From the state archives: "The Sikorsky S-40 was placed in operation by PAA in 1931. THe plane which carried 36 passengers at 110 miles an hour operate on the trans-Caribbean routes. The S-40s were the first four-engined aircraft to be regularly used in commercial air service by an American flag airline. They vastly improved the Latin American service and provided a laboratory in the Caribbean for the development of techniques of overwater flying later used by PAA in inaugurating trans-oceanic services."

The Sikorsky S-40 was the first aircraft to carry a "Clipper" name. It had 38 seats, flew at 115 mph, had a 34,000 lb. max gross takeoff weight, and a 900 mile range. The S-40 was slow so it was used for shorter flights to Mexico, the Bahamas and Havana, Cuba. Only 3 were built and all for Pan American. The registrations were: NC80V, NC81V, NC752V.