1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. USAAC Lockheed Y1C-25 Altair 8-D 1932: NASA Langley· Public domain
what is it?
The Lockheed Altair was a single-engined sport aircraft produced by Lockheed Aircraft Limited in 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.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 13 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 96 years ago, in 1930.
- Top speed is 2.6× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 13 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1930-09
- number built
- 11
- role
- civilian sport
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- makers
- Lockheed Corporation
- engines
- 1× Pratt & Whitney SR-1340E Wasp
- crew
- 1
- length
- 8.6 m
- wingspan
- 13 m
- height
- 2.9 m
- max take-off weight
- 2,220 kg
- top speed
- 333 km/h
- cruise speed
- 282 km/h
- range
- 935 km
- ceiling
- 7,255 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
family
Sources: Wikidata Q3257746, Wikipedia: Lockheed Altair (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.