The Silent Family Silent Glider M is a German ultralight trike motor glider, designed by Helmut Grossklaus and produced by Silent Family of Westerrade. The aircraft is supplied as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft.
Silent Glider M
Monoplane
Sikorsky UN-4
The 1927 two-place Sikorsky UN-4 (ATC 2-23) were modified Curtiss JN-4D fuselage with a Sikorsky-Gluhareff high-lift wing. A number were built, including C2044 and 5469.
Powered by a 90hp Curtiss OX-5 engine, the wing was adapted for other types, as well—Travel Air, Standard, etc.
Sikorsky Standard
The 1930s Sikorsky Standard was a Standard J-1 rebuilt with a Sikorsky high-lift parasol wing.
A two or three-seater, NX802W was built with a Stearman-built fuselage.
Sikorsky S-44 / PBS
After a two-year construction period the Sikorsky XPBS-1 (Model S-44) 9995 first flew on 23 August 1937. Initial testing with 1050 hp engines revealed a top speed of 227 mph. Stability problems traced to turbulence generated by the wings resulted in the addition of dihedral to the horizontal stabilisers. After being delivered to the Navy in October 1937, the XPBS-1 began competitive trials with the Consolidated XPBY2-1 in mid-1938. Consolidated won a construction order and the XPBS-1 was assigned to Patrol Wing 5 at NAS Norfolk, Virginia, to evaluate long-range patrol-bomber operations until shortly after the US entered World War II. In the spring of 1942 the aircraft was reassigned to VR-2 out of California for transport duties between the West Coast and Hawaiian Islands. On 30 June 1942, while returning from Pearl Harbor, the XPBS-1 struck a log in San Francisco Bay and sank. All on board escaped safely, the passengers including Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander of the Pacific Fleet.
Major elements of the design went into the VS-44A.
Engines: four 1200hp P&W Wasp
Wingspan: 124’0″
Length 76’2″
Max speed: 227 mph
Stall: 64 mph
Range: 4030 mi
Ceiling: 20,800′
Sikorsky XSS-1 / XSS-2
The 1933 Sikorsky SS (Model X1200) was a scout-observation experiment for carrier duty.
Only one was built, 8972, originally XSS-1, then modified as XSS-2.
Engine: 550hp P&W R-1340D
Wingspan: 42’0″
Length: 32’0″
Max speed: 159 mph
Ceiling: 22,600′
Seats: 2
Sikorsky S-43 / JRS / OA-8 / OA-11
The S-43 was originally designed for a Pan American requirement for a twin-engined amphibian for secondary Latin American routes.
Essentially a scaled-down version of the S-42, the S-43 employed a single-step hull and a single tail group. The wing rested on a central pylon, supported on either side by N-struts. Wing flaps covering 48% of the span reduced the stall speed to 65 mph.
The S-42 had twin vertical tails. Many of the S-43s had the same arrangement, but some had a single tail. Biggest difference other than size and the S-43’s amphibious capabilities (although some S-43s were built as flying boats) were the powerplants, only two 750hp Pratt & Whitney Hornets on the S-43. The smaller airplane had a gross weight of 19,5001b (8,845kg) and could seat 16 to 24, depending on the legroom. Both transports were certificated in 1935.
After the first flight on 5 June 1935 (piloted by Boris Sergievsky), the first of fourteen S-43s delivered to Pan American (ATC 593) entered Latin American service in April 1936, though most were subsequently turned over to Panair do Brasil and other subsidiary operations.
Sikorsky Aircraft built 53 S-43 twin engined amphibians in the mid 1930s.
In 1938 Pan American used one of its S-43s on survey flights for planned route extensions to Alaska.
Additionally, four were sold Inter-Islan Airways Airways (later renamed Hawaiian, Airlines) in the Hawaiian Islands, four to Aeromaritime – an Air France affiliate, in West Africa, KLM’s Netherlands East Indies associate, and one to DNL-Norwegian Airlines.
Twenty-two amphibians were delivered as S-43s (NC15061-15068, NC16925, NC16928, NC16934, and NC20698), plus one S-43-A and three S-43-Bs (NC16926-16927, and NC16931-16933) with minor detail changes.
Three delivered in 1937-8 for inter-island operations in the Phillipines were registered as S-43-W’s (ATC 623) with a one-foot fuselage extension and Cyclone engines, plus one as the S-43-WB witthout amphibious landing gear (NC16929-16930, and PK-AFT, PK-AFU). Two S-43s were custom built in 1937 as personal transports, one to Howard Hughes and another to Harold Vanderbuilt.
One ‘Baby Clipper’ was ordered in 1937 by Howard Hughes especially equipped for a proposed 1938 around the world flight. Registered NR440, it was fitted with larger 900hp Wright GR-1820 Cyclone radials and additional fuel tanks in the cabin. However, it proved too slow and Hughes made his flight in a Lockheed 14.
