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LOCKHEED SIRIUS 8 NC349V
FLUTTER
This airplane is a Lockheed Sirius 8 (S/N 141; ATC #300)
manufactured February 10, 1930 by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Burbank,
CA. It left the factory with a Pratt & Whitney
Wasp C engine (S/N 2100) of 450 HP. It was a two-place
airplane painted orange-yellow and red. Below, courtesy of the San Diego Aerospace Museum Flickr Stream (SDAM), is a starboard profile of the airplane. The photograph is dated May 18, 1930 at Oakland, CA. The pilot is unidentified, but was probably John Macready (see below).
Lockheed Sirius NC349V, Oakland, CA, May 18, 1939 (Source: SDAM)
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We find NC349V at Tucson twice flown
by Lockheed test pilot Herbert J. Fahy. He carried
his wife, Claire, as passenger both times. on February
14, 1930 they were eastbound from Los Angeles, CA to St.
Louis, MO. About three weeks later, on March 3, 1930, they landed
again westbound from El Paso, TX to Los Angeles. Below, another SDAM photograph of NC349V. It is undated and the location is unidentified. The paint patterns appear to differ in the two images.
NC349V, Date & Location Unknown (Source: SDAM)
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A few days later, NC349V was sold on March 7, 1930
to the Shell Oil Company of California, San Francisco, CA. While
briefly owned by Shell, it was flown by the Company’s
aviation manager John Macready. Macready flew it on
cross-country trips and for unofficial speed trials. See NC926Y for another Lockheed
flown by Macready. Below, from SDAM, is a photograph of Macready with NC349V probably taken during this time. The photo above was used in the publication.
John Macready & NC349V, Ca. April, 1930 (Source: SDAM)
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Below, courtesy of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), is a photograph of NC349V, Macready (4th from left) and a group identified as Western Air Express employees. The date is probably the first half of 1930.
Lockheed NC349V, Western Air Express Employees, Ca. 1930 (Source: UNLV)
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NC349V transferred on April 3, 1930 to David Heggie, I.J. Harvey
and A.R. Bradley of San Francisco. They transferred
it to the Shell Aviation Company, Ltd. (a Nevada corporation)
on June 20, 1930. Macready continued to fly it. While
doing so at an air show at Tracy, CA in October 1930, the
airplane developed wing flutter and it was returned to
factory ownership October 28, 1930.
Lockheed wrote a letter to the CAA on December 31, 1930
advising that NC349V was dismantled by them and they requested
that the registration number be cancelled. It was.
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UPLOADED: 06/06/06 REVISED: 09/27/07, 04/24/08, 12/19/14, 01/07/15
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