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	25 May 1928
Introduction	October 1928
Primary users	Pan American Airways; New York, Rio, and Buenos Aires Line
Number built	101
Developed from	Sikorsky S-34; Sikorsky S-36

The Sikorsky S-38 was an American twin-engined 8-seat sesquiplane 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 Forces designation for the S-38A for evaluation, one aircraft later used as a VIP transport.
C-6A: United States Army Air Forces 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^{[citation needed]}
Andean Corporation^{[citation needed]}
Canadian Colonial Airways^{[citation needed]}
Chilean Air Force^{[citation needed]}
Colonial Western Airways^{[citation needed]}
Creole Petroleum Corporation - operated out of Maturin, Venezuela.^{[citation needed]}
Cubana de Aviación^{[citation needed]}
Curtiss Flying Service^[1]
Inter-Island Airways of Hawaii^{[citation needed]}
Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano-Lab^{[citation needed]}
Martin and Osa Johnson^{[citation needed]}
New York, Rio, and Buenos Aires Line (NYRBA) - Used for first airmail from Argentina to Miami. All sold to Pan Am in 1930^[2]
NYRBA do Brasil^{[citation needed]}
Northwest Airways^{[citation needed]}
Pan American Airways^{[citation needed]}
Pan American-Grace Airways - Operated out of Lima, Peru^[2]
Pan American Petroleum Company^{[citation needed]}
Panair do Brasil^{[citation needed]}
Panama Air Force^{[citation needed]}
Avianca as SCADTA^{[citation needed]}
Svensk Flygtjänst AB (later Swedair)^{[citation needed]}
United States Army Air Forces^{[citation needed]}
United States Marine Corps^{[citation needed]}
United States Navy^{[citation needed]}
Western Air Express^{[citation needed]}

Spain

Spanish Republican Air Force. One unit was used in the Northern Front during the Spanish Civil War. Shot down by friendly fire^[3]

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.^[2]
Venture capitalist John Hay Whitney – Luxury transport
The Flying Hutchinsons – First attempted around-the-world flight by a family.
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. Their S-38 was cited in the plot line of The Phantom comic strip adventure (May 2 - August 30, 2008) as the reason Kit Walker bought an original for $3.25M (USD). The sale was by invitation only and the new owner had to depart at night because all 101 built were documented as lost, not accounting for the two survivors listed below.
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.^[4]^[5]^[6]

Survivors

One of the two remaining S-38s, N28V, 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. As of September 2010^[update] N28V bears the Osa's Ark paint scheme.^[7] N28V is now owned by Kermit Weeks and located at the Fantasy of Flight Museum in Polk City, Florida.

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.^{[citation needed]}
T. Raymond Finucane, a wealthy Rochester, NY business man, and three others disappeared over the sea aboard a Sikorsky Amphibian after departing Norfolk, Virginia for New York City March 22, 1929. In Miami, Florida, Finucane had wagered a friend who was traveling ahead by train that he (Finucane) would reach New York first. He chartered Curtiss Flying Service to fly him to New York from Miami. Also on board the missing aircraft were Frank Ables and J. Boyd, Curtiss mechanics, along with Harry Smith, the pilot. A massive search by Curtiss planes, American military planes, coast guard cutters, and even the airship Los Angeles failed to turn up anything. Mrs. Finucane, founding president of the Rochester Community Players, visited the Curtiss operation at Roosevelt Field, the destination of the flight, for updates.^[8] Wreckage presumed to be from this plane was found eight years later by a fishing schooner.^[9]
On September 25, 1932, a Panair do Brasil Sikorsky S-38 registration P-BDAD still bearing the titles of Nyrba do Brasil was seized in the company's hangar by three men, who took a fourth as one hostage. None were aviators but they managed to take-off. However the aircraft crashed in São João de Meriti, killing the four men. Apparently the hijack was related to the events of the Constitutionalist Revolution in São Paulo and it is considered to be the first hijack that took place in Brazil.^[10]^[11]
A wealthy divorcee, Mrs. Francis Grayson, Brice Herbert Goldsborough (navigator) and Oskar Omdal, and Fred Koehler (passenger) set off to cross the Atlantic (a 3rd attempt) on Dec 23, 1927 (1928?) in a Sikorsky S-38, named "The Dawn". She was determined to be the first woman to fly the Atlantic. Sea conditions were stormy and rough, but she was determined. They passed Cape Cod, 8 am, due for Harbor Grace, Newfoundland. The Sable Island wireless station picked up "Something's wrong here" with their call letters...30 miles distant. They did not reach a landing port. This began the first ever air relief expedition, including 2 destroyers and the USS Los Angeles dirigible. A message in a bottle was found on Jan 29, 1929, it read "1928, we are freezing. Gas leaked out. We are drifting off Grand Banks. Grayson." Nothing more is known.^[12]

Specifications (S-38-A)

