by Jamie F. Dodson
Flying Boats - The Sikorsky S-42
' Sikorsky S-42A Antilles Clipper landing at Dinner Key, Miami, 1935'
Water Color By
IAN MARSHALL,
Flying Boats, The J-Class Yachts of Aviation
The Sikorsky S-42 was the first real transoceanic flying boat Flying for Pan American Airways
, a total of ten aircraft were built, manufactured by the Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Division of the United Aircraft Corporation in Stratford, Connecticut. All ten were either scrapped or destroyed in accidents. The aircraft first flew on 1934. The S-42 was also known as the Flying Clipper and the Pan Am Clipper.British Marine Aircraft Ltd. was formed in February 1936 to produce S-42-A flying boats under license in the but nothing came of this. The deal fell through the company was sold but not before Japanese Agents posing as interested investors stole the technical read outs and blue prints. The Japanese use the plans to produce the H8K allied code name "Mavis," a virtual S-42 clone.
The small images below link to large picture files.
They may take a while to load - especially with dial-up connections.
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S-42 Cut-a-way (courtesy of Pan Am Historical Foundation) |
Pan American Clipper enroute to Hawaii, April 16th, 1935.
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Pan American Clipper Arriving at Honolulu, April 17th,
1935
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Pan American Clipper arrives at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, April 17th, 1935 (courtesy of Pan Am Historical Foundation) |
S-42 Schematic & Dimensions | Captains Ed Musick and R.O.D. Sullivan in Pan Am Clipper Cockpit (courtesy of Pan Am Historical Foundation) |
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Pan American Clipper - a Modified S-42B with Extended Range Fuel Tanks (courtesy of Pan Am Historical Foundation) |
Pan Am Clipper lands at Wake Island, from National Geographic, December, 1935 |
Pan American Clipper
at Guam (courtesy of Pan Am Historical Foundation) |
Building the Skyway to Asia
The Epic Struggle for the Pacific Airways
Copyright 2007-2008. Jamie Dodson. All rights reserved.
Created on ... March 12, 2007
Last updated ... January 6, 2008