Santiago de Cuba is Cuba's second city. As this old postcard shows, Pan Am Clippers docked right at the main railway station. Pan Am also used the city's airfield. NC15066 lost in an accident at Fort-de-France, Martinique in August 1945. Photo from: Mateos

False markings, serial in small print at the top of the tail. Is actually ex N16934.

False markings (serial very small at the top of the tail fin), is actually ex N16934 which never saw military service. The real 1061 was c/n 4344.

The first two S-43s of Inter Island Airways and three older S-38s, the nearest of which is NC4V Molokai. We gather that only two S-38s remained in service by 1939. Photo from: Smithsonian Institution

A seaplane journey to Latin America on Pan Am started here at Dinner Key in Miami. The terminal building is now the Miami City Hall. NC15064 to Panair do Brazil as PP-PAW.

One S-43 was delivered to the USSR, to Glavsevmorput (Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route). It is seen on the Khimki Reservoir in Moscow. There was a seaplane station on the western shore of the reservoir, opposite the North River Terminal. Photo from: Dan Shumaker collection

Third S-43, the first for Pan Am. Also flew as NX15063 and deliveries to Pan Am were reportedly delayed. To Panair do Brasil subsidiary in 1940 as PP-PBA. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

Returning from its trip to Juneau, NC16927 again called at the City Float in Ketchikan but the flying boat spent the night moored at a settlement then called Wacker City, on the west side of Ward(s) Cove. More test flights followed and larger four-engined S-42s docked exclusively in Ward Cove according to local historian Dave Kiffer. These flights were discontinued in 1940. Photo from: Dan Shumaker collection

On 7 August 1938 this PAA Baby Clipper made an experimental flight to Juneau from Seattle, via Ketchikan. A landplane route to Juneau via Prince George, Canada was eventually chosen. This S-43 was later converted to twin-finned S-43B. Note the rather inconvenient access through a dorsal hatch to keep the hull watertight. Photo from: Dan Shumaker collection

The prototype of the S-43, first flown as NX15061 on 5 June 1935 from the Houstatonic River, Connecticut. As we can see here, the 'Baby Clipper' reached Hawaii per ship to become Inter Island Airways fleet number 5. Photo from: State of Hawaii Department of Transportation

This was the third S-43 for Inter Island Airways. Many sources claim that this aircraft became N326 at some point, but this is not correct (N326 was c/n 4342). This airframe was later preserved at the Pima Air & Space Museum, falsely marked as US Marines 1061. Photo from: Dan Shumaker collection

Inter Island Airways of Hawaii was the first airline to fly the S-43, with the prototype NC15061 entering service in December 1935 and NC15062 in February 1936. The company became Hawaiian Airlines on 1 October 1941. NC15062 later acquired by Reeve Aleutian Airways as a spares source. Forward fuselage survives at the Alaska Aviation Museum, Lake Hood. Photo from: State of Hawaii Department of Transportation

Aéromaritime received a fourth S-43 for its West African line early in 1938. Later that year the French company also acquired the sole Norwegian S-43, LN-DAG Valkyrien, which became F-AREX. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

Wearing the company flag on the nose. Based on the backgrond and details of the ramp, we think this is the Marignane seaplane station on the Étang de Berre. Note that there was also a military seaplane base at Berre-l'Étang. Photo from: Aéromaritime

The new flagship of Norwegian aviation. Transatlantic services with this aircraft did not materialize and after two years it was sold to Aéromaritime as F-AREX. Photo from: Norsk Teknisk Museum

What a beautiful plane. The flag worn seems to be a variation on the flag of mother company Chargeurs Réunis, which was white with five red stars. Photo from: Aéromaritime

A subsidiary of the Chargeurs Réunis shipping company, Aéromaritime plied a route along the west coast of Africa between Dakar and Pointe-Noire in Congo-Brazzaville. Photo from: Aéromaritime

Delivered to Inter-Island Airways in January 1937 as NC16934. To Alaska Airlines in July 1949 as N16934. Damaged and sank in Chignik Bay, Alaska (not Tetlin Lake as widely reported) on 1 June 1951. Cancelled as destroyed that same month. Often reported as becoming N326, but this is not correct (N326 was c/n 4342). Wreck salvaged from Chignik Bay by Gary Larkins in 1981 and donated to the US Marine Corps Air-Ground Museum that same year, then to Pima in 1985. By August 1991 the markings '2-MJ-4' were applied. The markings visible in this photo are fake (the real 1061 was c/n 4344) and were applied in the late 1990s or in early 2000.