Boat Seats Speed
Sikorsky VS-44 Flying Boat
The VS-44 and had both military and civilian application, had been bigger boat and Sikorsky last flight, but had had a insufficient production of run of just four.
Tracing its lineage from several previous projects amphibian, which had its first spark at S-38. Powered by two 420-hp Pratt and Whitney Wasp engines, the biplane and ten passengers, the first flight in 1928 and reaching cruising speeds of around 100 mph, had been commissioned by the U.S. Navy and Pan American Airways. Lindbergh inaugurated airmail service with the kind between the U.S. and the Panama Canal Zone the following year. Operated by various other airlines, which enjoyed a production of 110.
The succeeding, quad-engine, high wing, the boat hull S-40, ordered by Pan American in 1929 and destined to become the then-largest U.S. aircraft, 40 passengers accommodated in areas of 500 miles, the first, called "American Clipper", opening the service on November 19, 1931. Its fleet of three possible allowed him to pioneer the Caribbean and South American routes.
The S-41, a larger version of the S-38, with a capacity of 14, had a production of only seven.
Intended for transoceanic routes, the S-42, powered by four Pratt and Whitney engines while driving Hamilton Standard propellers reversible, is designed to meet the requirements for increased capacity, 2,500-mile airplane, amphibious cruise of 150 mph, although a reduced charge of £ 1,500, significantly increased their ability to reach. first flight in 1934, permitted Pan American to serve Atlantic and previously uncoverable segments of the Pacific with its fleet of ten.
The bigger boat and Sikorsky last flight, incorporating technology developed by these earlier models, the need arose for a Navy patrol bomber to eclipse the 3,450 miles from its current range PBY Catalinas. The detailed specification, the U.S. Department of Aeronautics of the Navy 'Design Proposal # 137, referred to 200 km / h speed, a full team of six, and four machine-gun turrets.
The project, called sequence "S-44" by Sikorsky, and the only one that met the requirements by the Navy, he entered a high, all-metal cantilever wing, four Pratt and Whitney, 700-hp Twin Wasp radial which drove at a constant speed Hamilton Standard propellers, a .50 caliber machine gun in both his bow and tail turrets;. and a machine gun .30 caliber in the center's two towers Although it could also accommodate 4,000 pounds of bombs, further specified, and more powerful 1050 hp R-1830-1868 engines, along with props from 12 meters in diameter, twice that capacity.
A single prototype, for which a contract was awarded on June 25, 1936, flew for the first time one year later, on August 13 Housatonic River near the Sikorsky plant in Stratford, and had a gross weight of 47,142 pounds and a setting in Bomber £ 49,059-maximum weight in disguise patrol.
The test program two months of flight, implying 26.9 hours in the air, revealed several performance parameters, including a climb of 640 fpm initial rate, a stall speed 62 mph, top speed 225 mph, at 10,000 feet, a service ceiling of 23,100 feet, and 4,545 miles wide.
Deliver the Norfolk Naval Air Station on October 12, 1937, the XPBS-1 accumulated an additional 53.5 hours of flight test, during which the control force rudder failures were experienced, necessitating a return to the manufacturer for modifications. However, despite the fact that the Navy pilots expressed Drive aircraft in general satisfaction and performance, the Navy itself abruptly canceled any further orders for the design, substituting the Coronado time. None reason was specified later.
Thus, relegated to transport government officials and cargo priority, the only XPBS-1 operated for five years until that was damaged during landing in San Francisco Bay in 1942, incurring a strike log. He was removed from the inventory of the Navy, with 1,367.5 hours in his logbook.
The project, however, has had commercial application. rival Pan American Airways, American Airlines Exports (SAA), seeking a long-range amphibious aircraft for its own transatlantic passenger service, has signed a contract for a civilian version of a XPBS-called "VS-44", the "VS" prefix reflecting the combined, but temporary, and Chance Vought Sikorsky plant operations, both divisions of United Aircraft Corporation. pending receipt Civil Aeronautics Board route passenger rights, for the purchase of three VS-44As, whose names reflect their U.S. exports of transport and the original division ships, ie, "Excalibur," "Excambian" and "Exeter", while Pan American ordered to compete Martin M-130 Flying Boat.
Several design changes were first required to take it to the commercial standard. nose turret in the first place, had to be replaced with a solid, rounded cone made of metal, while the windows, doors and hatches were relocated. In order to transform the bomber in a patrol aircraft, a totally different interior had to be installed, bulkhead-divided into six smaller sections and sealed with adequate seating capacity, kitchens, bathrooms, heating, ventilation and insulation. The larger horizontal tail, with ten degrees of dihedral, was adapted to increase the longitudinal control, while the aileron cables and the tail were rerouted.
The configuration of the cockpit interior includes a five-person controlled by a pilot, copilot, flight engineer, navigator and operator radio, just below a kitchen and equipped with oven, electric stove with two hotplates, a sink, hot and cold water, a refrigerator and cabinets; sleeping accommodation for crew, mooring equipment, a baggage compartment and the rooms of two men. The passenger capacity ranging between 32 and 16 days in the sleeper configuration. forty-inch-wide seats were convertible into two upper and lower bunks, and each had a window, a reading light, heating and ventilation vents. The after cabin contained the women's bathroom, a second luggage compartment and the cabin crew's quarters.
