The Sikorsky VS-44 Flying Boat
The VS-44, having for military and civilian, had been larger boat and last flight of Sikorsky, but had had a lean production run of four.
Tracing its lineage to several previous models amphibious, it had its first spark in S-38. Powered by two 420-hp Pratt and Whitney Wasp, the biplane ten passengers, first flight in 1928 and reach cruising speeds of 100 km / h, was commissioned by the U.S. Navy and Pan American Airways. Lindbergh inaugurated airmail service between the type with the United States and Panama Canal Zone the following year. exploited by several other carriers, it has a production cycle of 110.
The Successful ATV engine, high wing, a boat hull S-40, operated by Pan American in 1929 and destined to become the largest aircraft then the United States, accepted 40 passengers on 500-mile areas, the first designated "American Clipper", inaugurating service on November 19, 1931. Its fleet of three possible allowed him to pioneer the Caribbean and South America to America.
The S-41, a larger version of the S-38 with a capacity of 14, has a rate production of only seven years.
Intended for transoceanic routes, the S-42, powered by four Pratt and Whitney engines driving not reversible Hamilton Standard propeller was designed to meet needs for greater capacity, 2500-mile, amphibious aircraft cruising at 150 mph, although reduced payload of 1,500 pounds significantly increased its capacity range. first flight in 1934, he has used previously uncoverable Pan American Atlantic and Pacific with segments of the fleet of ten years.
The largest ship-and last-Sikorsky flying, incorporating technology developed by these earlier designs, was born from the requirement for a Navy patrol bomber to eclipse 3450-mile range of its current PBY Catalina. The specifications detailed by the U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics "Design Proposal No. 137, under 200 mph speed a crew of six, and four machine-gun turrets.
The design, the sequence designated S-44 "by Sikorsky, and the only one who met near the Navy requirements, constituted a high level, all-metal cantilever wing, four Pratt and Whitney 700-hp Twin Wasp radial velocity that led to Hamilton Standard propellers constant, a .50 caliber machine guns in two turrets front and rear. and a 0.30 caliber machine gun turrets in its two center Although it could also accommodate 4000 pounds of bombs, the latest date specified, and more powerful R-1050-hp engines from 1830 to 1868, coupled with accessories 12 feet in diameter, has doubled this capability.
A single prototype, for which a contract was awarded June 25, 1936, first flight of a year later, on August 13 of the Housatonic River near the Sikorsky plant in Stratford, and also weighing 47,142 pounds gross bomber configuration and a 49,059 pounds maximum weight as a patrol.
The flight test program of two months, causing 26.9 hours in the air, revealed several performance parameters, including a climb of 640 fpm initial rate, stall speed 62-km / h, a maximum speed of 225 mph at 10,000 feet, a service ceiling of 23,100 feet and a 4545-mile range.
Delivered to Norfolk Naval Air Station October 12, 1937, the XPBS-1 accumulated additional 53.5 hours flight test, in which defects in the rudder control force were experienced, which requires a return to manufacturer for changes. Yet, despite the fact that Navy pilots expressed the total aircraft handling and performance satisfaction, the Navy abruptly aside any other order for the design, substituting the Coronado instead. No reason was specified later.
And relegated to transport government officials and priority freight, the only XPBS-1 worked for five years until he was damaged while landing in San Francisco in 1942, engage a strike newspaper. He was retired from the Navy inventory with 1,367.5 hours in logbook.
The design, however, had a commercial application. Pan American Airways competitor, American Export Airlines (AEA), the search for a long-range amphibious aircraft for its own transatlantic passenger service, has signed a contract for a civilian version of the XPBS-1 designated "VS-44", the "VS" prefix reflecting the handset, but temporary, Chance Vought and Sikorsky plant operation, both divisions of United Aircraft Corporation. Pending receipt of human Civil Aeronautics Board road passengers, plans to buy three VS-44As, whose name translates American expedition overseas and home-division of ships, namely, "Excalibur", "Excambian," and "Exeter" all-Pan American self-directed competition Martin M-130 seaplane.
Several design changes were first required to put the standards trade. The nose turret, first and foremost, has been replaced with a solid, rounded, metal cone, while the windows, doors and traps were relocated. To transform the bomber patrol in an airliner, a different procedure had to be installed, the partition-divided in six small, tight sections with appropriate passenger seats, galleys, toilets, heating, ventilation and soundproofing. A larger horizontal stabilizer, with ten degrees of dihedral, has been modernized to increase the longitudinal control, while the aileron cables and the tail were confused.
The interior configuration included a cockpit of five controlled by a pilot, copilot, flight engineer, navigator and radio operator, a galley located immediately below and equipped with oven, stove with two electric hot plates, a sink, hot and cold water, refrigerator, and storage cabinets, beds of the crew, mooring equipment, a compartment baggage rooms and the two men. Passenger capacity ranged between 32 and 16 in the day in the berth configuration. Forty-inch seats were wide convertible into two upper and lower berths, and each was fitted with a window, a reading lamp vents, heating and ventilation. The aft cabin contained the ladies room, a luggage compartment on the other hand, housing and cabin crew.
