Lockheed Altair

Altair

The Lady Southern Cross, converted from an older Sirius and bearing her pre-delivery name ANZAC.
Role	Civilian sport
National origin	United States of America
Manufacturer	Lockheed Aircraft Limited
First flight	September 1930
Number built	11
Developed from	Lockheed Sirius

The Lockheed Altair was a single-engined sport aircraft of the 1930s. It was a development of the Lockheed Sirius with a retractable undercarriage, and was the first Lockheed aircraft and one of the first aircraft designs with a fully retractable undercarriage.

Development and design

Lockheed designed an alternative wing fitted with a retractable undercarriage for the Lockheed Sirius as a result of a request from Charles Lindbergh, although Lindbergh in the end chose to buy a standard Sirius. The first Altair, converted from a Sirius, flew in September 1930.^[1] Like the Sirius, the Altair was a single-engined, low-winged monoplane of wooden construction. The undercarriage, which was operated by use of a hand crank, retracted inwards.

Four Altairs following the prototype were converted Siriuses, with another six Altairs built from scratch: three by Lockheed, two by the Detroit Aircraft Corporation, and one by AiRover. The AiRover Altair, dubbed The Flying Testbed, was powered by a Menasco Unitwin engine, which used two engines to drive a single shaft. The Unitwin was used in the Vega Starliner, which never went into production.

Operational history

The prototype Altair was purchased by the United States Army Air Corps and designated Y1C-25, with a second Altair, fitted with a metal construction fuselage was also purchased by the Army as the Y-1C-23 and used as a staff transport, as was a single similar aircraft operated by the US Navy as the XRO-1.^[2]

Altairs were used to carry out a number of record-breaking long-range flights. One aircraft, named Lady Southern Cross was used by Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith to carry out the first flight between Australia and the United States between October 20 and November 4, 1934. Kingsford Smith was killed in the early hours of November 8, 1935, flying Lady Southern Cross during an attempt on the record for flying between England and Australia.^[3]

Two Altairs were used by the Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun as high-speed passenger and cargo aircraft, one remaining in use until 1944.^[4]

Variants

The C-23

8D Altair: Two-seat long-range high-performance sports aircraft, fitted with a retractable undercarriage, powered by a 500 hp (373 kW) Pratt & Whitney SR-1340E Wasp radial piston engine; One prototype, four converted Sirius aircraft, six production aircraft.
Sirius 8 Special: One aircraft built for the Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith, it was converted into an Altair 8D aircraft, later named the Lady Southern Cross.
DL-2A: Two Altair 8Ds built by the Detroit Aircraft Corporation.
Y1C-23: The second Altair 8D was purchased by the US Army Air Corps, it was used as a staff transport aircraft. Later redesignated C-23.
Y1C-25: The Altair 8D prototype was purchased by the US Army Air Corps, powered by a 450 hp (336 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1340-17 Wasp radial piston engine.

Lockheed XRO-1 at Langley

XRO-1: One Altair DL-2A acquired by the U.S. Navy, it was used as staff transport aircraft.

Operators

Japan

Mainichi Shimbun

United States

Specifications (Y-1-23)

Data from Lockheed Aircraft since 1913^[5]

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 28 ft 4 in (8.64 m)
Wingspan: 42 ft 9 in (13.03 m)
Height: 9 ft 6 in (2.90 m)
Wing area: 293.2 ft² (27.24 m²)
Empty weight: 3,235 lb (1,468 kg)
Loaded weight: 4,895 lb (2,220 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney SR-1340E Wasp 9-cylinder air cooled radial engine, 500 hp (373 kW)

Performance

Maximum speed: 207 mph (180 kn, 333 km/h) at 7,000 ft (2,140 m)
Cruise speed: 175 mph (152 kn, 282 km/h)
Range: 580 mi (504 nmi, 935 km)
Service ceiling: 23,800 ft (7,255 m)
Wing loading: 52.5 lb/ft² (81.5 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.10 hp/lb (0.17 kW/kg)
Climb to 7,000 ft (2,140 m): 9.4 min

References

Notes

↑ Francillon 1978, p. 101.
↑ Francillon 1978, pp. 101–106.
↑ Francillon 1978, pp. 103–104.
↑ Francillon 1978, pp. 105–106.
↑ Francillon 1978, p. 106.

Bibliography

Francillon, René J. Lockheed Aircraft since 1913. London: Putnam, 1982. ISBN 0-370-30329-6.
Francillon, René J. Lockheed Aircraft since 1913. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987. ISBN 0-87021-897-2.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lockheed Model 8 Sirius.

