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This Twin Engined Seaplane Survived Pearl Harbor, Spends Its Days in a Cozy Museum

It's late-spring cleaning here at autoevolution. After nearly a year of traveling the country, showing you the most extraordinary items we could find in the automotive, aerospace, and motorcycle fields, there were bound to be one or two that slipped through the cracks.
Sikorsky Seaplane Steven F Udvar Hazy Center 8 photos
Photo: Benny Kirk/autoevolution
Sikorsky JRS-1Sikorsky JRS-1Sikorsky JRS-1Sikorsky JRS-1Sikorsky JRS-1Sikorsky JRS-1Sikorsky JRS-1
Well, it's a pity this Sikorsky JRS-1 that survived the attack on Pearl Harbor is one of the names on that list. But gosh darn it, we're going to make up for it right here, right now. You see, not every military airplane present at the Pearl Harbor Naval Station was a fast, nimble fighter like a Grumman Wildcat or a Curtiss Warhawk. Alongside all of those fighters was a fleet of amphibious seaplanes that did all the heavy lifting other Navy planes simply couldn't.

Of course, the most iconic of these seaplanes was the Consolidated PBY Catalina. But a whole host of different designs graced U.S. Navy service between December 1941 and the end of the war in September 1945. Dubbed the Baby Clipper, the civilian variant of the JRS-1 was called the Sikorsky S-43. It was one of the most comfortable and leisurely forms of air passenger service in the late 1930s and early 40s.

Despite only 53 examples built over its lifetime, the Baby Clipper served passenger duties everywhere from South America, Europe, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and the United States. With four 100-gallon fuel tanks on offer, The Baby Clipper could muster a range of just over 750 miles pulling around 70 percent throttle the entire journey. This particular example left its factory floor in Stratford, Connecticut, in July 1938.

Powering all 50-plus JRS-1 airframes was a pair of nine-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet radial engines cranking out a modest 750 horsepower each. It's the same configuration this Baby Clipper was sporting alongside ten other airframes stationed at Pearl Harbor on the fateful day of December 7th, 1941.

Sikorsky JRS\-1
Photo: Benny Kirk/autoevolution
On that day, this JRS-1 sported a very different paint scheme to the bare metal one we see today. It was decked out with a silver base coat with black on the bottom hull. The tail surfaces were painted dark green with a prominent red band encircling the rear fuselage.

In the end, all this did was make this Baby Clipper a more tantalizing-looking target for the swarm of Japanese Zero Fighters, accompanied by Val and Kate dive bombers. But while countless U.S. warships and aircraft didn't make it out in one piece that day, all ten JRS-1s managed to survive. Undoubtedly heavily damaged, but still in far better shape than some of the other hardware in the water that morning.

It was only after the attack that all remaining JRS-1s in service at Pearl Harbor and elsewhere had their elaborate paint schemes removed in favor of more combat-ready regalia. They were also retrofitted to launch depth charges capable of sinking enemy submarines, similar to the way an Army Air Corps strategic bomber dropped bombs over land targets.

This JRS-1 continued to serve in this role until September 1942. It was stricken from the Navy record in August 1944 after two more years of service at the Commander Fleet Airship Wing 31 at Moffett Field, California. For the next 16 years, the airplane sat mothballed outdoors, exposed to all the weather and elements you could think of.

Sikorsky JRS\-1
Photo: Steven Udvar-Hazy Center
Hence, by the time it managed to find a home at the Silver Hill Facility (now Paul Garber Facility) in Suitland, Maryland, it was sure looking pretty worse for wear. Five decades years later, the airplane was approved for restoration at the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar at the Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport in Chantilly, Virginia.

Though not yet fully restored, the seaplane is on display in the Museum's main hangar, where people can put some respect for the name of a plane that deserves it in the most profound way possible. Check back soon for more from our two-week-long spring cleaning session from all our amazing trips this year here on autoevolution.
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Editor's note: Article contains combination of self taken and formally requested photos.

 

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