Sikorsky S-38

S-38
Sikorsky S-38 being positioned for display at AirVenture, Oshkosh in 2006. This is a replica.
Role	Flying boat
Manufacturer	Sikorsky Aircraft
Designer	Igor Sikorsky
First flight	May 1928
Introduction	October 1928
Primary users	Pan American Airways New York, Rio, and Buenos Aires Line
Number built	101
Unit cost	$37,000 in 1930
Developed from	Sikorsky S-34 Sikorsky S-36

Sikorsky PS-3, serving as a transport for the Eleventh Naval district. VJ-5 D11-4 (8285), photographed in March 1930.

The Sikorsky S-38 was an American twin-engined 8-seat amphibious aircraft. It was sometimes called "The Explorer's Air Yacht" and was Sikorsky's first widely produced amphibious flying boat which in addition to serving successfully for Pan American Airways and the U.S. Army, also had numerous private owners who received notoriety for their exploits.

Design and development

The S-38 was developed from the Sikorsky S-34 and S-36. The S-38 first flew on May 25, 1928. The United States Navy ordered two aircraft (designated XPS-2) and Pan American Airways were an early customer.

A total of 101 aircraft were built, manufactured originally by the Sikorsky Manufacturing Corporation of Long Island, New York, and by the Sikorsky Aviation Corporation in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Sikorsky was acquired by United Aircraft and Transport Corporation (now United Technologies Corporation) in mid-production.

Variants

S-38A

11 Built

S-38B

10 place model, 80 Built

S-38C

12 place model, 10 Built

C-6

United States Army Air Force designation for the S-38A for evaluation, one aircraft later used as a VIP transport.

C-6A

United States Army Air Force designation for a C-6 with minor changes, 10 aircraft.

XPS-2

United States Navy designation for the S-38A, two aircraft later converted to XRS-2 transports.

PS-3

United States Navy designation for the S-38B, four aircraft later converted to RS-3 transports.

XRS-2

United States Navy designation for two XPS-2 converted as transports.

RS-3

United States Navy/Marine Corps designation for the S-38B transport version, three aircraft and conversions from PS-3.

RS-4

United States Navy designation for two civil S-38A impressed into service.

Operators

• American Airways
• Andean Corporation
• Canadian Colonial Airways
• Chilean Air Force
• Colonial Western Airways
• Creole Petroleum Corporation - operated out of Maturin, Venezuela.
• Curtiss Flying Service
• Inter-Island Airways of Hawaii
• Martin and Osa Johnson
• New York, Rio, and Buenos Aires Line (NYRBA) - Used for first airmail from Argentina to Miami. All sold to Pan Am in 1930
• NYRBA do Brasil
• Northwest Airways
• Pan American Airways
• Pan American-Grace Airways - Operated out of Lima, Peru
• Pan American Petroleum Company
• Panair do Brasil
• Scadta - Colombia (Today Avianca)
• United States Army Air Force
• United States Marine Corps
• United States Navy
• Western Air Express

Some famous owners include:

• Aviator and businessman Howard Hughes
• Aviator Charles Lindbergh – Surveyed South American and Pacific Ocean routes for Pan Am with Anne Morrow Lindbergh.
• Robert R. McCormick - Newspaper publisher– Surveyed commercial air routes between North America and Europe.
• Venture capitalist John Hay Whitney – Luxury Transport
• The Flying Hutchinsons – First attempted around-the-world flight by a family.

Osa's Ark S-38

• Filmmakers Martin and Osa Johnson – In the zebra-striped S-38 Osa's Ark, with companion giraffe-patterned S-39 Spirit of Africa, explored Africa extensively, making safari movies and books.
• Herbert Fisk Johnson, Jr. – Explored the northeastern part of Brazil in search of the carnauba palm, and to research carnauba wax, the source of the world's hardest natural wax. The Spirit of Carnauba, a replica of this aircraft, is on display in Fortaleza Hall on the S. C. Johnson campus. </ref>

Survivors

One of the two remaining S-38s, N-28V, appears in the movie The Aviator (2004), a story loosely based on the life of Howard Hughes. Hughes owned an S-38 during his lifetime. N28V is not a real survivor but rather a reproduction, built in the early 2000s according to the builder's website.As of September 2010 N-28V currently bears the Osa's Ark paint scheme.

Accidents and incidents

A SCADTA (a Pan Am subsidiary) S-38, NC9107, crashed in the Colombian jungle near Pereira, killing all but one on board; the survivor was carried for seven days through the jungle to civilization.

Specifications (S-38-A)

General characteristics

• Crew: Two
• Capacity: 10 passengers
• Length: 40 ft 3 in (12.27 m)
• Wingspan: 71 ft 8 in (21.85 m)
• Height: 13 ft 10 in (4.22 m)
• Wing area: 720 ft² (68.6 m²)
• Empty weight: 6,000 lb (2,727 kg)
• Loaded weight: 10,480 lb (4,764 kg)
• Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp 9-cylinder air-cooled radial engines, 400 hp (298 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 104 knots (120 mph, 192 km/h)
• Range: 648 nm (750 miles, 1,200 km)
• Service ceiling: 16,000 ft (4,878 m)
• Rate of climb: 750 ft/min (229 m/min)
• Wing loading: 14.5 lb/ft² (69 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.08 hp/lb (0.13 kW/kg)

See also

• Sikorsky RS, a designation used by the United States Navy for a number of different Sikorsky twin-engined amphibious flying boats
  

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Keystone-Loening Commuter
• Keystone–Loening Air Yacht
• Grumman Widgeon
• Grumman Goose
• Piaggio P.136
  

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

• Davies, R.E.G. Pan Am: An Airline and its Aircraft. New York: Orion Books, 1987. ISBN 0-517-56639-7.
• Yenne, Bill. Seaplanes & Flying Boats: A Timeless Collection from Aviation's Golden Age. New York: BCL Press, 2003. ISBN 1-932302-03-4.