General characteristics

Crew: Two
Capacity: 10 passengers

Performance

References

Citations

^ "Sikorsky to United"; Time Magazine, July 29, 1929
^ ^a ^b ^c Skyways. Panorama Publications. January 1999. ISSN 1025-2657. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
^ SBHAC - Aviones de la Fuerza Aérea de la República Española
^ Associated Press (2010-01-24). "SC Johnson unveils new architectural showpiece". Chicago Tribune. ISSN 1085-6706. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
^ Kamin, Blair (2010-01-27). "Meeting Mr. Wright: Norman Foster's new Fortaleza Hall at S.C. Johnson & Son converses winningly with the old master". Chicago Tribune. ISSN 1085-6706. Archived from the original on 2010-02-02. Retrieved 2011-01-29. In 1935, Herbert F. Johnson, then the company's president, flew the original model of the S-38 from Racine to the Brazilian city of Fortaleza in search of a lasting source of wax from the carnauba palm tree. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ Burke, Michael (2008-05-12). "Johnson family's Spirit of Carnauba makes its final flight". The Journal Times. Racine, WI USA. Archived from the original on 2010-09-18. Retrieved 2012-06-16. Their trip re-created one that Fisk and Curt's grandfather, H.F. Johnson Jr., made in 1935. In that journey, he flew to Fortaleza in search of a sustainable source of the carnauba palm tree, then the indispensable ingredient in Johnson Wax. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |pmd= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ "See World's Only Flying Sikorsky S-38 at AirVenture". 2012 AirVenture Oshkosh. Oshkosh, WI USA: EAA. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |doibroken=, |coauthors=, |separator=, and |month= (help); External link in |work= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ New York Times: March 25, 1929, March 26, 1929, March 27, 1929, and March 28, 1929
^ New York Times, Feb. 22, 1937
^ Pereira, Aldo (1987). Breve História da Aviação Comercial Brasileira (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Europa. p. 337.
^ Germano da Silva, Carlos Ari César (2008). "Uma verdadeira aventura". O rastro da bruxa: história da aviação comercial brasileira no século XX através dos seus acidentes 1928-1996 (in Portuguese) (2 ed.). Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS. pp. 22–23. ISBN 978-85-7430-760-2.
^ Goldsborough Families, Karin Martin, 2010, pp. 146-150

Bibliography

Davies, R.E.G. (1987). Pan Am: An Airline and its Aircraft. New York, NY USA: Orion Books. ISBN 0-517-56639-7. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |nopp=, |chapterurl=, |month=, and |trans_chapter= (help)
Yenne, Bill (2003). Seaplanes & Flying Boats: A Timeless Collection from Aviation's Golden Age. New York, NY USA: BCL Press. ISBN 1-932302-03-4. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |nopp=, |chapterurl=, and |month= (help)

External links

1933 film of a flight of an S-38 into the mountains of BC

[1] "Sikorsky to United"; Time Magazine, July 29, 1929

[Skyways,_January_1999-2] Skyways. Panorama Publications. January 1999. ISSN 1025-2657. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

[3] SBHAC - Aviones de la Fuerza Aérea de la República Española

[Tribune20100124-4] Associated Press (2010-01-24). "SC Johnson unveils new architectural showpiece". Chicago Tribune. ISSN 1085-6706. Retrieved 2010-01-25.

[Tribune20100127-5] Kamin, Blair (2010-01-27). "Meeting Mr. Wright: Norman Foster's new Fortaleza Hall at S.C. Johnson & Son converses winningly with the old master". Chicago Tribune. ISSN 1085-6706. Archived from the original on 2010-02-02. Retrieved 2011-01-29. In 1935, Herbert F. Johnson, then the company's president, flew the original model of the S-38 from Racine to the Brazilian city of Fortaleza in search of a lasting source of wax from the carnauba palm tree. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[JournalTimes20080512-6] Burke, Michael (2008-05-12). "Johnson family's Spirit of Carnauba makes its final flight". The Journal Times. Racine, WI USA. Archived from the original on 2010-09-18. Retrieved 2012-06-16. Their trip re-created one that Fisk and Curt's grandfather, H.F. Johnson Jr., made in 1935. In that journey, he flew to Fortaleza in search of a sustainable source of the carnauba palm tree, then the indispensable ingredient in Johnson Wax. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |pmd= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[UnlimitedAdventure-7] "See World's Only Flying Sikorsky S-38 at AirVenture". 2012 AirVenture Oshkosh. Oshkosh, WI USA: EAA. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |doibroken=, |coauthors=, |separator=, and |month= (help); External link in |work= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[8] New York Times: March 25, 1929, March 26, 1929, March 27, 1929, and March 28, 1929

[9] New York Times, Feb. 22, 1937

[10] Pereira, Aldo (1987). Breve História da Aviação Comercial Brasileira (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Europa. p. 337.

[11] Germano da Silva, Carlos Ari César (2008). "Uma verdadeira aventura". O rastro da bruxa: história da aviação comercial brasileira no século XX através dos seus acidentes 1928-1996 (in Portuguese) (2 ed.). Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS. pp. 22–23. ISBN 978-85-7430-760-2.

