Tingmissartoq

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Tingmissartoq
Tingmissartoq on display at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC
Type Lockheed Model 8 Sirius
Manufacturer
Lockheed Aircraft Company
Construction number 140
Manufactured November 1929
Registration NR211
Owners and operators Charles Lindbergh & Anne Morrow Lindbergh
In service November 1929 to 6 December 1933
Fate Retired to the American Museum of Natural History
Preserved at Currently preserved at the
Washington DC

Tingmissartoq was the name given to a

Godthaab (Nuuk), Greenland
, who painted the word on its side.

First flight

Lockheed had introduced its Sirius model in 1929; this particular craft appears to have been built to specifications sometime between then and 1931, when the Lindberghs planned to fly to the

Great Circle Route. A low-wing monoplane, Tingmissartoq was outfitted with Edo floats
, as much of the planned route was over water.

The trip was described solely as a vacation flight, with "no start or finish, no diplomatic or commercial significance, and no records to be sought.

Lotus Lake near Nanjing
made on September 19.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh described the trip, and her impressions and experiences, in her book North to the Orient.

Accident at Hankou

While at

Yangtze River from the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes (95) when it capsized accidentally. One wing hit a ship's cable and was damaged, necessitating the craft's return to the United States for repairs.[2]

Second journey

Tingmissartoq was to see action again in 1933 as a result of international interest in the development of commercial air transport.

South Atlantic from Brazil, to Cape Verde. Pan American was given the responsibility for the first of these, and sent Lindbergh, as the company's technical advisor, to survey the route. Accompanied once more by Anne, he took off from New York City
on July 9 in the rebuilt craft. The purpose of the trip was to gain as much data as possible on the area to be covered.

The plane had been fitted with a Sperry

artificial horizon and a directional gyro since its previous flight. The engine, too, was new, a Wright Cyclone SR1820-F2 of 710 hp. All possible spaces were used, including the wings and floats; these contained the gasoline tanks. There was also plenty of emergency equipment for use in the event of a forced landing
.

To maintain radio contact with the couple, Pan American hired a

Halifax, St. John's
, Cartwright, Greenland, and Iceland.

Tingmissartoq flew first from New York to

Hopedale, Labrador, hugging the eastern Canada–US border along the way. From here the Lindberghs made the first major hop over water, flying 650 miles to Godthaab. The couple then crisscrossed Greenland to Baffin Island and back, and then flew to Iceland. They continued the trip by flying around the world; visiting first the major cities of Europe, they continued to Moscow, then down Africa's west coast, and across the South Atlantic to South America. Here, they flew down the Amazon River, and then turned north through Trinidad and Barbados
before returning to the United States. They returned to New York on December 19, having traveled 30,000 miles and visited four continents and twenty-one countries. The information they provided proved invaluable in planning transatlantic air transport routes.

Tingmissartoq was on display in the

Washington, DC
.

References

  1. ^ "Lockheed Sirius Tingmissartoq". National Air and Space Museum.
  2. ^ Lieutenant Commander P. V. H. Weems, USN (May 1, 1934). "The 1933 Lindbergh Flight". U.S. Naval Institute.

External links

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