Prototype S-39         NX813M/NX963M  
900           S-39A           NC42V
901           S-39A/B        NC887W
902           S-39B           NC888W
903           S-39A/B         NC802Y
904           S-39A/B         NC803W
905           S-39A           NC804W
906           S-39B           NC896W
907           S-39A/B         NC805W
908           S-39A           NC806W
909           S-39A           NC807W
910           S-39A           NC808W
911           S-39A/C         NC809W
912           S-39B           NC50V
913           S-39B           NC51V
914           S-39CS          NC52V
915           S-39B           NC53V
916           S-39B           NC54V
917           S-39B           NC55V
918           S-39C           NC1933, NC14326
920           S-39B           NC58V

[S/N] 911      S-39C   NC-809W      1932
One of three S-39's operated by the New York American (now the Journal-American) No. 911 was the only one not destroyed while in their service. (See 915 and 918) The Wasp Jr. S1A powered plane was sold by the American in 1934 to Jacob Rupert, Inc., New York City. Rupert sold it in 1935 to Beech-Air Sales Co., Inc., New York City who operated it until sometime in 1937. 0. J. Whitney of Mew York City (later of Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn) used it from 1937 through 1939. Sold to E. W. Wiggins, Edgewood, Rhode Island in 1939. A letter from Jack R. Hughes, chief pilot for Johnson Flying Service, indicates that NC-809W was purchased by Johnson Flying Service, Missoula, Montana sometime in 1939 for $5500. The purpose was to use the S-39 in fire-fighting. How­ever the performance was not an good as expected and it was sold to Vernon Bookwalter, Hockford Bay, Idaho, sometime after 1947 for $6000. Bookwalter used it on Coeur d'Alene Lake and eventually took the plane with him to Alaska where he is currently with the FAA at Anchorage. One of Johnson's mechanics reported in 1954 that he saw the plane at the Spenard-Hood Seaplane Base on the outskirts of Anchorage with the left wing panel removed. Charles Scheetz further reported that it carried a sign, "Do not rob anything off this ship, it is going to be fixed."

A newspaper photo and caption from the Anchorage Daily Times, July 11, 1957, sent by Bill Fike, states, "One of the grand old planes of the air age, OLD GRANDAD by name, is being rebuilt by a local couple to serve the hunting lodge at Two Lakes which they are in the process of building. Vic and Monda Lenhart bought the 1932 model Sikorsky in 1953 and have flown it around the territory. They are using parts from a second Sikorsky they own, a plane used by the famous explorers, Osa and Martin Johnson, in their travels in Africa."

No. 911 now remains as one of two existing S-39 aircraft. (Author's note: The caption mentions a "second Sikorsky". This leads to speculation that there is still an S-38 existing. Johnson's S-38, No. 414-20 was reportedly destroyed but this was never confirmed.

“NC809W, S/N 911, had crashed into the water of Two Lakes, Alaska, back in 1957 (where it remains to this day, and it’s owned by Greg Herrick), but the wing center section had been replaced prior to the crash. That center section was located in Anchorage and became the basis for the restoration’s center section. Finding that center section proved to be critical, as it helped allow Dick to convert his S-39B to a C model, with a 400-hp Wasp Junior installed, a higher gross weight, and all 95 gallons of fuel in four tanks mounted in the center section. (The B model had two 14-gallon fuel tanks in the forward portion of the hull, with two wing tanks mounted in the center section.) 809W had been the very first B model converted to a C model by the Sikorsky factory.”

Search Is On For Sunken Sikorsky

Article from - Pacific Flyer January 2001 - Page B27

Minnesota-based vintage aircraft collector, Greg Herrick, is after his most elusive prey yet:  a 1930 Sikorsky S-39C amphibian that's sitting on the bottom of a lake in Alaska.

Herrick, whose collection includes such rarities as a 1937 Cunningham-Hall PT 6F, first began his search for a Sikorsky S-39 years ago. It began like all his other hunts, with a search for rare types profiled in the late Joe Juptner's nine-volume U.S. Civil Aircraft series.

Then he combs the FAA register to see how many of a certain type are still around and who owns them. In 1996, he found three Sikorsky S-39s: one in a museum, one not salvageable and one whose owner didn't call Herrick back for six months.

"When he finally did call," reported Herrick, "he told me I could have it but that I'd have to bring it up from the bottom of a lake." The plane had sunk in Two Lakes, Alaska., 150 miles west of Anchorage, in 1958 and hadn't been touched since.

Luckily, Herrick had the re­sources to continue the search despite the daunting odds. The tenacious Herrick tracked down the S-39's pilot, Victor Lenhart [not a Register pilot], by calling every Victor Lenhart listed in a nationwide phonebook on the internet. On the 38th try, he found the 78-year-old Lenhart alive and well in Cornucopia, Wisconsin. 

Lenhart was reluctant to return to the crash site because of unhappy memories. Although no one was killed in the mach Lenhart and his wife lost most of their possessions and their dream of starting a hunting lodge at Two Lakes. But at Herrick's urging, he flew to Alaska and to point out where he thought the plane had sunk.   Alas, Herrick's sonar was unable to find the plane.

It was a park surveyor's map that gave the distance of the wreck from different points on shore that finally led to the discovery of the S-39-C in 200 feet of water. That was the good news.  The bad news is that the first attempt to lift it ended in failure last August. Lines hooked to the plane snapped as boats tried pulling it to the surface. Forced to regroup, Herrick has decided to return to Two Lakes this spring with a decompression chamber. This will let scuba divers to spend more time clearing debris from the plane before they try again to lift it.

Plan B is expected to cost $110,000 on top of the $145,000 already spent on the salvage effort so far. "What the hell," said Herrick. "You only live once."