Sikorsky PBS / VS-44 Excalibur

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Sikorsky - Lindbergh Specification - 1937 - США Sikorsky - VS-300 - 1939 - США

Страна Country: СШАUSA

Год Year: 1937

Летающая лодкаFlying boat

Sikorsky XPBS-1 и VS-44 Excalibur

На протяжении 1930-х годов ВМС США продолжали финансировать постройку сверхбольших летающих лодок. 29 июня 1935 года военные заказали Игорю Сикорскому создание прототипа океанского патрульного бомбардировщика XPBS-1.
   Летающая лодка, названная "Flying Dreadnought", оснащалась четырьмя моторами Pratt & Whitney XR-1830-68 Twin Wasp мощностью по 1050 л. с. (783 кВт). Первый полет лодка выполнила 13 августа 1937 года. Новинкой стала кормовая турель с 12,7-мм пулеметом - впервые такая турель была установлена на американском военном самолете; аналогичные пулеметы поставили в носовой и в средней части корпуса.
   XPBS-1 не предназначалась для запуска в серию, а единственный построенный экземпляр использовался патрульным подразделением ВМС США как транспортный самолет. Лодка разбилась в июне 1942 года.
   XPBS-1 послужила основой для создания гражданской транспортной лодки VS-44 Excalibur, оснащенной четырьмя моторами Whitney R-1830-S1C3-G мощностью по 1200 л. с. С полезной нагрузкой 2268 кг лодка могла пролететь 611 б км с крейсерской скоростью 257 км/ч, то есть быстрее и дальше, чем конкурирующая лодка Boeing 314 Clipper. Размах крыла VS-44 составил 37,79 м, а максимальная взлетная масса - 26082 кг.
   Компания "American Export Airlines" (AEA) заказала три лодки VS-44 для эксплуатации на планируемых к открытию трансатлантических линиях в Великобританию и Францию. Однако организация этих перевозок была запрещена Бюро по гражданской авиации США. 12 января 1942 года Авиационная транспортная служба ВМС США подписала с авиакомпанией AEA контракт на перевозки в военное время через Атлантику. Самолеты закупались под обозначением JR2S-1.
   10 февраля 1942 года авиакомпания получила временный гражданский сертификат на выполнение беспосадочных полетов из Нью-Йорка в Ирландию. Первый полет был выполнен 20 июня, перевозки продолжались всю войну. Лодки получили собственные имена Excalibur, Excambian и Exeter. Одна лодка затонула в октябре 1942 года, но две другие выполняли задания в интересах Транспортного командования ВВС Армии США до конца 1944 года. Эксплуатация лодок продолжалась и после войны. Одна разбилась в 1947 году в районе Монтевидео, Уругвай. Уцелевшая VS-44 Excambian была восстановлена и с 1997 года находится в экспозиции Авиационного музея Новой Англии в Виндзор-Локс, Коннектикут.

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Flight, September 1937

PATROL BOMBER
Trials of the New U.S. Navy Sikorsky: Cantilever Wing and "Full-depth" Hull

   THE marked resemblance of the new Sikorsky XPBS patrol bomber to our own Short Empire type of flying boat is an instance of how the design of such large boats is being directed, inevitably, into less mutable channels. Despite this affinity, the craft is essentially Sikorsky and is obviously a scaled-up and cleaned-up development of the successful S-42 model, the latest version of which is being used by Pan-American Airways for experimental transatlantic operation.
   According to the manufacturers, the XPBS "will afford the Navy Department an opportunity to compare the relative value as a National Defence weapon, both from a tactical and engineering viewpoint, of the large four-engine type and the smaller twin-engine type." The latter is exemplified in the Consolidated PBY boats now in extensive use.
   The new Sikorsky, which has four Pratt and Whitney Twin Wasp engines, has been under construction for more than two years. It is said that the mock-up alone, constructed of wood and fabric, took six months to complete.
   Those who have made long cruises in some of the older types of Service flying boats will be interested to learn that the XPBS is soundproofed throughout. Equipment includes a mechanic's workshop, a galley with electric stove, water distiller and dry ice refrigerator. Provision is made for the carriage of beaching gear.
   The armament includes bow, midships and tail gun turrets, the tail position being of exceptionally neat design.
   An innovation is the installation of a complete 110-volt electrical system with an auxiliary petrol engine.
   It may be significant that the wing-tip floats are not retractable as in the new Consolidated flying boats which have found such favour with the U.S. Navy. Obviously, the shape of the wing, the outer sections of which have a sharp taper does not lend itself easily to float retraction.
   In accordance with the U.S. Navy's policy with regard to prototypes, performance figures are being withheld, but it is safe to assume that the maximum speed of the XPBS lies very close to 200 m.p.h.
   Points which must have raised some problems in the design stages, due to the high-wing arrangement, are bomb stowage and methods of loading.