Lockheed and Lockheed Martin aircraft

Airliners and civil transports	Vega Model 8 Sirius Altair Model 9 Orion Model 10 Electra Model 12 Electra Junior Model 14 Super Electra Model 18 Lodestar Constellation L-049 L-649 L-749 L-1049 Super Constellation L-1249 Super Constellation L-1649 Starliner Saturn L-188 Electra L-402 JetStar L-100 Hercules L-1011 TriStar

Military transports	C-69 Constellation C-121 Constellation C-130 Hercules C-130J Super Hercules HC-130 KC-130 LC-130 MC-130 C-141 Starlifter C-5 Galaxy R6V Constitution Tristar (RAF)

Attack and bombers	YP-24 Hudson XB-30 Ventura AC-130 A-4AR Fightinghawk F-117 Nighthawk Have Blue FB-22

Drones/UAVs	AQM-60 Kingfisher D-21 Desert Hawk Desert Hawk III MQM-105 Aquila Polecat RQ-3 Darkstar RQ-170 Sentinel DC-130

EW and reconnaissance	YO-3 EC-121 Warning Star EC-130 EC-130H Compass Call WC-130 EP-3 U-2 TR-X A-12 SR-71 Blackbird

Fighters	XFM-2 YP-24 P-38 Lightning XP-49 XP-58 Chain Lightning P-80 Shooting Star XF-90 F-94 Starfire F-104 Starfighter variants YF-12 F-16 Fighting Falcon F-22 Raptor YF-22 F-35 Lightning II

Helicopters	CL-475 XH-51 AH-56 Cheyenne VH-71 Kestrel

Maritime patrol	P-2 Neptune P-3 Orion P-7 S-3 Viking CP-140 Aurora

Trainers	T-33 T2V SeaStar

Experimental	L-133 NF-104A Senior Peg Senior Prom XC-35 XF-104 XV-4 Hummingbird X-7 X-17 X-26B Frigate CL-1200 Lancer X-33 X-35 X-44 X-55 X-56 XFV

Other	Air Express Big Dipper Model 44 Excalibur Explorer Little Dipper

United States military transport aircraft designations, Army/Air Force and Tri-Service systems

Army/Air Force sequence (1925-1962)	C-1 C-2 C-3 C-4 C-5 C-6 C-7 C-8 C-9 C-10 C-11 C-12 C-13¹ C-14 C-15 C-16 C-17 C-18 C-19 C-20 C-21 C-22 C-23 C-24 C-25 C-26 C-27 C-28 C-29 C-30 C-31 C-32 C-33 C-34 C-35 C-36 C-37 C-38 C-39 C-40 C-41/A C-42 C-43 C-44 C-45 C-46 C-47/T C-48 C-49 C-50 C-51 C-52 C-53 C-54 C-55 C-56 C-57 C-58 C-59 C-60 C-61 C-62 C-63 C-64 C-65 C-66 C-67 C-68 C-69 C-70/A/B/C/D C-71 C-72 C-73 C-74 C-75 C-76 C-77/B-D C-78 C-79 C-80 C-81 C-82 C-83 C-84 C-85 C-86 C-87 C-88 C-89 C-90 C-91 C-92 C-93 C-94 C-95 C-96 C-97/KC-97 C-98 C-99 C-100 C-101 C-102 C-103 C-104 C-105 C-106 C-107 C-108 C-109 C-110 C-111 C-112 C-113 C-114 C-115 C-116 C-117 C-118 C-119 C-120 C-121/F C-122 C-123/A C-124 C-125 C-126 C-127 (I) C-127 (II) C-128 C-129 C-130/J C-131 C-132 C-133 C-134 C-135/KC-135 C-136 C-137 C-138¹ C-139¹ C-140 C-141 C-142

Tri-service sequence (1962-present)	C-1 C-2 C-3 C-4 C-5 C-6 C-7/B C-8 C-9 C-10 C-11 C-12 C-13¹ C-14 C-15 C-16¹ C-17 C-18 C-19 C-20A-D/F-H C-21 C-22 C-23 C-24 C-25 C-26 C-27/J C-28 C-29 C-30¹ C-31 C-32 C-33 C-34¹ C-35 C-36 C-37A/B C-38 C-39¹ C-40 C-41 C-42¹ C-43¹ C-44¹ C-45 C-46

Revived original sequence (2005-present)	C-143 C-144 C-145 C-146

Non-sequential designations	C-767 C-880

¹ Not assigned See also: AC-47 • AC-119 • AC-130 • DC-130 • EC-130 • HC-130 • KC-130 • LC-130 • MC-130 • WC-130 • CT-39 • CT-43

USN/USMC transport designations 1931–1962

Atlantic Aircraft	RA

Budd	RB

Curtiss	RC R2C⁴ R3C⁴ R4C R5C

Douglas	RD R2D R3D R4D R5D R6D

Bellanca	RE

Kinner	RK

Kreider-Reisner	RK² R2K

Martin	RM

Lockheed	RO R2O R3O R4O R5O R6O R7O-1/-2 to "V"

Stinson	RQ R2Q² R3Q

Fairchild	RQ R2Q R3Q² R4Q

Ford	RR

Sikorsky	RS

Northrop	RT

Lockheed	from "O" R6V R7V-1/-2 R8V

Convair	RY R2Y R3Y R4Y

¹ Not assigned • ² Assigned to a different manufacturer's type • ³ Sequence restarted • ⁴ Assigned to a different class of aircraft

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