Martin and Osa Johnson with the Sikorsky S-39 float plane they flew around Africa in the 1930s to film exotic animals in their natural habitat. Pioneers in airborne wildlife photography, the Johnsons became world famous for their exploits in the early years of both aviation and motion pictures, making them the forerunners of all wildlife filmmakers. (Courtesy photo )

LONDONDERRY – Want to see a 90-year-old safari movie made in Africa by pioneering aviators whose special plane would later boast a Granite State connection?

Then take off to the Aviation Museum of N.H. on Thursday, Sept. 15, when the museum presents “Martin and Osa Johnson: Adventure’s First Couple,” a combination lecture and movie screening.

The special guest speaker will be Dick Jackson of Rochester, a long-time aircraft restoration expert who spent 40 years restoring a Sikorsky S-39 flying boat identical to the type used by the Johnsons.

The program starts at 6 p.m. and is open to the public. Tickets available at the door: $10 per person, general admission. All proceeds support the non-profit Aviation Museum’s education programming.

The Aviation Museum of N.H. is located at 27 Navigator Road, Londonderry, N.H. For directions and more info, visit www.aviationmuseumofnh.org.

The evening opens with a review of the extraordinary career of the Johnsons, a Kansas couple who gained worldwide fame in the early 20th century for far-flung exploits combining adventure, aviation and wildlife photography.

Often wearing classic safari outfits and topped by pith helmets, the duo journeyed deep into Africa and Asia in the 1920s and 1930s, getting the first motion pictures of exotic wildlife in its native habitat.

Back home in the U.S. and in Europe, they achieved great popularity on the lecture circuit by recounting their exploits in foreign lands.

After Martin Johnson learned to fly, they used Sikorsky float planes painted with zebra and giraffe markings to reach remote regions of Africa and Asia, and also photograph wildlife from the air.

As filmmakers, the couple produced several wildlife documentary films chronicling their adventures. These also proved immensely popular, laying the groundwork for all wilderness filmmaking to follow.

The evening will include a screening of “Baboona” (1935), a documentary the Johnsons compiled from film they shot in Africa in the early 1930s, much of it aerial photography.

The movie features encounters with wild creatures on the ground, including rhinos, lions, leopards and, of course, baboons, providing an invaluable look at Africa during the early part of the 20th century.

“Baboona” is not recommended for children due to graphic scenes of violence that include the shooting and killing of animals.

“Martin and Osa Johnson: Adventure’s First Couple” is the latest in a series of humanities programs planned for 2022 by the Aviation Museum of N.H.. The series is supported in part by Grappone Auto and the Sidore Foundation.

The program will be presented by Jeff Rapsis, executive director of the Aviation Museum of N.H. Rapsis prepared the program with assistance from the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum of Chanute, Ks – Osa Johnson’s hometown.

“The story of the Johnsons is one that combines aviation with so much else that humans find fascinating,” Rapsis said. “Their work is worth looking at today because it’s about topics that remain fascinating: animals, wildlife, adventure, and exotic places.”

“But now, so many decades later, their work has an added layer because it displays attitudes that prevailed a century ago in topics such as gender roles, treatment of animals, and race,” Rapsis said. “As such, it can teach us a lot.”

At the height of their fame, Martin Johnson was killed in 1937 in an airplane crash in California. Osa Johnson later wrote a best-selling book, “I Married Adventure,” which recounted the couple’s exotic and at-times dangerous expeditions.

Following her death in 1953, the couple’s fame faded and their achievements were largely forgotten as new wilderness stars emerged in the television era, including Marlin Perkins (producer of ‘Wild Kingdom’) and undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau.

But one of the aircraft they used in their adventures – the Sikorsky S-39, a single-engine float plane – captured the imagination of Dick Jackson, a pilot and mechanic from Rochester, N.H.

Only 21 such aircraft were built in 1930-31, and by the early 1960s all had been lost or junked.

Looking for a project, in 1963 Jackson chose to restore a Sikorsky S-39 to flyable condition. The painstaking effort took more than four decades, but in 2003 Jackson completed the work and the world’s only remaining S-39 made its maiden flight.

In honor of the Johnsons, the plane was painted in exactly the same giraffe pattern used by the famous couple during their African adventures. Today the aircraft remains airworthy, and is part of the collection housed at the “Fantasy of Flight” museum in Polk City, Fla.

The program will include recent scenes of the restored Sikorsky in flight – and on the water – in its Florida environs.

Jackson, now in his 90s, will attend the program to speak about his work and answer questions.

The Aviation Museum of N.H. is a non-profit 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization dedicated to celebrating New Hampshire’s role in aviation history and inspiring tomorrow’s pioneers, innovators and aerospace professionals.

For more information about the Aviation Museum, visit www.aviationmuseumofnh.org or call 603-669-4820.