VS-44
Excambian
Role	Flying Boat
Manufacturer	Sikorsky Aircraft
Designed by	Igor Sikorsky
First flight	13 August 1937
Introduction	10 February 1942
Retired	1968
Primary users	American Export Airlines Tampico Airlines Avalon Air Transport Antilles Air Boats
Number built	4
Unit cost	$400,000 US

The Sikorsky VS-44 was a large four-engined flying boat built in the USA in the early 1940s. The VS-44 was designed primarily for the trans-Atlantic passenger market, with a capacity of 40+ passengers. Only three aircraft were produced: Excalibur, Excambian, and Exeter.^[1]

[edit] Development

[edit] XPBS-1 patrol bomber

Within three months of the first flight of the new Consolidated YP3Y-1 im March 1935, the United States Navy was making plans for a new patrol bomber that would have increased performance and weapon load capability. Prototypes were ordered from Sikorsky in June 1935 and Consolidated Aircraft in July 1936. The XPBS-1 (BuNo. 9995) made its first flight on 9 September 1937, the XPB2Y-1 on 17 December of the same year. However, the U.S. Navy did not have funds at that time to procure either aircraft. 15 months later the contract was given to Consolidated and Sikorsky sold the XPBS-1 design to civilian customers as the VS-44.

The XPBS-1 patrol bomber, 1938.

The XPBS-1 was evaluated by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1938. In 1939 XPBS-1 was temporarily operated by Patrol Wing Five at Norfolk, Virginia; then by Patrol Wing Two at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, until it was finally assigned to transport squadron VR-2 at Naval Air Station Alameda, in 1940. Finally, on 30 June 1942, the XPBS-1 hit a submerged log upon landing at NAS Alameda. Among its passengers was CINCPAC Admiral Chester W. Nimitz who suffered minor injuries, while one member of the flight crew, Lt. Thomas M. Roscoe, died. The XPBS-1 sank and was lost.^[2]

[edit] VS-44 commercial flying boat

In the early days of commercial air travel, large four-engine flying boats built by companies like Consolidated Aircraft, Boeing, Shorts, Breguet, Latecoere and Dornier soon established the legitimacy of air travel. At first, long flights meant small payloads, giving passengers a sense of airborne freedom as they walked from the smoking lounge to dining room and sleeping compartment.

One of the leaders in flying boat design and production was Russian immigrant Igor Sikorsky who had founded Sikorsky Aero Engineering Company when he came to the US in 1919. In 1930, his company became a subsidiary of United Aircraft. Sikorsky manufactured flying boats, such as the S-42 used by Pan Am for trans-Atlantic flights and known as Pan Am Clippers. Looking at the longer routes across the Pacific, Pan Am needed planes with longer range than was available with the S-42. Juan Trippe, Pan Am's president, didn't like the updated S-42 design proposed by Sikorsky, instead choosing to purchase the Martin M-130 and later the Boeing 314 Clipper.^[3]

[edit] Design

By 1940, Sikorsky, now merged with Chance Vought under the umbrella of United Aircraft, produced the VS-44. A single deck seaplane with four twin-row Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasps rated at 1,200 hp (900 kW) each, the new aircraft was 80 ft (24 m) in length and weighed in at 57,500 lb (26,000 kg) for takeoff. The Boeing 314 Clipper was larger and boasted more powerful Wright Twin Cyclones of 1,600 hp (1,193 kW), but the VS-44 was 30 mph (48 km/h) faster and could fly an average payload more than 4,000 mi (6,400 km), out distancing the big Boeing by 500 mi (800 km) and earning bragging rights with the longest full-payload range of any aircraft in the world. The VS-44 brought home several new world records after it went into operation, but the limited production would never even recoup the VS-44’s development costs.

