P-BDAL Sikorsky S-38B
(c/n 214-16)
These early Panair
do Brasil images are not the best, but they are historic. The S-38s
were used
on routes to open up the
Amazon region in the early 1930s. Basically these routes ran from
Belem
to Manaus (with many intermediate stops). In
the later 1930s the service was expanded to terminate
in either Tabatinga or Porto
Velho. The airline had six S-38s when it was founded in
1930. Four
of them came from the NYRBA
Line. This one, along with P-BDAK was an ex Pan American
aircraft (ex NC145M). It was later
re-registered PP-PAL. A seventh S-38B was acquired in
1932 and registered PP-PAM. This was ex NC73K
but I am not sure who the original owner was.
PP-PAL was written
off in July 1933 at Rio de Janeiro.