The Sikorsky S-38 was an American twin-engined ten-seat

sesquiplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a ...

amphibious aircraft An amphibious aircraft or amphibian is an aircraft (typically fixed-wing) that can take off and land on both solid ground and water, though amphibious helicopters do exist as well. Fixed-wing amphibious aircraft are seaplanes ( flying boats ...

. It was Sikorsky's first widely produced amphibious

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

, serving successfully for

Pan American Airways Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

and the United States military.

Design and development

The S-38 was developed based upon experience with the

Sikorsky S-34 The Sikorsky S-34 was a 1920s American six-seat sesquiplane, designed and built by the Sikorsky Manufacturing Corporation. Only one was built, but the design led to the successful Sikorsky S-38 The Sikorsky S-38 was an American twin-engined ...

and S-36. The S-38 first flew in May 1928. According to Sikorsky, "The ship had very good takeoff characteristics from land and water. It had a climb of per minute fully loaded, and a maximum speed close to . The ship could cruise nicely around , and it stayed in the air on one engine. All these features were excellent for 1928 and at that time there were no other amphibians with such performance characteristics. In 1929, an S-38 was used by

Colonel Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

to inaugurate air mail service between the United States and the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

." The

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

ordered two aircraft, and Pan Am 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 Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the List of cities by population in New England, fifth-most populous ...

. Sikorsky was acquired by

United Aircraft and Transport Corporation The United Aircraft and Transport Corporation was formed in 1929, when William Boeing of Boeing Airplane & Transport Corporation teamed up with Frederick Rentschler of Pratt & Whitney to form a large, vertically-integrated, amalgamated firm, un ...

in mid-production.

Variants

;S-38A :11 Built ;S-38B :Ten-place model, 80 Built ;S-38C :12-place model, ten 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, ten 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.

Operators

Civil operators

KNILM Koninklijke Nederlandsch-Indische Luchtvaart Maatschappij (in English: Royal Dutch Indies Airways) was the airline of the former Dutch East Indies. Headquartered in Amsterdam, KNILM was ''not'' a subsidiary of the better-known KLM (Royal Dutch A ...

* Curtiss Flying Service *

Hawaiian Airlines Hawaiian Airlines ( haw, Hui Mokulele o Hawaiʻi ) is the largest operator of commercial flights to and from the U.S. state of Hawaii. It is the tenth-largest commercial airline in the United States, and is based at Honolulu, Hawaii. The airl ...

Inter-Island Airways Hawaiian Airlines ( haw, Hui Mokulele o Hawaiʻi ) is the largest operator of commercial flights to and from the U.S. state of Hawaii. It is the tenth-largest commercial airline in the United States, and is based at Honolulu, Hawaii. The airl ...

* New York, Rio, and Buenos Aires Line (NYRBA) - Used for first airmail from Argentina to Miami. All sold to Pan Am in 1930 *

Pan American-Grace Airways Pan American-Grace Airways, also known as Panagra, and dubbed "The World's Friendliest Airline" was an airline formed as a joint venture between Pan American World Airways and Grace Shipping Company. On September 13, 1928, a small single-engine ...

– Operated out of

Lima, Peru Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

Western Air Express Western Airlines was a major airline based in California, operating in the Western United States including Alaska and Hawaii, and western Canada, as well as to New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami and to Mexico City, London and ...

Military operators

* Spanish Republican Air Force. One unit was used on the Northern Front during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. Shot down by friendly fire *

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

Private operators

Some notable private owners include: *

Flying Hutchinsons Flying may refer to: * Flight, the process of flying * Aviation, the creation and operation of aircraft Music Albums * Flying (Grammatrain album), ''Flying'' (Grammatrain album), 1997 * Flying (Jonathan Fagerlund album), ''Flying'' (Jonathan ...

– first attempted around-the-world flight by a family *

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

* Herbert Fisk Johnson Jr. – Explored the northeastern part of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in search of the carnauba palm, and to research

carnauba wax Carnauba (; pt, carnaúba ), also called Brazil wax and palm wax, is a wax of the leaves of the carnauba palm ''Copernicia prunifera'' (synonym: ''Copernicia cerifera''), a plant native to and grown only in the northeastern Brazilian states of ...

, the source of the world's hardest natural wax. The ''Spirit of Carnauba'', a

replica A 1:1 replica is an exact copy of an object, made out of the same raw materials, whether a molecule, a work of art, or a commercial product. The term is also used for copies that closely resemble the original, without claiming to be identical. Al ...

of this aircraft, is on display in Fortaleza Hall on the

S. C. Johnson S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. (commonly referred to as S. C. Johnson) is an American multinational, privately held manufacturer of household cleaning supplies and other consumer chemicals based in Racine, Wisconsin. In 2017, S. C. Jo ...

campus. *

Martin and Osa Johnson Martin Elmer Johnson (October 9, 1884 – January 13, 1937) and Osa Helen Johnson (née Leighty, March 14, 1894 – January 7, 1953) were married United States, American adventurers and documentary filmmakers. In the first half of the 20th cent ...