[12] Goldsborough Families, Karin Martin, 2010, pp. 146-150

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v t e Sikorsky aircraft
Fixed-wing aircraft (company designations)	S-1 S-2 S-3 S-4 S-5 S-6 S-7 S-8 S-9 S-10 S-11 S-12 S-13 S-14 S-15 S-16 S-17 S-18 S-19 S-20 S-21 S-22/23/24/25/26/27 S-28 S-29-A S-30 S-31 S-32 S-33 S-34 S-35 S-36 S-37 S-38 S-39 S-40 S-41 S-42 S-43 VS-44 S-45
Fixed-wing aircraft (military designations)	C-6 C-28 JRS JR2S PS P2S RS XBLR-3 XPBS XSS XV-2
Helicopters (company designations)	VS-300 (S-46) S-47 S-48 S-49 S-50 S-51 S-52 S-53 S-54 S-55 S-56 S-57 S-58 S-59 S-60 S-61 S-61L/N S-61R S-62 S-63 S-64 S-65 S-66 S-67 S-68 S-69 S-70 S-71 S-72 S-73 S-74 S-75 S-76 S-80 S-92 S-95 S-97 S-100 S-102 S-103 S-300 S-333 S-434
Helicopters (military designations)	SH-3 Sea King HH-3E/F R-4 H-5 H-6 H-18 H-19 Chickasaw H-34 Choctaw CH-37 Mojave XH-39 HH-52A Seaguard CH-53 Sea Stallion CH-53E Super Stallion CH-53K King Stallion MH-53 CH-54 Tarhe UH-60 Black Hawk HH-60G Pave Hawk HH-60J/MH-60T MH-60R/S Seahawk SH-60B/F Seahawk H-60J/K VH-60 RAH-66 Comanche VH-92 Patriot CH-124 Sea King CH-148 Cyclone HLH
Experimental aircraft	Cypher/Cypher II Firefly Raider Raider X SB-1 X2 XBLR-3 XV-2

v t e United States military transport aircraft designations, Army/Air Force and Tri-Service systems
Army/Air Force sequence (1925-1962)	C-1 C-2 C-3 C-4 C-5 C-6 C-7 C-8 C-9 C-10 C-11 C-12 C-13¹ C-14 C-15 C-16 C-17 C-18 C-19 C-20 C-21 C-22 C-23 C-24 C-25 C-26 C-27 C-28 C-29 C-30 C-31 C-32 C-33 C-34 C-35 C-36 C-37 C-38 C-39 C-40 C-41 C-41A C-42 C-43 C-44 C-45 C-46 C-47 C-47F C-47T AC-47 C-48 C-49 C-50 C-51 C-52 C-53 C-54 C-55 C-56 C-57 C-58 C-59 C-60 C-61 C-62 C-63 C-64 C-65 C-66 C-67 C-68 C-69 C-70 C-70B C-71 C-72 C-73 C-74 C-75 C-76 C-77 C-77B–D C-78 C-79 C-80 C-81 C-82 C-83 C-83A C-83B C-84 C-85 C-86 C-87 C-88 C-89 C-90 C-91 C-92 C-93 C-94 C-95 C-96 C-97 KC-97 C-98 C-99 C-100 C-101 C-102 C-103 C-104 C-105 C-106 C-107 C-108 C-109 C-110 C-111 C-112 C-113 C-114 C-115 C-116 C-117 C-117D C-118 C-119 AC-119 C-120 C-121 C-121F EC-121 C-122 C-123 C-123A C-124 C-125 C-126 C-127² C-127 (I) C-127 (II) C-128 C-129 C-130 C-130J AC-130 DC-130 EC-130/H HC-130 KC-130 LC-130 MC-130 WC-130 C-131 NC-131H C-132 C-133 C-134 C-135 KC-135 C-136 C-137² YC-137 (I) YC-137 (II) C-137 C-138¹ C-139¹ C-140 C-141 C-142
Tri-service sequence (1962-present)	C-1 C-2 C-3 C-4 C-5 C-6 C-7² C-7 RC-7 C-8 C-9 C-10² C-10 KC-10 C-11 C-12 RC-12 C-13¹ C-14 C-15 C-16¹ C-17 C-18 C-19 C-20² C-20A–D C-20F–J C-21 C-22 C-23 C-24 C-25 C-26 C-27 C-27J C-28 C-29 C-30¹ C-31 C-32 C-33 C-34¹ C-35 C-36³ C-37 C-37B C-38 C-39¹ C-40 C-41 C-42¹ C-43¹ C-44¹ C-45 C-46
Revived original sequence (2005-present)	C-143 C-144 C-145 C-146 C-147
Non-sequential designations	C-767 C-767B C-880
Related designations	CT-39 CT-43 CV-2 CV-7
¹ Not assigned • ² Assigned to multiple types • ³ Unconfirmed