Sirius "Tingmissartoq", Charles A. Lindbergh."] ''Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum''. Retrieved: November 26, 2015.
[http://www.lockheedmartin.ca/us/100years/stories/lindbergh.html "Lucky Lindy and His Lockheed Sirius."] {{Webarchive. link. (2015-12-07 ''Lockheed Martin''. Retrieved: November 26, 2015.)
Dawson, Brian. [https://www.americanhungarianfederation.org/news_AHFHistory_justiceforhungaryflight.htm ""Justice for Hungary" - a historic flight, 1931."] ''American Hungarian Federation''. Retrieved: November 26, 2015.
[https://www.centennialofflight.net/essay/Aerospace/Lockheed_early/Aero13.htm "Lockheed's Early Years, 1912-1940."] ''centennialofflight.net'', 2013. Retrieved: November 26, 2015.
[https://books.google.com/books?id=uOQDAAAAMBAJ&dq=popular+mechanics+1930+aircraft&pg=PA803 "Lindbergh Picks A Plane."] ''Popular Mechanics'', November 1930. Retrieved: November 26, 2015.
[http://www.dmairfield.org/airplanes/NC117W/index.html "Lockheed Sirius 8A NC117W."] ''Delta Mike Airfield'', 2008. Retrieved: November 26, 2015.
Nash, David. [http://www.zi.ku.dk/personal/drnash/model/spain/did.html "Aircraft that took part in the Spanish Civil War."] {{Webarchive. link. (2015-02-05 ''Aircraft of the Spanish Civil War''. Retrieved: January 15, 2015.)
Francillon 1982, p. 100.
Francillon 1982, p. 93.

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