Sikorsky S-39

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After the success of the S-38, Sikorsky downsized its basic structure with the S-39 and created an aircraft for the emerging market of business flights, which should also be interesting for air taxi companies in coastal regions. 

In 1932 the famous explorers and photographers Martin and Osa Johnson learned to fly at the airfield in Osa's hometown of Chanute. With pilot's licenses in hand, they purchased two Sikorsky S-39 and set off for Africa. Piloting Osa's Ark, Osa flew over the savannas of Africa to photograph the wildlife from the air. They flew from Cape Town through the whole continent to Cairo. 

NC-52V flying over the Victoria Falls




and Mount Kilimanjaro



At diffferent places it is mentioned that the Johnsons were the first pilots to fly over Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya in Africa. That isn't exact. Beginning 1930 the Swiss aviator Walter Mittelholzer already overflew the peak with the Fokker F.VIIb-3m of Ad Astra (later kown as Swissair). 





Here a further short story about an other S-39: 

The business of getting printed news distributed fast and efficiently was an undertaking of monumental proportions in an age before interstate highways and overnight shipping. The newspaper empire of William Randolph Hearst, which printed papers in New York City, had a readership and distribution which extended across the northeast. Outdated news would not suit readers of Hearst newspapers, so the latest and fastest modes were employed to get the news where it needed to be. 
Notably, to get copies of the New York Mirror and New York American to Albany, Hearst employed two Sikorsky S-39 which could make the run in roughly three hours from the metropolitan area to the state Capital. That was fast, even for the most discerning subscribers of those papers.

This S-39 is likely the one used in carrying news film from the Lindbergh kidnapping trial (1935) from the Flemington, New Jersey golf course to the newspaper's office in New York City. The pilot for both NC-53V and NC-14326 was Bill Cleveland, and a frequent passenger was aviation editor George Carroll. They flew NC-14326, often with a cameraman, out of a base at North Beach, which is now LaGuardia.

Nc-14326 just took off from North Beach



Bernard

[nmlw]

Two more important historical events, both beautifully described and recreated in period appropriate pictures Bernard. Thanks.

[Al]

Nicely done Bernard.