Hughes had a mishap with his S-43H, modified with twin tails in 1941, flying NC440 into Lake Mead, Nevada, in May 1943 while practicing alightings in preparation for flying the HK4 Hercules flying boat. Raised by a US Navy diving team, the airplane was rebuilt as a S-43W with a single tail, fitted out as a ten-seat executive transport. Manufacturer’s serial number 4327 served only briefly in this capacity and spent most of its time in storage at Hughes Tool Co in Houston TX until 1977.
Ronald Van Kregten, an acquaintance of both Hughes and lgor Sikorsky, purchased the S-43 from the Hughes estate in 1977 and restored it essentially to its executive configuration, obtaining certification. The airplane was based at Houston. Van Kregten planned to flying it occasionally to air shows.
Between 1937 and 1939 the Navy acquired seventeen S-43s that entered service under the designation JSR-1 (0504-0506, 1054-1063, and 1191-1194), two being assigned to the Marine Corp.
During the same time, five were delivered to the US Army Air Corp as the Y10A-8, 37-370 to -374, and in 1942, a commercial S-43, after being re-equipped with 875 hp R-1690-S2C engines, was impressed into the USAAF as OA-11 serial 42-01 VIP transport.
Military craft remained in service throught World War II. One S-43 was sold to the Soviet Union and several ex-Pan American examples were used in Brazil along the rubber river routes. Reeve Aleution Airways acquired an S-43 which it operated in Alaska and Catalina Island until the early 1960s.
One (a JRS) was in storage at the National Air & Space Museum’s facility at Silver Hill, Maryland.
S-43
Engine: 2 x 750hp Pratt-Whitney R-1680-52 Hornet
Props: 3 blade variable pitch, metal
Wingspan: 26.21 m / 86 ft 0 in
Length: 15.60 m / 51 ft 2 in
Height: 5.38 m / 18 ft 8 in
Wing area: 781 sq.ft
Empty weight: 12,750 lb
Max take-off weight: 8662 kg / 19097 lb
Max. speed: 306 km/h / 190 mph
Cruise speed: 167 mph
Ceiling: 6310 m / 20700 ft
Range: 1247 km / 775 miles
Crew: 3-4
Passengers: 15
S-43
Engine: two 750hp P&W Hornet
Wingspan: 86’0″
Length: 51’2″
Useful load: 6750 lb
Max speed: 194 mph
Cruise: 167 mph
Stall: 65 mph
Range: 775 mi
Ceiling: 17,500′
Passengers: 16-25
S-43-A
Engine: two 750hp P&W Hornet
Wingspan: 86’0″
Length: 51’2″
Useful load: 6750 lb
Max speed: 194 mph
Cruise: 167 mph
Stall: 65 mph
Range: 775 mi
Ceiling: 17,500′
Passengers: 16-25
S-43-B
Engine: two 750hp P&W Hornet
Wingspan: 86’0″
Length: 51’2″
Useful load: 6750 lb
Max speed: 194 mph
Cruise: 167 mph
Stall: 65 mph
Range: 775 mi
Ceiling: 17,500′
Passengers: 16-25
S-43-H
Engine: two 750hp P&W Hornet
Wingspan: 86’0″
Length: 51’2″
Useful load: 6750 lb
Max speed: 194 mph
Cruise: 167 mph
Stall: 65 mph
Range: 775 mi
Ceiling: 17,500′
Passengers: 16-25
S-43-W
Engines: two 760hp Wright Cyclone
Wingspan: 86’0″
Length: 52’3″
Useful load: 6040 lb
Max speed: 186 mph
Cruise: 177 mph
Stall: 65 mph
Range: 775 mi
Passengers: 19-25
S-4-WB
Engines: two 760hp Wright Cyclone
Wingspan: 86’0″
Length: 52’3″
Useful load: 6040 lb
Max speed: 186 mph
Cruise: 177 mph
Stall: 65 mph
Range: 775 mi
Passengers: 19-25
JRS-1
Engines: 2 x P&W R-1690-23, 750 hp
Wingspan: 86’0″
Length: 52’1″
Max speed: 185 mph
Ceiling: 20,700′
Seats: 2-12
Sikorsky S-42 Clipper
First flown on 29 March 1934, the S-42 was a large 36-passenger commercial flying-boat powered by four 559kW Pratt & Whitney Hornet engines. It differed from earlier Sikorsky flying-boats in having a two-step hull with a long stern which supported the tail unit directly. Full use was made of a hydraulically controlled wing flap which extended across the straight portion of the wing. Within a brief period of time the S-42 had established ten altitude-with-load world records.
