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Navy F4-B4

The aircraft is a three-quarter scale model of a Navy F4-B4 produced by Boeing in 1931.  The Army version was a B12.  This aircraft was powered by a 550 hp Pratt & Whitney R1340-16 engine.  It could reach 160 knots and had a range of 370 miles on a fuel tank that carried 55 gallons.  It was equipped with wing racks for two 116-pound bombs, two 0.30 caliber machine guns and a 55-gallon drop fuel tank.  The aircraft could reach a ceiling of 27,000 feet, weighed about 3,000 pounds and had a 30-foot wingspan by 21 feet in length.  This was the last bi-plane produced during the inter-war period. The Navy received 71 of their aircraft and the Army got 90 of the B12 from 1930-1933.  F4-B4s served at sea until 1938 and flew in Hawaii from the aircraft carriers Lexington and Saratoga which were converted cruisers.  P-12s were stationed on Oahu at Wheeler Army Airfield. During World War II these aircraft were used as radio controlled target drones and were redesignated F4-B4A.  This aircraft is an example of an interim advance in military aviation which was implemented in airspace over Hawaii. 


Terrazo Floor Map 

Underneath the airfcraft is a 20-foot by 20-foot terrazzo floor map of the island of Oahu showing the 15 airfields and emergency landing airstrips that existed in 1944 near the end of World War II. There were also seaplane landing areas at Kaneohe Bay, Pearl Harbor and Keehi Lagoon. There may have been as many as 2,000 aircraft on Oahu at the height of World War II.




Sikorsky S-43 "Baby Clipper"

This model of the Sikorsky S-43 "Baby Clipper" was displayed in the Pacific Aerospace Museum at HNL from 1985-2000.  The museum grew into the Pacific Aviation Museum of Pearl Harbor now located at Ford Island.


Inter-Island Airways started flying from this airport on November 11, 1929 in Sikorsky S-38 amphibian aircraft which carried 9 passengers.  Inter-Island acquired three of the Sikorsky S-43 aircraft in 1936 and fed passengers to the Pan American Clippers. The S-43 could carry 15 passengers and travel at a speed of 190 miles per hour with a range of 775 miles.  It was 51 feet 2 inches long with a wingspan of 86 feet, weighed 12,750 pounds empty and could handle 19,096 pounds for maximum takeoff weight. The S-43 was powered by two 760 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet radial engines.


Fifty-three S-43 aircraft were built.  One was specially equipped for Howard Hughes, another went to William Vanderbilt and more than 12 were used by Pan American Airways to Cuba, the Caribbean area and South America.  Howard Hughes' S-43 had a large gasoline tank mounted internally to give him 12,000 pounds capacity.  He wanted to use it for an around the world flight but it was not the best for the mission.  Hughes and crew flew around the world in three days and 19.13 hours in 1937 in a Lockheed 14. There is one restored S-43 in California.


Hawaiian Airlines evolved from Inter-Island Airways in 1941 and on December 7, 1941 was the proud owner of three new DC-3 aircraft, two of which were damaged at the airport during the attack on Pearl Harbor.



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