Sikorsky S-38SB Osa's ArkPhotographed on 1 August 2003 at the EAA Air Venture convention, Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Martin and Osa Johnson were aviators and explorers who used two Sikorsky flying boats for their explorations in southern Africa, during 1933 and 1934, and they were the first to fly over Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya, in Africa. Osa Johnson flew the original of this Sikorsky S-38SB 8-seat replica, which was painted with zebra stripes and named Osa's Ark, and they also had a Sikorsky S-39CS, which was painted with giraffe spots and named Spirit of Africa. Working out of Nairobi, Kenya, they flew over 60,000 miles, and photographed and filmed their explorations, which Martin Johnson wrote about in Over African Jungles and they presented in their 1935 film Babonna. Martin Johnson died in 1937, from injuries suffered in a commercial airplane crash, and Osa Johnson died in 1953. The Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum, in Chaunte, Kansas, is dedicated to their work.
Picture added on 06 November 2008
Added by Peter John Langsdale on 08 November 2008.