S-35 Sikorsky s-35 Background
General Characteristics and Performance S-35
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- PERFORMANCE (18,000 lbs.)
- GENERAL DATA
- POWERPLANT RATINGS
- Production History
- WINGS OVER THE ATLANTIC By Mitch Mayborn
- Extremely clean, with a minimum of external bracing, 101
- EDITORS NOTE
General Characteristics and Performance S-35 DIMENTIONS
WEIGHTS
PERFORMANCE (18,000 lbs.)
GENERAL DATA
POWERPLANT RATINGS Standard Day at Sea Level
Production History S-35 production consisted of 1 aircraft. Igor Sikorsky anticipated many orders would follow after the publicity of a successful Atlantic crossing. Additional Information: The remaining portion of this essay is a reprint of an article which appeared in WINGS Magazine in August 1972. It appears to be historically accurate but as with any older historical event there are always three different versions of what occurred. WINGS OVER THE ATLANTIC By Mitch Mayborn  Extremely clean, with a minimum of external bracing, 101 ft. winged Sikorsky S-35 appears to hover like a dragonfly during an August test flight over Roosevelt Field. Note wide 18 ft. undercarriage track, slender fuselage. Aircraft had a top speed of just under 150 mph. and a cruise of 120 mph, outstanding for its day.
WEIGHTS
EDITOR'S NOTE: On September 21, 1926, the first attempt at a non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris ended in failure. At stake was the $25,000 Raymond Orteig prize and a large share of aviation history. Events from the first conception of the idea to the choice of pilots to the final days of testing bespoke tragedy. Fraught with controversy, indecision and just plain bad luck, the ill-fated venture had little chance at success from the outset. During the following spring, another, far less imposing assault would be made on the Atlantic. Modest in its single engined equipment and one man crew, it would succeed where a giant trimotor had failed. But that is another story. This account is not as well known ... failure seldom is. But had the men who launched their campaign to fly the Atlantic, one year before Charles Lindbergh did it, planned more carefully, theirs might have been the glory. They had an exceptional aircraft. Their pilots were well known, if not experienced in multi-engined aircraft, and they had the backing that Lindbergh did not. Still, they failed. Yet their failure was but another chapter in the heritage of flight. This History of the airplane which was to play the major role in the first New York to Paris flight was the big trimotor Sikorsky S- 35. Clumsy by today's standards, the aircraft was an aeronautical innovator in 1926 and remarkably free of drag for a three engine biplane, its wing-mounted engines faired into streamlined nacelle tubes, braced between upper and lower wings with a minimum of extraneous support. Originally intended for a commercial airliner, it had been extensively modified for the long distance flight. The wings were extended to 101 ft. and were strengthened to hold extra fuel tanks. At the same time, the interior structure was lightened so that the- major portion of the load could be in fuel and oil. Thus, the empty weight of the big S-35 was only four tons. An all metal structure covered by fabric, the entire frame-work of the body was composed of duralumin channels, tubes and plates assembled with steel bolts and rivets. There was no welding on any part of the structure and there were no wires or structural cross members in the cabin area. The entirely enclosed cockpit had shatterproof, sliding glass windows at the top and sides, and dual controls had been provided for the pilots. Behind the cockpit the passenger cabin contained space for 450 cu. ft. of cargo or 12 passengers. This cabin was four ft. wide, six ft. high, and fifteen and one half ft. long. At the front of the cabin were two doors which gave access to the wing, enabling mechanics to inspect the wing mounted engines while in flight. Radio equipment was also installed for regular or short wave transmission. Sikorsky had fitted self-compensating rudders on the S-35, so the plane could fly level with any two of its three engines in operation. Its wing structure was made up entirely of duralumin, with the main spar built up to I-section by four duralumin angles, riveted to the central web of flat sheet duralumin. These ribs were formed from light sheet duralumin channels and angles, and high tensile strength tie rods were used in the internal drift bracing system. The ailerons were hinged on an auxiliary spar behind the main spar. They tapered at the tip and blended into the wing at point of attachment. Tail surfaces were built similar to the construction of the wings and were fabric covered. The stabilizer was adjustable for trim during flight, while the landing gear, of the divided axle type, was made entirely of steel and bolted together, the wheel spread of the gear being 18 ft. 4 in. The S-35 was capable of flying 4,330 miles, and of taking off at the proposed weight of 24,200 pounds with a 21.85 pound wing loading. Its three Gnome- Rhone Jupiter engines developed a total of 1,260.horsepower, enough to sustain flight on any two operating engines. Just before the flight, designer Igor Sikorsky proclaimed, "The plane