Who is Mr. Sikorsky?
by Oleksandra Kepple
- What kind of helicopter does the U.S. President fly in?
- Marine One is the call sign for any Marine Corps aircraft carrying the President. The fleet of helicopters is operated by the HMX-1 “Nighthawks.” HMX-1 uses two unique aircraft types: the Sikorsky VH-3D Sea King and VH-60N Blackhawk, in support of Presidential missions. (asked Google)
Igor Sikorsky and his helicopters. Credit: Igor I. Sikorsky Historical Archives, Inc.
Who is Mr. Sikorsky? The man who successfully implemented the 15th century genius Leonardo da Vinci’s idea of an "iron bird" in our day's reality. World famous aircraft designer, genius and innovator, father of helicopters, a philosopher, a humanist and…a Ukrainian.
Nowadays we take flying for granted. I’m working on this piece at 35,000 feet in the air, flying from Houston Texas to Washington D.C., all comfortable and cozy. Today, flying has become a necessary routine. However, at the beginning of the 20th century famous engineers were puzzled over the mystery of “How to fly a heavier-than-air-machine across the English Channel?”. They had attempted to build such a device for years, first flown – unsuccessfully – in 1907 by the frenchman Paul Cornu. Others had limited success as well. It was a time of modern ideas, success, inspiration and despair— exactly the right time when excited and motivated Igor Sikorsky returned to Paris from Kyiv, determined to build the helicopter…
Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky was born May 25th, 1889 in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine (which was colonized by the Russian Empire back then). The son of a psychology professor and a medical graduate, youngest of five children, he designed his very first helicopter model at 12 years old. Moreover, he was only 14 when Orville Wright completed the first powered flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft known as the Wright Flyer, at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903. The flight lasted just 12 seconds, traveled 120 feet, and reached a top speed of 6.8 miles per hour, and this event impacted young Igor’s dreams and life choices.
Dreaming of aeronautics, he studied engineering and aviation in Paris. In 1907, Sikorsky went home to Kyiv where completed his studies at the Mechanical Engineering College of the Polytechnical Institute, now named after him, - the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (I’ve been at the campus – it’s beautiful).
“To invent a flying machine is nothing; to build it is little; to make it fly is everything.”
The very first helicopter model was unsuccessful, so he decided to refocus on a fixed-wing craft. The S-1 (Sikorsky’s first attempt) failed because of the use of an inadequately powered engine; however the S-2 was already a success. Craving to test it empirically by himself, 22-year old Igor Sikorsky received his first pilot’s license. The S-5, gained national attention, and the sixth plane, the S-6-A, won him the highest award at the 1912 Moscow Aviation Exhibition and first prize in a military competition in Petrograd. This success led to his appointment as head of the aviation division of the Russian Baltic Railroad Car Works, where Sikorsky started to work on the first multi-engine airplane, “The Grand,” a luxurious passenger plane, revolutionary for its time. Next, he designed the “Ilya Muromets”, which served as a model for more than 70 versions of bombers used during World War I.
Pontoon construction at the Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, Stratford – Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Despite the wave of accomplishments and success, history is ruthless and the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 disrupted Sikorsky’s career in the Russian Empire and ultimately in Ukraine as well. In March 1918 he left for France to build bombers for the War, which ended just a year later (theArmistice was signed in November and aviation work stopped). Driven by the idea to start over, Sikorsky moved to the United States in 1919, where he had to start from scratch, meaning life “in a $12/month flophouse in Manhattan” and supporting himself by giving lectures on mathematics and astronomy to “Russian” immigrants. It’s important to note that mentioning Russian immigrants in America means that we are talking about all of East European diversity claimed as “Russians”. These were immigrants of different origins: Latvian, Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Jews, and many other nationalities that ran from the war, revolution, and persecution to build themselves a better future in the New World.
In 1923 Sikorsky had raised enough money to establish his own aviation company — the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation, located on a chicken farm near Roosevelt Field on Long Island. First the company produced the all-metal S-29-A planes, followed by S-38 twin-engine amphibians which Pan American Airways employed to fly routes to Central and South America. In November 1927 he received a U.S. private pilot’s license. In 1929, the Sikorsky Aviation Corporation became a subsidiary and then a division of the United Aircraft Corporation, moving to Stratford, Connecticut. In 1931, the company produced the first S-40s or “American Clippers” that were later used to fly trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific passenger flights; the last version of those amphibious “flying boats” S-44 provided the fastest available trans-Atlantic transport for years.
Pursuing his dream, Sikorsky finally focused on building a successful helicopter. He envisioned it as a vehicle that freed aviation from dependence on airports, as an “Outstanding Aircraft for the greatest variety of life-saving missions.” He achieved his goal and completed the VS-300. On September 14th, 1939 the world's first practical helicopter took flight in Stratford, Connecticut designed and piloted by I. Sikorsky himself. In December 1940 he received the first in the world “A Helicopter’s Pilot” License No. 1 from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale and the U.S. National Aeronautic Association. The VS-300 would later be known as the United States’ first successful helicopter and had served as the model for all single-rotor helicopters by 1940. Igor Sikorsky donated his pioneering VS-300 helicopter to The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan in October 1943.
Igor Sikorsky and the first successful helicopter built in America, Stratford - Connecticut Historical Society
By the end of World War II, the U.S. Army had purchased more than 400 Sikorsky helicopters. Military contracts took the helicopter into large-scale production, starting with the XR-4. Helicopters provided significant advantages in many types of military situations on the land and sea, life-saving missions in particular. The UH 60 Black Hawk is still one of the most reliable helicopters in the world.
The Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation still operates in Stratford, as a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation— a major producer of helicopters for an international market. Igor Sikorsky officially retired in 1957, however he continued to work as a consultant until his death in 1972 at the age of 83.
He was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, the legendary aviation pioneer, father of helicopters.
“If a man is in need of rescue, an airplane can come in and throw flowers on him, and that’s just about all. But a direct lift aircraft could come in and save his life.”
Me next to a Sikorsky aircraft at the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum in historic Ford Island.
