Sikorsky C-6A Type, 30-400 (Source: aerofiles.com)

This airplane was a Sikorsky C-6A, 30-399. It was a twin-engined amphibious craft, with a boat hull and a retractable landing gear for land use. The photograph, right, is of sister ship 30-400, courtesy of aerofiles.com. I exhibit it here to illustrate the whole airplane in flight. 30-399 was one of ten C-6As purchased by the army and used mainly for transport duties and target towing.

The photograph, below, of 30-399 comes to us courtesy of site visitor Brad Purinton. The reason we know the airplane is 30-399 is because the number is stenciled on the fuselage near the center right of the image. The number is clearly readable on the original image. The airman standing near 30-399 was unidentified. He appears to wear the wings of an aviator. He also appears to have a tobacco pipe in his right hand.

Sikorsky C-6A, 30-399, Date & Location Unknown (Source: Purinton)

Sikorsky 30-399 (MSN 514-2?) was manufactured ca. 1929. It appeared once in the Tucson Register, on Sunday, June 21, 1931 at 6:00PM. It was flown by Lt. R.H. LeBron who carried two unidentified passengers. Based at San Diego, CA, Rockwell FIeld, they were westbound from Midland, TX back to San Diego. We know why they were in Tucson, because the Air Corps Newsletter for September 18, 1931, page 336 contained the following flight information by LeBrou.

Air Corps Newsletter, September 18, 1931 (Source: Woodling)

Oakland Tribune, July 26, 1933 (Source: newspapers.com)

Two years later, in 1933, 30-399 was assigned with the 64th Service Squadron at March Field, Riverside, CA. It suffered a tragic accident when it lost a wing after a strut failed. It crashed July 25, 1933 at Oceanside, CA. An account of the accident at the Flight Safety Foundation Web site states that the airplane crashed at sea, but local news accounts (below and at right) described it as crashing near a home on land.

All seven crew and passengers were killed. The Los Angeles Times, the Modesto News-Herald and the Oakland Tribune, right, of July 26, 1933 reported the accident and loss of lives. As a result of this accident, all remaining Air Corps C-6s and C-6As were withdrawn from use and scrapped.

The same story appeared in the Fresno Bee (CA) on the same date. A photograph of the wreckage was included with that article, but it was not reproduced well enough to exhibit here.

The San Bernardino Daily Sun reported that the crash was the most disastrous to-date in the history of March Field, and that it was only the second crash of an army "bomber" (the press called it a bomber, although it was used by the army as a utility aircraft) based at Riverside.

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