– In the zebra-striped S-38 ''Osa's Ark'', with companion giraffe-patterned S-39 ''Spirit of Africa'', explored

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

extensively, making safari

movies A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

and books. *

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

– surveyed

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

n and

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

routes for Pan Am with

Anne Morrow Lindbergh Anne Spencer Morrow Lindbergh (June 22, 1906 – February 7, 2001) was an American writer and aviator. She was the wife of decorated pioneer aviator Charles Lindbergh, with whom she made many exploratory flights. Raised in Englewood, New Jers ...

. *

Robert R. McCormick Robert Rutherford "Colonel" McCormick (July 30, 1880 – April 1, 1955) was an American lawyer, businessman and Anti-war movement, anti-war activist. A member of the McCormick family of Chicago, McCormick became a lawyer, Republican Party (Unite ...

, newspaper publisher – surveyed commercial air routes between

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Reproductions

During the 1990s two reproduction S-38s were built by the late Buzz Kaplan's “Born Again Restorations,” of Owatonna, Minnesota. One was produced for

Samuel Curtis Johnson Jr. Samuel Curtis Johnson Jr. (March 2, 1928 – May 22, 2004) was an American businessman. He was the fourth generation of his family to lead S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc., which is headquartered in Racine, Wisconsin. He was the son of Herbert ...

, the son of Herbert Fisk Johnson, to recreate his father's flight, which he completed in 1998. the plane is suspended from the ceiling of Fortaleza Hall in the S. C. Johnson & Son company headquarters in Racine, Wisconsin . The other S-38 replica, ''N28V'', appeared in the movie '' The Aviator'' (2004), a story loosely based on the life of

, who owned an S-38 during his lifetime. it is owned by

Kermit Weeks Kermit Weeks (born July 14, 1953 in Salt Lake City, Utah) is an American aviation enthusiast, pilot, and aircraft collector. He has competed in aerobatics, designed aircraft, and promoted aviation and vintage aircraft restoration. Oil and ...

and located at the

Fantasy of Flight Fantasy of Flight is an aviation museum in Polk City, Florida. It opened in November 1995, to house Kermit Weeks' collection of aircraft that, until Hurricane Andrew damaged many in 1992, were housed at the Weeks Air Museum in Tamiami, Florid ...

Museum in Polk City, Florida, bearing the ''Osa's Ark'' paint scheme.

Accidents and incidents

* A

SCADTA Sociedad Colombo Alemana de Transportes Aéreos german: Deutsch-Kolumbianische Luftverkehrsgesellschaft), or SCADTA, was the world's second airline, and the first airline in Latin America, operating from 1919 until World War II. After the war, SCA ...

(actually

Avianca Avianca S.A. ( acronym in Spanish for ''Aerovias del Continente Americano S.A.'', "Airways of the American Continent") is a Colombian airline. It has been the flag carrier of Colombia since December 5, 1919, when it was initially registered und ...

, never was a

Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

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 Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in Wes ...

businessman, and three others disappeared over the sea aboard a Sikorsky Amphibian after departing

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

for

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

March 22, 1929. In

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, 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 Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

failed to turn up anything. Mrs. Finucane, founding president of the

Rochester Community Players The Rochester Community Players (RCP), the oldest community theatre in New York State, is a local theater group in Rochester, Monroe County, New York, in the United States. Incorporated in 1923, its first production, '' Wedding Bells,'' by play ...

, visited the Curtiss operation at

Roosevelt Field Roosevelt Field is a former airport, located east-southeast of Mineola, Long Island, New York. Originally called the Hempstead Plains Aerodrome, or sometimes Hempstead Plains field or the Garden City Aerodrome, it was a training field (Hazel ...

, 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 Panair do Brasil was an airline of Brazil. Between 1945 and 1965 it was considered to be the largest carrier not only in Brazil but in all of Latin America. It ceased operations in 1965. History NYRBA do Brasil (1929–1930) ''Panair do Bras ...

Sikorsky S-38 registration P-BDAD still bearing the titles of

Nyrba do Brasil Panair do Brasil was an airline of Brazil. Between 1945 and 1965 it was considered to be the largest carrier not only in Brazil but in all of Latin America. It ceased operations in 1965. History NYRBA do Brasil (1929–1930) ''Panair do Bras ...

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 São João de Meriti (, ) is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Its historical name is São João do Rio Meriti. Its population was 472,906 inhabitants in 2020. It's located in the region of Baixada Fluminense, having 34.996 ...

, killing the four men. Apparently the hijack was related to the events of the

Constitutionalist Revolution The Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932 (sometimes also referred to as Paulista War or Brazilian Civil War) is the name given to the uprising of the population of the Brazilian state of São Paulo against the Brazilian Revolution of 1930 when ...

in São Paulo and it is considered to be the first hijack that took place in Brazil.

Specifications (S-38-B)

Sikorsky_S-38_3-view_drawing_NACA_Aircraft_Circular_No

References

External links

1933 film of a flight of an S-38 into the mountains of BC
{{Authority control S-038 1920s United States airliners Flying boats Amphibious aircraft Twin-boom aircraft Sesquiplanes Pan Am Aircraft first flown in 1928 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft