The Sikorsky S-38 was an American twin-engined eight-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.
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 was 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.
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-39Spirit 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.
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 N28V bears the Osa's Ark paint scheme. 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.
T. Raymond Finucane, a wealthy Rochester, NY businessman, 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. Wreckage presumed to be from this plane was found eight years later by a fishing schooner.
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 man 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.
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 two 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.
Specifications (S-38-A)
General characteristics
Crew: two
Capacity: ten 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
