Sikorsky S-42 Totally Explained

Everything about The Sikorsky S-42 totally explained

The Sikorsky S-42 was an 1930s American commercial flying boat designed and built by Sikorsky to meet a 1931 requirement from Pan American for a long-range transatlantic flying boat.

Design and development

Based on the earlier Sikorsky S-40 that flew in 1931, Igor Sikorsky and Charles Lindbergh, working at the time as a Pan American Airways consultant, laid out plans for a new, larger flying boat. During the S-40's inaugural flight on 19 November 1931, the two visionaries began preliminary sketches on the back of a menu in the S-40's lounge.
Pan Am's president, Juan Trippe, had a similar vision of an aircraft able to span oceans. The new design provided for an increased lifting capacity to carry enough fuel for a 2,500 mile nonstop flight against a 30 mile-an-hour (48 km/h) wind, at a cruising speed far in excess of the average operating speed of any flying boat at that time. Pan Am was also courted by Glenn Martin but Sikorsky's S-42 was delivered first, as the Martin M-130 was still almost a year away from completion.

Operational history

Flying for Pan American Airways, a total of ten S-42s were built, manufactured by the Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Division of the United Aircraft Corporation in Stratford, Connecticut. The aircraft first flew on 30 March 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 licence in the United Kingdom but nothing came of this. The company built a factory on the western side of the Hamble peninsula with a slipway to Southampton Water. When the deal fell through the company was sold to H.P. Folland, who renamed it Folland Aircraft Limited.
All Sikorsky S-42s were either scrapped or destroyed in accidents.

Variants

S-42 ť Production aircraft with four 700hp (522kW) Pratt & Whitney Hornet S5D1G radial engines, three built.

;S-42A ť Production aircraft with four 750hp (559kW) Pratt & Whitney Hornet S1EG radial engines, longer wings and a 2000lb (907Kg) increase in maximum take-off weight, three built.

S-42B ť Production aircraft with aerodynamic improvements, constant-speed Hamilton Standard propellers and a further 2000lb (907Kg) increase in maximum take-off weight, four built.

Specifications (S-42-A)

|crew=4 |capacity=up to 37 day passengers or 14 sleeper berths |payload main= |payload alt= |length main= 68 ft |length alt=20.73 m |span main=118 ft 2 in |span alt=36.03 m |height main=17 ft 5 in |height alt=5.3 m |area main= 1,329 ft² |area alt= 123.5 m² |airfoil= |empty weight main= 19,764 lb |empty weight alt= 8,984 kg |loaded weight main= 38,000 lb |loaded weight alt= 17,273 kg |useful load main= |useful load alt= |max takeoff weight main= |max takeoff weight alt= |more general=
   |engine (prop)= Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet, |type of prop=supercharged radial engine |number of props=4 |power main= 660 hp |power alt=492 kW |power original=
   |propeller or rotor?= |propellers= |number of propellers per engine= |propeller diameter main= |propeller diameter alt=
   |max speed main= 188 mph |max speed alt= 300 km/h |cruise speed main= |cruise speed alt= |stall speed main= |stall speed alt= |never exceed speed main= |never exceed speed alt= |range main= 1,930 miles |range alt=3,088 km |range more= |combat radius main= |combat radius alt= |combat radius more= |ferry range main= |ferry range alt= |ferry range more= |ceiling main= 15,704 ft |ceiling alt= 4,788 m |climb rate main= 1,000 ft/min |climb rate alt= 305 m/min |loading main=28.6 lb/ft² |loading alt=140 kg/m² |thrust/weight= |power/mass main=0.07 hp/lb |power/mass alt=0.11 kW/kg |more performance=
   |armament= |guns= |bombs= |rockets= |missiles= |hardpoints= |hardpoint capacity= |avionics=
   }}

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