Ten S-42s were delivered to Pan American Airways at a price of $197,892, the last three as S-42Bs with increased wing span (from 34.8m) and loaded weight and incorporating refinements in fairing and hull design.
The clipper-type flying boat established a new world load-carrying altitude record in lifting a 16,608 lb load to over 16,000 ft on 26 April 1934 (the mark to beat was 6,561′) piloted by Boris Sergievsky and Raymond Quick, then increasing this record to 20,407′ less than a month later.
Three 1934 S-42 Clipper (ATC 544) with four passenger compartments were delivered to PAA as Clippers, NC822M to 824M.
The last S-42-B, the Pan American ‘Clipper III’, was delivered in mid-1937.
Four S-42-A, NC15373 to 15376, and three S-42-B, NC16734 to 16736, all went to PAA as Clippers in 1935 (ATC 592).
Pan American Airways appreciated the financial poten¬tial of a service across the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean and ordered two different flying boats; the Martin M.130 and Sikorsky S 42. It was an aircraft of this latter type which carried out the first survey flight from America to New Zealand, while to the Martin M. 130 China Clipper went the honour of the first mail flight across the central Pacific. The original S-42 was used in survey flights across the Pacific in 1935 by Pan American Airways.
The Sikorsky S42B “Pan American Clipper II” surveyed the route from San Francisco to New Zealand, via Honolulu and arrived in Auckland in March 1937. Just under a year later another S42B inaugu¬rated a passenger service, only to explode in midair near Samoa on the homeward journey. PAA suspended their San Fran¬cisco Auckland service.
In 1937 a S-42B was used on the inaugural and scheduled mail and passenger service between New York and Bermuda, the latter shared with Imperial Airways and begun on 16 June 1937. At about the same time the final S-42B delivered to PAA (named Clipper III) made three survey flights across the Atlantic by way of Newfoundland and Foynes.
By the summer of 1937 Pan American began transpacific and transatlantic service with the first “Clipper III” the last of the Sikorsky series.
The four surviving examples continued in airline service until early 1946 and were scrapped soon afterwards.
S-42
Engines: 4 x Pratt & Whitney S-5-D 1G Hornet, 700hp / 515kW
Wing span: 114 ft 2 in (34.8 m)
Length: 67 ft 8 in (20.93 m)
Height: 17 ft 4 in (5.28 m)
Wing area: 123.5 sq.m / 1329.34 sq ft
Empty weight: 3965 kg / 8741 lb
Max TO wt: 38,000 lb (17,250 kg)
Max level speed: 182 mph (291 kph)
Cruise speed: 255 km/h / 158 mph
Ceiling: 4877 m / 16000 ft
Range w/max.fuel: 1930 km / 1199 miles
Crew: 4
Passengers: 32-37
S-42-A
Engines: four 750hp P&W Hornet
Wingspan: 118’2″
Length: 68’0″
Useful load: 16,800 lb
Max speed: 188 mph
Cruise: 165 mph
Stall: 65 mph
Range: 1930 mi
Ceiling: 16,000 ft
Passengers: 37
S-42- B
Engines: four 750hp P&W Hornet
Wingspan: 118’2″
Length: 68’0″
Useful load: 16,800 lb
Max speed: 188 mph
Cruise: 165 mph
Stall: 65 mph
Range: 1930 mi
Ceiling: 16,000 ft
Passengers: 37
Sikorsky S-41 / RS-1
The Sikorsky S-41 was a fifteen-passenger development of the S-38 powered by two 428kW Pratt & Whitney Hornet engines.
Six 1931 S-41-A were built (ATC 418) priced at $62,500.
Two were converted to S-41-Bs (NC41V and NC60V) with modifications as 13 passengers under ATC2-286.
One, NC784Y, was converted to the S-41-C.
Also used in small numbers by the US Navy as RS-1. Three were purchased by USN in 1930 for evaluation as A8842 to 8844. Two 1930 XPS-2 (A8089 and 8090) were redesignated XRS-2.
Two S-41 were impressed from Pan American as RS-5 (37852 and 37853)
S-41-A, -B, -C
Engines: 2 x 575hp P&W Hornet B
Wingspan: 78’9″
Length: 45’2″
Useful load: 5700 lb
Max speed: 133 mph
Cruise: 115 mph
Stall: 66 mph
Range: 575-900 mi
Ceiling: 13,500′
RS-1
Wingspan: 78’9″
Length: 45’2″
Speed: 131 mph
Sikorsky S-40
On December 20, 1929, Pan American awarded a contract to build three aircraft as the S-40, with deliveries starting mid-1931. The S-40 featured four engines and a two-step all metal hull, divided into seven watertight compartments, twin-boom, twin-tail and parasol wing. Almost sixty feet in length, accommodation was provided for up to thirty-two passengers and the added luxury of a smoking room with three chairs. Sikorsky selected a monoplane wing with stabalising floats mounted on outrigger booms. When built the Sikorsky S-40 was the largest amphibian in the world.