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Описание:Description:

Sikorsky XPBS-1 и VS-44 Excalibur
Flight, September 1937
PATROL BOMBER

Aeroplane Monthly 1977-02 / Vought-Sikorsky VS-44A /Preservation Profile/ (46)
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: N41881 [12]
Мировая Авиация 237
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: NC41881 [6]
Авиакомпания AEA окрасила все свои самолеты VS-44 в те же цвета, в которые были окрашены морские круизные лайнеры фирмы-учредителя "Four Aces shipping line". Интерьер лодок был выполнен на высоком уровне, с полноценными спальными местами и кухней. Изображен самолет NC41881 Excambian в окраске военного времени.

Aviation Historian 20 / M.Wickstead - A sky full of frontiers
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: NX41880 [2]
Only three Sikorsky VS-44s were built, plus one military XPBS-1, on which the commercial variant was based. The first to fly, NX41880 (later NC41880), seen here, made its maiden flight on January 18, 1942, with Blair at the controls. The original Excalibur crashed taking off at Botwood on October 3, 1942, killing 11 of the 37 aboard.
Aviation Historian 20 / M.Wickstead - A sky full of frontiers
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: N41881 [12]
After having been left derelict in Peru after a stint in South America in the 1950s, N41881 was acquired by Avalon Air Transport of California, which used it for the tourist trade to and from Catalina Island during 1957-67. It then passed to AAB, in whose colours it is seen here while in outside storage after being damaged in early 1969.
Aeroplane Monthly 1998-12 / M.Oakey, T.Harmsworth - News
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: N41881 [12]
Complete at last: Sikorsky VS-44A Excambian in the New England Air Museum on September 18, 1998.

Jane's All the World Aircraft 1938 / 03 - All the world's aeroplanes

The Sikorsky XPBS-1 Patrol-Bomber Flying-boat (four 1,050 h.p. Pratt & Whitney "Twin-Wasp" engines).
Flight 1940-03 / Flight

The Vought Sikorsky XPBS-1
Jane's All the World Aircraft 1938 / 03 - All the world's aeroplanes

The Sikorsky XPBS-1 Patrol-Bomber Flying-boat (four 1,050 h.p. Pratt & Whitney "Twin-Wasp" engines).
Flight 1937-09 / Flight
Flight 1937-09 / Flight
Flight 1937-09 / Flight

The new Sikorsky is much more eyeable than the S-42 model, due not only to its greater aerodynamic cleanness but to the shape of the wing and hull.

Aeroplane Monthly 1990-06 / S.Harding - Excambian reborn
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: NX41880 [2]
The first Sikorsky VS-44A, Excalibur, registered NX41880. The 'boat carries the American flag prominently on its bow, although it is not yet painted in the overall grey colour scheme all three flying-boats carried during their Naval Air Transport Service careers.
Мировая Авиация 237