Upon completion, the VS-44A, with a length of 79.3 meters in general, boasted a high scale, thickness of 124 meters from where the four projected three blades, 12.6 meters in diameter propellers driven by 1,200 horses take off Pratt and Whitney Twin Wasp piston engines S13C-G and below which hung two, surface skimming fluctuates near its wingtips. two dual-wheel drives main beach gear and a single twin-tail wheel unit allowed taxiing nonaquatic. The tailplane measured 31 meters. With a capacity of 3820 liters of fuel, the aircraft offered a gross weight of 59,534 pounds and a maximum speed of 211 mph.
Surrounded by Navy camouflage uniforms, the first aircraft, named "Excalibur" was concluded on December 30, 1941, but was redirected by the needs of the SAA. World War II, operating with their own flight crews, started weekly, war service transatlantic transport on 20 June Fayne, Ireland. "Excambian" and "Exeter" was delivered on May 4 and June 23.
Operating non-stop transatlantic world's first westbound crossing on June 22 1942, airplanes "Excalibur" Fayne flew to New York in 25 hours, 40 minutes with 16 passengers on board.
The service life of structures, however, spanning just over three months. Executing water, long-purposing off from Botwood, Newfoundland, on October 3, 1942, reached an altitude of ten feet before back into the water. Re-emerging at an angle over the attitude of 30 degrees nose high, during which time increased to 35 feet, but then barreled into the land, the impact with the ocean surface and breaking. Five to 11 crew members and six of the 26 passengers died. Although the actual cause was never identified, it is believed that the pilot attempted to use an excessive amount, drag-production, diverting flaps takeoff procedure flank.
Because the other two airframes were the longest World-range of business types, capable of flying 3,100 miles or sectors with a full payload, and because of the war dictated the need for such services, their ownership was transferred for the U.S. government on January 26, 1943 to operate the Navy's seaborne passengers, cargo and mail from the ferry to the Caribbean and Europe. American Export Airlines, under contract with them, continued to maintain and operate the aircraft.
Repainted in SAA livery in January 1945, the two services resumed scheduled VS-44As calendar in June, but after a merger with American Overseas Airlines (AOA) and the prevalence of war has prevented construction of track to be necessary transatlantic routes now increasingly served by ground planes, like the Douglas DC-4.
The "Excambian" and "Exeter" were thus acquired by Tampico Airlines from the War Assets Corporation on February 27, 1946, at which time they were subserviced to other carriers for charter operations. But the very financial Tampico difficulties resulted in its sale forward to Skyways International the following April.
Hull loss accidents, hitherto characteristic of the history of design is, once again, and struck just four months after the acquisition on August 15, 1947. Attempting to land in the River Plate, near Montevideo, Uruguay during the dark of night, missing the reference conditions and without visual altimeter settings upgraded aircraft "Exeter", already overloaded, impacted with the surface of the water, shedding their shell plates and cutting half of its left wing. flooded with water gushing out, the aircraft sank, taking nine of 12 people on board with it. Only "Excambian, one of four XPBS-1 and VS-44A cells now remained. Their longevity would usurp them all.
After the extinction Skyways and property through Seaboard Commercial Finance Corporation, the Stock Aviation Corporation acquired the aircraft with the intention of carrying cargo into the river Amazon, but their plan, reconsideration was not economically viable. As a result, Avalon Air Transport, which supplied the steam-air service competition in the area of 27 km from Long Beach, California, Catalina Island, acquired on June 14, 1957, but changed the engine controls to a position between the two places ahead of the cockpit;. removed from the flight engineer's panel, and make the functions of navigation and radio operator redundant capacity to be increased Operating for 47. Under an FAA supplemental type certificate, the only VS-44A 8172 finally made trips to Catalina Island during his decade of service, transporting more than 211 000 passengers, along with 68 trips to San Clemente under Navy contract.
Continuing in this role from island to island, "Excambian," since Caribbean inter-linkages, particularly between St. Thomas and St. Croix, Antilles Air Boats when purchased on January 9, 1968 for $ 100,000. However, the operation short-term almost over how the lives of three other airframes had been abruptly interrupted when the aircraft crashed after landing in Sao Thomas the following year. Although there had been no injuries and little more than wet feet in the cost of cab forward, repair, mainly due to corrosion, proved to be prohibitive, and therefore remained in place for six more years.
With its useful life, thus effectively terminated, Antilles Air Boats donated the aircraft Naval Air Museum in Pensacola, Fla., in 1976, and they concluded a long-term loan to the New England Air Museum in 1983. During his recovery, after ten years, held in a temporary position, $ 150,000 Rubb hangar at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, which was transformed into its original, 1942, American Export Airlines configuration, requiring replacement of 97 percent aluminum skins, 35 per cent of its fuselage structure, the displacement of the engine controls flight engineer panel, and the installation of its passenger cabin boat flying overseas.
The project, under the National Air Space Museum and guidance, was completed by a team of volunteers from Sikorsky, Textron Lycoming, the airline industry, and technical schools.
Relocated into sections, including wings, engines and control surfaces for the Windsor Locks New England Air Museum, has been reassembled and painted SAA during the second half, before being displayed on your Harvey H. Lippincott Civil Aviation Hangar.
Having passengers, cargo and mail in both military and commercial training for more than one quarter century, the latter involving a scheduled airline, charter and air taxi operations, the "Excambian," the last of the four remaining XPBS-1 and VS-44A cells, it also represents the end of the long-range, transoceanic, elegantly decorated flying boat was, and remains on display, dominating the hangar, to tell their story.
About the Author
HS BOAT High Speed Boat Operations Advanced Training 80 knots
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