Lockheed Altair: Difference between revisions

Lockheed Altair
	File:Lockheed Altair.2.jpg
	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

Browse history interactively

← Previous edit Next edit →

Content deleted Content added

VisualWikitext

Inline

Revision as of 01:16, 12 February 2012

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 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 flight. 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 20 October and 4 November 1934. Kingsford Smith was killed on 7 December 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

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.
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.

XRO-1: One Altair DL-2A acquired by the US 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

Performance

Climb to 7,000 ft (2,140 m): 9.4 min

References

^ Francillon 1978, p.101.
^ Francillon 1978, pp.101-106.
^ Francillon 1978, pp.103-104.
^ Francillon 1978, pp.105-106.
^ Francillon 1978, p.106.

Francillon, René J, Lockheed Aircraft since 1913. London:Putnam, 1982. ISBN 0-370-30329-6.
Francillon, René J, Lockheed Aircraft since 1913. Naval Institute Press: Annapolis, 1987.
John Oder - Aero Museum Services is dedicated to bringing these Vintage Aircraft back into service. http://aeromuseumservices.com/
Ron Cuskelly - Very detailed information of Lockheed Altair "Lady Southern Cross". Contains images, data etc. - http://www.adastron.com/lockheed/altair/altair.htm

[Francillon_78_p101-1] Francillon 1978, p.101.

[Francillon_78_p101-106-2] Francillon 1978, pp.101-106.

[Francillon_78_p103-4-3] Francillon 1978, pp.103-104.

[Francillon_78_p105-6-4] Francillon 1978, pp.105-106.

[Francillon_78_p106-5] Francillon 1978, p.106.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 ;Y1C-23: The second Altair 8D was purchased by the US Army Air Corps, it was used as a staff transport aircraft.
 ;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.
+[[File:EL-2002-00600.jpg|thumb|right|Lockheed XRO-1 at Langley]]
 ;XRO-1: One Altair DL-2A acquired by the US Navy, it was used as staff transport aircraft.

v t e 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 C-41A C-42 C-43 C-44 C-45 C-46 C-47 C-47F C-47T AC-47 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 C-70B C-71 C-72 C-73 C-74 C-75 C-76 C-77 C-77B–D C-78 C-79 C-80 C-81 C-82 C-83 C-83A C-83B 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-117D C-118 C-119 AC-119 C-120 C-121 C-121F EC-121 C-122 C-123 C-123A C-124 C-125 C-126 C-127² C-127 (I) C-127 (II) C-128 C-129 C-130 C-130J AC-130 DC-130 EC-130/H HC-130 KC-130 LC-130 MC-130 WC-130 C-131 NC-131H C-132 C-133 C-134 C-135 KC-135 C-136 C-137² YC-137 (I) YC-137 (II) 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-7² C-7 RC-7 C-8 C-9 C-10² C-10 KC-10 C-11 C-12 RC-12 C-13¹ C-14 C-15 C-16¹ C-17 C-18 C-19 C-20² C-20A–D C-20F–J C-21 C-22 C-23 C-24 C-25 C-26 C-27 C-27J C-28 C-29 C-30¹ C-31 C-32 C-33 C-34¹ C-35 C-36³ C-37 C-37B 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 C-147
Non-sequential designations	C-767 C-767B C-880
Related designations	CT-39 CT-43 CV-2 CV-7
¹ Not assigned • ² Assigned to multiple types • ³ Unconfirmed

v t e Aviation lists
General	Aircraft manufacturers civil Aircraft engines manufacturers Flight test centres‎ Test pilot schools Airlines Defunct airlines Helicopter airlines Airports Aerobatic teams Civil Aviation Authorities Gliders Museums Registration prefixes Jet airliners Rotorcraft manufacturers Timeline
Military	Air forces Experimental Missiles UAVs Weapons
Accidents / incidents	Commercial airliners by location Fatalities by death toll General aviation Military By registration
Records	Airspeed Altitude Distance Endurance Firsts Large Most-produced aircraft Most-produced rotorcraft