Последним самолетом Игоря Сикорского стала 40-местная летающая лодка VS-44, обладавшая беспрецедентными летными данными и на протяжении почти всей Второй мировой войны перевозившая людей и грузы через Атлантику.
Aeroplane Monthly 1990-06 / S.Harding - Excambian reborn
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: NC41882
The third VS-44, NC41882 Exeter, in AEA’s wartime colour scheme of sky-blue upper surfaces and fuselage and light grey undersides, probably at the Marine Air Terminal, La Guardia, circa June 1942. This too was lost, in Uruguay on August 15, 1947, some time after the aircraft had passed through several ownerships after AEA.
Aeroplane Monthly 1977-02 / Vought-Sikorsky VS-44A /Preservation Profile/ (46)
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: NC41881 [6]
At Marine Air Terminal, La Guardia Field, May 1942
Aeroplane Monthly 1990-06 / S.Harding - Excambian reborn
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: NC41881 [6]
Excambrian photographed at the Marine Air Terminal at La Guardia in May 1942. During this period NX41881 was flying on the NATS service, operating a New York-Foynes, Ireland service from May 1942.
Aeroplane Monthly 1977-02 / Vought-Sikorsky VS-44A /Preservation Profile/ (46)
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: NC41881 [6]
Incorrectly named "Excalibur" in the late 1950s
Aeroplane Monthly 1990-06 / S.Harding - Excambian reborn
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: NC41881 [6]
The same aircraft nearly a quarter of a century earlier, during initial AEA operations, departing on a wartime Atlantic crossing in 1944. The eastern terminus of the America - UK shuttle was at Foynes in Ireland.
Aeroplane Monthly 1990-06 / S.Harding - Excambian reborn
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: N41881 [12]
Excambian in the livery of Avalon Air Transport, photographed in October 1958.
Aeroplane Monthly 1982-08
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: N41881 [12]
Avlon Airlines' Sikorsky VS-44A N41881 photographed in 1965
Aeroplane Monthly 1977-02 / Vought-Sikorsky VS-44A /Preservation Profile/ (46)
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: N41881 [12]
At Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, on September 10, 1976
Aeroplane Monthly 1990-06 / S.Harding - Excambian reborn
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: N41881 [12]
Excambian served with Antilles Air Boats from 1967 until 1969, when it was blown on to the rocks at St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. It is seen here departing St Croix the year before the accident.
Air Pictorial 1958-07 / Photo Review
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: N41881 [12]
Sole remaining example oj the Vought-Sikorsky VS-44-A (N41881; built 1943) 46-passenger, 185-m.p.h. cruise, flying-boat rides the step across Avalon Bay, Catalina Island. Powered by P. & W. R-1830-92s, the VS-44-A is a commercial adaptation of the Sikorsky XPBS-1 (Serial A-9995), a "one-off" U.S. Navy long-range patrol bomber of 1936. Concentration on quantity production of the Consolidated PBYs (R.A.F. Catalina) resulted in the 1942 cancellation of U.S.N, version of the VS-44-A - the JR2S-1 and JRK-1. Current owner, Avalon Air Transport of Long Beach, Calif.
Aeroplane Monthly 1990-06 / S.Harding - Excambian reborn
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: NC41881 [6]
Excambian under construction in mid-1941. The aircraft already carries the overall grey paint scheme. Note the hinged wing leading-edge sections on either side of each Pratt & Whitney engine. They served as fold-down servicing platforms for the engines.
Air-Britain Archive 1983-04
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: CX-AIR
The Sikorsky VS-44A CX-AIR with large and rather crudely painted markings, at anchor, presumably on the River Plate. This aircraft was seized when gun-running to the Paraguayan Civil War in 1947.
Aeroplane Monthly 1990-06 / S.Harding - Excambian reborn

The cockpit and instrument panel of a Sikorsky S-44A photographed in April 1942. A placard states that ”Engine No 1 is port side out board”.
Aviation Historian 20 / M.Wickstead - A sky full of frontiers
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: N41881 [12]
A touch of glamour - Charles Blair and Maureen O’Hara in the cockpit of VS-44 Excalibur VII (the former Excambian), which AAB acquired from Avalon Air Transport in 1968. O’Hara starred in numerous films with John Wayne, who became a regular visitor to the Blairs’ home on St Croix, and who said of his frequent co-star, "She’s my kind of woman... a great guy".
Aeroplane Monthly 1983-07 / P.Jarrett - Grapevine
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: N41881 [12]
The last Sikorsky VS-44A flying boat, N41881 Excambian, is to join the Bradley Air Museum in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, on permanent loan from the US Naval Air Museum in Pensacola, Florida.
Aeroplane Monthly 1990-06 / S.Harding - Excambian reborn
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: N41881 [12]
Looking rather the worse for wear, Excambian is seen here in outside storage at the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola, Florida in 1979, still in the livery of Antilles Air Boats.
Aeroplane Monthly 1990-06 / S.Harding - Excambian reborn
Регистрационный номерRegistry number: N41881 [12]
Excambian’s sorry-looking hull, securely ensconced in the temporary hangar erected to shelter the aircraft and its restorers from the elements.
Aeroplane Monthly 1977-02 / Vought-Sikorsky VS-44A /Preservation Profile/ (46)