American Export Airlines (AEA) ordered three VS-44s, dubbed ‘Flying Aces’ and named Excalibur (NX41880; later as NC41880), Excambian (no NX; later as NC41881), and Exeter (no NX; later as NC41882) after the parent company's Four Aces. AEA had grown out of the American Export Lines steamship line, so naturally these planes gave nothing away to cruise ships. Sikorsky’s standard of luxury boasted full-length beds, dressing rooms, full galley, snack bar, lounge and fully controlled ventilation.

[edit] Operational service

Sikorsky VS-44 NC41881 displayed at the New England Air Museum wearing American Export Airlines colours in June 2005

Sikorsky VS-44A Excambian

[edit] World War II

The outbreak of World War II put civilian transatlantic air services on hold. Now under a Navy contract, with the Navy designation JR2S-1, AEA’s three VS-44’s continued flying between New York, New York and Foynes, Ireland, carrying passengers, freight and war materiel. The first VS-44, Excalibur, crashed on takeoff in 1942 at Botwood, Newfoundland, killing 11 of the 37 aboard.^[4]

[edit] Post War Service

After the war, the two remaining VS-44s continued to fly for AEA, now renamed American Overseas Airlines (AOA) and operated by American Airlines. In 1949, AOA sold Excambian to Tampico Airlines.

In 1946, Exeter was sold to TACI of Montevideo, Uruguay, as CX-AIR. It crashed on August 15, 1947 while landing in River Plate off Montevideo when (allegedly) returning from a smuggling flight to Paraguayan rebels. 4 out of the 5 crew were killed, but both passengers survived.

A short-lived effort to restore the only remaining VS-44 to run freight in the Amazon was unsuccessful, leaving the flying boat boat stranded in Ancon Harbor, Peru.

By the late 1950s, two Southern California businessmen had heard of the Excambian's plight and had her ferried to Long Beach, where restoration work began. Dick Probert and Walter von Kleinsmid of Avalon Air Transport, (AAT) thought the big VS-44 would be perfect for the Catalina tourist trade. AAT named her Mother Goose, to complement the line’s Grumman Goose amphibians, and plans were made to utilize her to meet summer travel demands. In the winter, N41881 would undergo maintenance.

Excambian carried thousands of passengers for AAT until 1967 when it was sold to Charles Blair of Antilles Air Boats. Blair, husband of actress Maureen O'Hara, acquired Excambian to ferry passengers among the Virgin Islands. In January 3, 1969 she was extensively damaged by rocks while taxiing at Charlotte Amalie, US Virgin Islands. Assessed as being damaged beyond economic repair, it was beached in March 1972 and converted into a hot dog stand.

[edit] Restoration and Museum Piece

In 1976, Excambian was donated to the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola, Florida and eventually put on permanent loan to the New England Air Museum in Connecticut. NEAM restored Excambian to its post-World War II American Export Airlines livery with volunteer help from some of the former Sikorsky workers who had built the original VS-44.^[5]

[edit] Specifications (Excalibur)

Data from Sharpe, 2000. p 309.

General characteristics

• Length: 79 ft 3 in (24.15 m)
• Wingspan: 124 ft in (37.79 m)
• Height: 27 ft 7.25 in (8.41 m)
• Gross weight: 57,500 lb (26,082 kg)
• Powerplant: 4 × Pratt & Whitney R-1830-S1C3-G, 1200 hp (895 kW) each

Performance

• Cruise speed: 160 mph (257 km/h)
• Range: 3,800 miles (6,116 km)

[edit] References

1. ^ Sharpe, 2000. p 309.
2. ^ http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/pbs.htm
3. ^ airliners.net
4. ^ Oliver Moore, "The search for Excalibur, the doomed flying boat: The Sikorsky VS-44, a huge hulk of a plane, crashed and sank off Newfoundland in 1942. Now, a U.S. team aims to recover its human remains," globeandmail.com, Sept. 11, 2008.
5. ^ landings.com

[edit] External references

• Bill Maloney's pictures of the VS44A at the New England Air Museum

[edit] Bibliography

• Sharpe, Michael (2000). Biplanes, Triplanes, and Seaplanes. London: Friedman/Fairfax Books. ISBN 1-58663-300-7.