is in as excellent condition as any machine has ever been." And yet the venture failed. leading up to the final tragic conclusion of what could have been one of aviation's most historic flights, a series of minor accidents were to occur, culminating in the fiery crash of the S-35 and death of two men. Things began going wrong from the beginning. To start with, one of the originators of the flight idea, Captain Homer Berry, United States Army Air Service, Ret., was informed that he would accompany the trip, only if there were three pilots. Berry replied bitterly in a statement to the press, "Two years ago I got the idea of this flight and went around the country getting backers for the project. I was at that time told that I would be pilot of the attempt as soon as the plane was ready. I then went to South America on a business trip and when I returned was informed I would be co-pilot. Now I find that I am out in the cold altogether." Claiming he was betrayed by his back- ers, Berry and Captain Rene Fonck, now the chief pilot, were to continue arguing for several weeks, but to no avail, Homer Berry was out. But he would not be the first, nor the last. French Air ace, Rene Fonck, credited with 75 German kills in WW I, and with claims for 50 more, had been selected as chief pilot for the trip with a weekly salary of $250 and the power to choose his crew. During the war, the fighter pilot had been decorated 24 times, for bravery in combat, but never, it seemed, for tact or diplomacy. Backing the flight was the organization known as, The Argonauts, Inc. Robert Jackson, paper manufacturer from Concord, N.J., was its president and, at the time of the Berry-Fonck argument, he was in Paris "awaiting" the arrival of the S-35 and its crew. Vice-President of the Argonauts was Colonel Harold E. Hart- ney, wartime commander of the U.S. First Pursuit Squadron in France. Hartney who had managed the tempestuous American ace, frank Luke, was the coordinator of the project on the American side of the Atlantic. There were conferences. Bernard Sadler, attorney for the Argonauts, arrived at the airport radiating determination and left two hours later downcast. He had, along with Hartney, Berry, Lt. Allen Snody, Fonck, and an interpreter, been discussing the problem of the pilots. Sadler told Fonck, "You are just an employee and can be fired at any time." He further intimated that this just might happen if the row wasn't settled soon. The group huddled in a corner of the hangar. Sadler talked. Hartney talked. Fonck talked. The interpreter talked. Berry listened. Pencils were tapped on chests, hands were waved, but the message was plain-Berry would have to go. Fonck, the dapper little French ace, looking like he had just stepped out of a cigarette ad, was apparently too cocky for Berry. At one point in the disagreement, with Fonck officially in as chief pilot, Hartney in as arbitrator, and Berry out in the cold, Fonck said, "Homer Berry did not get his rank of Captain from the United States Army. He got it from a 'business trip' to South America when he fought for Pancho Villa in Mexico. He fought for both sides for the fun of it. In the American army in France during the war he was only a sergeant. He.is trying to force my hand, to make me take him along. Perhaps at the end of the week I will announce the names of the men of my crew-a radio operator and a mechanic-but I will not take Berry. About 200 pilots in America have asked for permission to go along, and as many in France, naturally Berry is disappointed, but he is an outsider." At this last statement, Berry bristled. "So he calls me an outsider does he? I'll show him that he is badly mistaken. No Frog, no matter how many medals he has, can come over here and push me out of this flight." However, four days later on Sept. 4, Captain Homer Berry dropped out of the flight and gave up all claims to the honor pf piloting the S-35- across the Atlantic. This gave U.S. naval pilot, Lieutenant Allan P. Snody, an aide to Navy Air Chief, Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, clear sailing as official co-pilot to Fonck, and he was immediately given leave to participate in the New York to Paris flight. Berry's dropping out by no means cleared up all of the controversy. Petty jealousies, some of them idiotic, re- mained. In the midst of the Fonck-Berry row, Lieutenant G. O. Neville, an auto- motive engineer for the Vacuum Oil Co., and flight engineer on the New York to Paris S-35, withdrew from the organization. In the race for endorsement money, a dispute had arisen over the oil to be used for the flight. Lt. Noville, who had been with Commander Richard E. Byrd on his Polar flight in a similar capacity, stated that Gargoyle Mobiloil "B" would be used on the Trans-Atlantic attempt. Fonck, who had already pocketed the cash, said that a British motor oil would be used. Noville quit. Prior to his work on the S-35, Noville had used the same oil in the Josephine Ford, Byrd's Fokker, and had found it satisfactory, even in the arctic conditions encountered. But Fonck had, evidently, found the British lubricant even more satistactory, and with his palm well greased, the British motor oil was in and Mobiloil, like Berry, out.  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