# WINGS OVER THE WEST INDIES PAN AM SIKORSKY S-40 AIRCRAFT 77634

This charming 1930s travelogue, WINGS OVER THE WEST INDIES, shows a trip through the Caribbean aboard a Pan Am flying boat — the Sikorsky S-40. This one (if you look at 7:17) was registered as NC-80V, "American Clipper". The aircraft was an American sesquiplane amphibious flying boat built by Sikorsky in the early 1930s for Pan American World Airways. The film starts in Havana, shows Jamaica at the :59 mark, Haiti (2:00 mark), Santo Domingo (4 minute mark), Puerto Rico (5:23), St. Thomas (6:30) and Trinidad (7:20). Sikorsky designed the S-40 in response to a request from Juan Trippe, president of Pan American Airways, for a larger passenger carrying airplane. The S-40s could carry 38 passengers, a significant increase over the S-38's capacity of eight passengers. The aircraft featured a pantry with an electric refrigerator and stove as well as beautifully appointed smoking lounge with book-ended mahogany wood paneling. Six life rafts were carried on board. Despite its significant capacity increase, the S-40s were not the most aerodynamic aircraft due in large part to the numerous flying wires and strut braces that were used as an exterior support framework, hence the nickname "Flying Forest". Only three were built as Sikorsky was designing (during the maiden flight of the S-40) and building the more modern S-42 as a replacement aircraft. A total of three aircraft were built by the Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Division of the United Aircraft Corporation in Stratford,…

- Kind: Film
- Genres: Industrial and advertising
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/77634WingsOverWestIndies)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/77634WingsOverWestIndies?play=1)