A very interesting photo of a CNAC S-43 at the Kai Tak seaplane pier. Airline service to Hong Kong had barely started in 1937, but a control tower, built in 1935, seems to be visible, checkered, to the right of the tailfin. The CNAC logo, the character 中, seems to be painted on the rudder. Two S-43s were transferred to CNAC by Pan Am. NC16930 reportedly named Chekiang. Reg cancelled as 'exported to China' on 8 August 1937, but the aircraft crashed on that very day while en route from Hong Kong to Shanghai. The seven passengers survived but three of the four crew were killed. Photo from: SFO Museum

KNILM Dutch East Indies version with the double tail. The experimental "X" prefix was required by the CAA (now FAA) for company flight tests in the US before delivery. Photo by Howard Levy.

In 1940 the Netherlands East Indies airline KNILM opened a Java - Netherlands New Guinea route, via Celebes (Sulawesi) and the Moluccas. Two Grumman G-21A Goose amphibians soon turned out to be too small and two S-43s were ordered of a twin-tailfin variant. A third example was acquired from Hawaiian Airlines. Note the NEI reg with X prefix, which was required by US authorities for pre-delivery test flights. One year later on 26 December 1941, PK-AFT was lost to strafing Zero fighters at Lake Tondano, Sulawesi while apparently operating in support of a Dornier Do 24 unit of the Dutch navy. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution