Lindbergh’s Land Their Lockheed on Galway Bay 1933 | Season 5 – Episode 51
Floats, Wings Jun 27, 2025
On October 23rd 1933, a silver floatplane touched down in the waters of Galway Bay on Ireland’s west coast. Aboard were two of the world’s most famous aviators, Charles and Anne Lindbergh, the couple’s mission was sponsored by Pan American World Airways on a sweeping 48,280 km journey that would take them around the North and South Atlantic, scouting out the future of transatlantic flying boat operations.
THE FLYING COUPLE
Charles Lindbergh had already cemented his place in history in May 1927, when he became the first person to fly solo and nonstop across the Atlantic, from New York to Paris, in 33.5 hours. That 5,800 km flight made him a global sensation, a hero whose face was known in every corner of the world.
Shortly after his triumph while in Mexico City, Charles met Anne Morrow. They married in 1929. Charles taught Anne to fly and she earned her glider pilot license in 1930—the first woman in the U.S. to do so and accompanied him on his scouting flights.
THE SIRUS SPECIAL
The Lockheed Model 8 Sirius that carried them was no ordinary aircraft. Charles first saw the Explorer aircraft at the 1929 National Air Races in Cleveland and immediately saw its potential. Lockheed customised the design to his exacting standards: a wooden Vega-type fuselage, a shortened low wing to reduce fuel weight, open tandem cockpits, and a 450 hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp engine. Anne suggested a sliding canopy for protection during rough weather—a detail that soon became standard on the Model 8.
Over time the Lindbergh’s Sirius continued to evolve and in 1930 it was painted with a blue-black fuselage and orange wings, re-registered as NR-211, and fitted with a 575 hp Wright-Cyclone engine.
The Sirius’s first big aviation feat came in April 1930, when the Lindbergh’s flew from Burbank to New York in just under 15 hours, shaving three hours off the existing transcontinental record.
The modifications to the Sirus continued and by early 1931, It had twin Edo metal floats painted silver, each housing a fuel tank in place of the internal one, raising total fuel capacity to 1,953 litres.
SOARING ACROSS CONTINENTS
Between July and October 1931, the Lindbergh’s flew on behalf of several newly formed American airlines, who were eager to chart new routes for their flying boat fleets, surveying the skies over Northern Canada and Greenland. While on a flight in Greenland, a young boy called their aircraft ‘Tingmissartoq’, meaning “One who flies like a bird”, a name that remained with the plane from then on.
Further scouting flights that same year took them to Alaska, the North Pacific, and China. In China, misfortune struck when Tingmissartoq was damaged being lowered into the Yangtze River. It was shipped back to Burbank, USA, rebuilt as a landplane in 1932, and delivered back to the Lindbergh’s ready for their next adventure.
PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS *
By June 1933, with Charles now acting as a consultant for Pan American World Airways, the aircraft underwent yet more modifications for its north Atlantic scouting flights: a more powerful 710 hp Wright-Cyclone engine, a controllable-pitch propeller, and a reconfiguration to floatplane form.
Their 1933 flight wasn’t just about scouting new air routes, it was a means of escape from the relentless glare of publicity as the year before, their infant son, Charles Jr., was kidnapped and murdered in a tragedy that shook the world.
GALWAY BAY 1933
On October 23rd 1933, the Lindbergh’s swooped Tingmissartoq into Galway Bay and taxied into port. Harbour Master T.C. McDonogh greeted them at Galway Docks and climbed aboard to inspect the aircraft himself.
Charles Lindbergh briefed the Galway Harbour Board that the bay held real promise as a flying boat base, and though Foynes would eventually claim the honour, for a brief, hopeful moment in 1933, Galway felt like the future of transatlantic flight.
TIME IN IRELAND
While scouting sites by car, Charles and Anne took time to explore. They stayed near Oughterard on Lough Corrib and visited local landmarks, including Derrigimlagh near Clifden, the 1919 landing site of Alcock and Brown’s historic transatlantic flight.
Charles felt a deep connection to Ireland. His maternal grandmother, Emma Kissane, was Irish. In 1936, he would write to his mother: “Possibly because I shall never forget the first sight of the hills of Kerry from the Spirit of St. Louis; possibly because a love of the old country is passed on even to the distant descendants of all Irishmen.”
Several Irish-Americans were involved in his 1927 flight, including Ed Mulligan (engineer), Katie Butler (who gave him a St. Christopher medal), and Douglas “Wrong-Way” Corrigan (aircraft assembler).
THE LEGACY OF TINGMISSARTOQ
Capitalising on the Lindbergh’s’ high-profile aviation achievements, a total of fifteen Sirius Special aircraft were built, fourteen by Lockheed and one by the Detroit Aircraft Company.
Following its 1933 flights, Lockheed 8 Sirius NR-211 “Tingmissartoq” was first donated to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, then transferred between several museums. It has been on display at the Smithsonian Institution since 1959.
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Sources of Information and Photo Credits:
1000 Aircraft Website
A god with feet of clay – Galway Advertiser
Air History Website
Davis-Monthan Aviation Field Register
Galway Maritime Museum
Galway Memories Facebook Page
Jack Fisher Collection
Norman Loop Phil
Gies Collection
