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LOCKHEED SIRIUS 8A NC117W
YOU OUGHTA’ BE IN PICTURES
This airplane is a Lockheed Sirius 8A (S/N 151; ATC #300)
manufactured April 18, 1930 by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation,
Burbank,
CA. It left the factory with a Pratt & Whitney
Wasp C engine (S/N 3103) of 450 HP. It was a two-place
airplane, weighing 4,600 pounds. It was painted white
with red trim, fitted with wheel pants and a NACA cowl, and
had two fuel tanks of 145 gallons capacity.
NC117W sold on July 10, 1930 to Air Services, Inc. Roosevelt
Field, Mineola, NY. Shortly, on July 17, 1930 we find the
airplane at Tucson flown by R.G. Lockwood carrying passenger
O.E. Scott. Lockwood is interesting because he held
pilot certificate #3. They are eastbound from Los Angeles,
CA to Dallas, TX. Perhaps this is the ferry flight
from Burbank to the airplane’s new owners. Can you
picture this beautiful airplane taxiing at the Davis-Monthan
Airfield in the July dust? Below is
an image of NC117W on the ground in New York. See the right
sidebar for more information.
NC117W went through four owners in the New York area between
1932 and 1934, then it moved west. It sold on October
15, 1934 to Paramount Productions, Inc., Jersey City, NJ. During
its Paramount duties, between 1934 and 1936, it was featured
in the film 'Wings in the Dark' which starred Gary Grant
and Myrna Loy. The
scenes of the Sirius are worth buying the DVD. Below is a
publicity still from the film. Grant is in the front cockpit;
Loy on the ground. I do not know who owns the copyright for
this image. If you do and want me to remove it, please
let me know.
Alternatively, and better, I'd be happy to give you credit
for its use.
Then,
on August 8, 1936, to United Air Services, Ltd., Burbank,
CA, owned by Paul Mantz. It was modified to take wing
cameras as of August 24, 1937. As shown in the image
below, it
also had a swiveling cockpit camera and was used for motion
picture work.
NC117W in Motion Picture Work
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Now
painted red (sometime after April 1937), below is a color
image of NC117W as it was used for filming. Mantz is the
person on the right facing us in goggles and helmet. Images
above, and below from July 1938 Popular
Aviation magazine, shared by Tim Kalina.
NC117W in Motion Picture Work
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NC117W was destroyed on May 9, 1940 in an alfalfa
field northeast of Downey Airport, Downey, CA. Pilot
Walter Quinton and two passengers were killed after a mid-air
crash with Vultee NX21755 piloted by Vance
Breese. Breese’s
plane landed safely.
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Mr. Kalina provides this image on March 5, 2008. He says about the image, "It’s a wonderful, original photo, printed on heavy paper with the photographer’s stamp on the back along with his name and city embossed (very tiny) in the lower right corner."
NC117W in Pennsylvania, Date Unknown
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Further, "The photographer was Samuel W. Kuhnert of Harrisburg, PA., who was an aerial photographer of some renown. His personal photo collection (along with some personal belongings) are in the Pennsylvania State Archives. I think this photo may have been taken at the Harrisburg Airport, as Kuhnert took a lot of photos there. He seems to have worked primarily in the Harrisburg area.
"The 'official' lettering on the fuselage probably denotes that it was used as a steward or clerk of the course plane in some sporting event. Possibly one of the cup races at the NAR. There is further lettering aft on the fuselage and the first two letters seem to be 'LE_'....
"The hat on the man in the photo (who I assume was most likely a mechanic) reads (Dean’s)? Pure Milk."
Image, below, of the back of the photograph showing photographer's information.
Back of Image
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Mr. Kalina provides this image on July 29, 2008. He says about this image, "The location is Mantz’s hanger [see the sign on the office behind the airplane] at Union Air Terminal, Burbank. Someone knowledgeable with cars could probably date this photo by that streamlined auto next to the Sirius. This photo is unusual in that it shows the Sirius without the rear cockpit camera and also with the standard canopies." See the image on the magazine cover above for and idea of what the cockpit camera fitting looked like. Although the date is unidentified on the image, it is probably before 1938.
NC117W, Date Unknown
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UPLOADED: 06/06/06 REVISED: 06/12/06, 08/23/06, 04/28/07, 03/05/08, 07/29/08
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