Charles A. Lindbergh and his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, flew in their Lockheed Sirius aircraft on two significant missions, one in 1931 and the other in 1933. The first flight in 1931 was to the Orient. This flight successfully proved the viability of using the great circle to navigate from the West to the East via the North. In 1933 the Lindberghs flew the Sirius across the Atlantic, this time on survey flights to gather valuable information for planning commercial air transport routes for the North and South Atlantic.

The Lindberghs were meticulous in their preparations for their 1931 and 1933 flights. They utilized every possible space of the aircraft to carry supplies. The objects in this collection are representative of the mission support and personal items they carried. These objects also illustrate the essential equipment that would have been taken on international exploratory flights during the 1920s and 1930s.

The Lindberghs had to consider every possible emergency: an unexpected landing on ice, at sea, in the desert, or in the tropics. Accordingly, they packed a sled, pith helmets, and mosquito netting-an odd collection. But they traveled through some of the coldest climates into some of the hottest. If they had to make an emergency landing on Greenland's ice cap, they could quickly assemble the sled and use it to carry supplies needed to survive in cold weather. In hot climates, the pith helmets would shade their heads from the sun. In the tropics, the mosquito netting would protect them from insects.

Upon returning in late 1933, Charles Lindbergh donated the aircraft and the material support items to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City where they were displayed in the Hall of Ocean Life. When the museum deaccessioned the collection it was sent to the United States Air Force Museum. In 1959 it was decided that the aircraft did not represent the Air Force and the collection was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution's Air Museum.