Upon completion, VS-44A, with a length of 79.3 meters across, wore a high, thick, with a wingspan of 124 feet from where the four projections three blades, propeller diameter of 12.6 meters by 1200 led to take horses out Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp piston engines S13C-G and below which For two, the surface water-skimming floats near the wings. Two dual-wheeled main units of equipment grounding and a single, dual tail wheels taxi permits non-aquatic. The tail lasted 31 feet. With a fuel capacity of 3820 gallons, the aircraft offered a gross weight of 59,534 pounds and a maximum speed of 211 mph.
Draped in camouflage livery Navy, the first airplane, the name "Excalibur" was completed on 30 December 1941, but was redirected by the necessities of the Second World War. AEA, operate with its own crews, began the week transatlantic service transport war to June 20 Fayne, Ireland. "Excambian" and "Exeter" was delivered on May 4 and June 23.
Operating the first transatlantic nonstop westbound through June 22, 1942, an aircraft "Excalibur" flew Fayne of New York in 25 hours, 40 minutes with 16 passengers on board.
The life of the cell, however, lasted just over three months. execution a long, water-purposing off from Botwood, Newfoundland, October 3, 1942, it reached an altitude of ten feet before falling into the water. re-emerging it is skewed in an excessive, 30 degrees nose up, during which it is mounted at 35 feet, but then barreled toward the ground, impact with the ocean surface and break. Five of the 11 crew members and six of the 26 passengers perished. Although the actual cause was never identified, is believed that the pilot had attempted to use an excessive drag production, off-bypass procedure trailing edge flap.
Because other two cells were the longest in the world of commercial type, capable of flying 3,100 miles or more areas with full loads, and because the war was dictated the need for such transport, ownership was transferred to the Government of the United States January 26, 1943 for the operation of the marine transoceanic passenger, cargo and mail ferry service in the Caribbean and Europe. American Export Airlines, under contract with them, continued maintain and fly the plane.
Repainted AEA delivered in January 1945, both services started VS-44As regular civilians in June, but a subsequent merger with American Airlines Abroad (AOA) and the prevalence of war has prompted construction of a runway prevented their need, transatlantic routes increasingly served by the aircraft lands, such as the Douglas DC-4.
The "Excambian" and "Exeter" have been Tampico Airlines acquired by the War Assets Corporation February 27, 1946, when they were subserviced to other carriers for flights charter. But financial difficulties led Tampico own their resale to Skyways International following April.
Hull-loss accidents, hitherto characteristic of design history, struck once again and just four months after the acquisition, August 15, 1947. trying to land on La Plata near Montevideo, Uruguay, during the dark night, nonexistent in reference conditions and without visual altimeter setting day, had "Exeter, already overloaded, touched the water surface, loses its hull plates and the separation of half of its left wing. flooded with gushing water, the aircraft sank, taking nine of the 12 people on board with him. only "Excambian" one of four XPBS-1 and VS-44A cells, now stuck. Its longevity is all the spoof.
After the dissolution Skyways' and ownership intermediaries Seaboard Commercial Finance Corporation, the Exchange Aviation Company purchased the device with the intention of transporting freight to the Amazon River, but his plan, after review, was not economically viable. Accordingly, Avalon Air Transport, which provided services Air steamship competition in the sector 27-mile Long Beach, California, Catalina Island, acquired June 14, 1957, but moved the engine controls to a position between the two front seats of the cockpit. panel removed the flight engineer, and record the functions of operator Redundant radio and navigator seats increased by 47. Operating under a supplemental type certificate from the FAA, the only VS-44A was finally made 8172 Travel to Catalina Island during his decade of service, carrying more passengers of 211,000, and 68 trips to San Clemente under Navy contract.
Continuing in this role from island to island, "Excambian" provides both inter-Caribbean, especially between St. Thomas and St. Croix, when Antilles Air Boats was purchased January 9, 1968 for $ 100,000. However, the operation of short duration, ending about how the lives of three other cells was, was abruptly interrupted when the plane grounded after landing in St. Thomas next year. Although he had no injuries and a little more wet feet in the repair costs before the cabin, particularly because of corrosion were found prohibitive, and therefore remained in place for another six years.
With his lifetime and effectively end Antilles Air Boats won the aircraft at the Museum Naval Air Pensacola, Florida in 1976 and have concluded a long-term loan to the Museum of New England Air in 1983. During his later restoration ten years, conducted in a temporary file, Rubb hangar $ 150,000 to Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, it was converted to its original, 1942, American Export Airlines configuration, requiring the replacement of 97 percent of its aluminum skin, 35 percent of its cell structure, outsourcing orders the engine to the flight engineer Panel, the installation of its passenger transoceanic flying boat.
The project, under National Air and Space Museum orientation was conducted by a team of volunteers from Sikorsky, Textron Lycoming, the transportation industry air, and technical schools.
Moved in sections, including wings, engines and control surfaces, the Windsor Locks New England Air Museum, it was reassembled and painted the colors of the AEA during the second half of the year before displayed in his Harvey H. Lippincott civil aviation hangar.
After passengers, cargo and mail in both configurations military and commercial for over a quarter century, the latter leading scheduled airline, charter and air taxi operations, the "Excambian" the last of four other XPBS-1 and VS-44A cells, also represents the end of the long distance, transoceanic, elegantly furnished period aircraft, and remains on the screen, above the hangar, to tell his story.
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