First flying on 31 August 1931, piloted by Boris Sergievsky and S Gluhareff, flight testing of the S-40 began in early 1931, and it was delivered to Pan American the following October, as soon as the ATC certificate was granted (ATC 454).
The seaplane version had an 11,000 lb load and slightly higher speed.
Selling for $139,000, named “American Clipper” and piloted by Charles A. Lindbergh, the first S-40 inaugurated the Miami-Canal Zone route on 19 November 1931. “American Clipper” pioneered Pan American World Airways mail and passenger routes around the Caribbean and to South America. It was joined by the second, ‘Caribbean Clipper’, later the same year, then by the the third, ‘Southern Clipper’, in early 1932.
The three S-40s (NC80V, NC81V, and NC752V c/ns 2000 to 2002) established regular airline service between the US east coast and South American destinations such as Rio de Janerio and Buenos Aires, operated without their amphibious gear to improve range as needed. The S-40 carried 40 passengers over distances of 500 mi. at speeds up to 115 mph.
During 1935, after all three had their engines upgraded to super-charged 660hp P&W Hornets, their designation was changed to S-40-A (ATC 562). By the end of 1939 the S-40As had been withdrawn from Pan American service. Caribbean Clipper later served with the Navy as a navigational trainer and is said to have amassed a total of 13,000 flying hours before being scrapped in 1944.
S-40
Engines: 4 x Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet B, 575hp / 425kW
Wingspan: 34.8 m / 114 ft 2 in
Wing area: 174.0 sq.m / 1872.92 sq ft
Length: 23.4 m / 77 ft 9 in
Height: 7.3 m / 24 ft 11 in
Hull length: 48’0″
Max take-off weight: 15400 kg / 33951 lb
Useful load: 9252 lb
Max. speed: 210 km/h / 130 mph
Cruise speed: 185 km/h / 115 mph
Stall: 65 mph
Ceiling: 5550 m / 18200 ft
Range w/max.fuel: 925 km / 575 miles
Crew: 4
Passengers: 40
S-40-A
Engines: 4 x Pratt & Whitney R-1690-44 Hornet, 600 hp
Prop: 2 blade, ground adjustable, metal
Wingspan: 154 ft 0 in
Wing area: 1740 sq.ft
Length: 76 ft 8 in
Max speed: 140 mph
Cruise: 120 mph
Stall: 65 mph
Ceiling: 13,000 ft
Range: 900 miles
Empty weight: 21,000 lb
MTOW: 34,000 lb
Useful load: 10,813 lb
Sikorsky S-39
Sikorsky downsized the basic S-38 design to create the S-39. The original prototype, NX813M / NX963M, was experimentally converted to two tractor-mounted 115hp Cirrus Hermes Mk I engines, was test flown in mid-1929 but crashed later that year after an engine failure.
Sikorsky followed with the S-39-A, flown in early 1930, with a single R-985 Wasp Junior engine mounted directly to the wing. The S-39-A was the first US aircraft to be certified with the R-985.
Twelve S-39-As (NC42V, NC802Y, NC803W/809W, NC887W), marketed at an average price of US$17,500 with ATC 340, were sold to civil owners by the end of 1930.
The S-39-B (ATC 375), introduced in 1931 with a larger fin and rudder, sold eight examples (NC50V and 51V, NC53V to 55V, NC58V, NC888W, and NC896W) to private owners at $20,000, plus one to the US Army Air Corps as the YIC-28 32-411, plus 9 conversions from S-39-A.
Two S-39-B, refitted with 400 hp R-1340 Wasp engines, were re-certified as S-39-C.
The final example, an S-39-CS Special named “Spirit of Africa”, was built in 1932 to an order from explorers and photographers Martin and Osa Johnson. In a giraffe paint scheme, the Spirit of Africa covered more than 60,000 miles across Africa and East Indies.
Several civilian S-39s were operated by the Civil Air Patrol during World War II on search and rescue missions.
A total of 21 were built.
S-39 / S-39-A
Engine: Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior, 300 hp
Prop: 2 blade, ground adjustable, metal
Wingspan: 52 ft 0 in
Length: 38 ft 11 in
Wing area: 320 sq.ft
Empty weight: 2678 lb
MTOW: 4000 lb
Max speed: 115 mph
Cruise: 97 mph
Ceiling: 18,000 ft
Range: 375 miles
Seats: 4
S-39B
Engine: Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior, 300 hp
Prop: 2 blade, ground adjustable, metal
Wingspan: 52 ft 0 in
Length: 38 ft 11 in
Wing area: 320 sq.ft
Seats: 5
All Aero 