Background

Igor Sikorsky was born on May 25, 1889, in Kyiv, Ukraine. He was the youngest of five children. His father, Ivan Alexeevich Sikorsky, was a professor of psychology at Kyiv St. Vladimir University, a psychiatrist with an international reputation, and an ardent Russian nationalist. Sikorsky's mother, Mariya Stefanovna Sikorskaya (née Temryuk-Cherkasova), was a physician who did not work professionally.

Education

As a schoolboy, Igor Sikorsky showed great interest in contemporary science, especially aviation; he was fascinated by the speculations of Jules Verne and Leonardo da Vinci. Sikorsky actually built and flew several model airplanes made of bamboo strips with tissue paper covering; he "borrowed" whalebone stays from his sisters' corsets in order to make engines for his model helicopters.

It was during a vacation in Germany with his father that he first heard of the trendsetting work of the Wright brothers in the United States; he also came in contact with Count Zeppelin's work on rigid airships. Sikorsky decided then and there that his career should be in aviation.

After he returned to Russia, he graduated from the Naval Academy in Tsarist Russia's capital city, Saint Petersburg, a city known for a long time as Leningrad. He studied engineering in Paris and later, in 1907, entered the Mechanical Engineering College of the Polytechnical Institute in Kyiv. Early in 1909, Sikorsky went back to Paris, the mecca for all aviation enthusiasts, to learn as much as possible about the new science. While in Paris, he met many of the great names, men like Louis Blériot, Henri Farman, and especially Ferdinand Ferber; he also learned to fly. He returned to Russia with a 25-hp Anzani engine and started designing helicopters, despite all the advice to the contrary given to him by French experts.

Career

During 1909-1910 Sikorsky designed and built his first and second helicopters. The following three years Sikorsky constructed several types of airplanes and taught himself to fly. Of his early aircraft, the S-6 received the highest award during the Moscow Aviation Exhibition in 1912, and later the same year took first prize in a military competition in St. Petersburg. In 1913 he designed, built, and successfully piloted the first four-engined airplane ever produced. He designed and built several four-engined bombers during 1914-1917, the first large aircraft successfully used during World War I.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, he went to France, to build large bombers for the French Government. Following the Armistice, he came to the United States. In 1923 the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation was organized here, and in 1924 completed a successful twin-engine, eighteen-passenger, all-metal cabin land-plane, the S-29A. More new types of airplanes followed, among them the S-38, the first successful twin-engine amphibian. This aircraft carried the first airmail between the continental United States and the Panama Canal and was extensively used by several American airlines in pioneering and establishing South American, Hawaiian, and other passenger routes.

The company was acquired by the United Aircraft Corporation in 1929. Continuing to operate as the Sikorsky Division, in 1931 it produced for Pan American Airways the first large four-engined Flying Clipper, the S-40. Later the company produced a series of transoceanic Flying Clipper ships, of which the S-42 pioneered regular transoceanic flights from America and was the first aircraft to carry regular mail from the United States across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

The VS-300 helicopter, built by Sikorsky in 1939, proved to be the first practical direct-lift aircraft in the western hemisphere. This helicopter virtually started the helicopter industry in the United States. There followed a series of successful helicopters of various sizes which were the first to be used by any Allied power during World War II, and which proved extremely useful during the Korean conflict. As a result, the helicopter was established as a novel and valuable type of aircraft for a great variety of military as well as commercial uses. It has also proved to be an exceptionally useful and efficient means of saving lives, under many difficult conditions.

Sikorsky retired as Engineering Manager of the Division in 1957 and died on October 26, 1972.

Achievements

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  Sikorsky is widely known for designing such famous aircraft as the flying clipper and was the major developer of the helicopter. He is the man who pioneered the rotor configuration used by most helicopters today.
  
  Awards and honors accorded to Igor Sikorsky would fill many pages and include the National Medal of Science, the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy, the Collier Trophy, the USAF Academy's Thomas D. White National Defense Award, the Guggenheim Medal, and the Royal Aeronautical Society's Silver Medal. He was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame in 1968.
  
  The Sikorsky Memorial Bridge, next to the Sikorsky corporate headquarters, is named for him. Sikorsky has been designated a Connecticut Aviation Pioneer by the Connecticut State Legislature. The Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in Stratford, Connecticut, continues to the present day as one of the world's leading helicopter manufacturers, and a nearby small airport has been named Sikorsky Memorial Airport.
  
  Sikorsky was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the Junior Achievement United States Business Hall of Fame in 1987.
  
  In October 2011, one of the streets in Kyiv was renamed after Sikorsky. The decision was made by the City Council at the request of the United States Embassy in Ukraine, which opened its new office in that street. The Sikorsky's family house in the city's historical center is preserved to this day but neglected pending restoration.
  
  A prize of the American Helicopter Society for constructing a human-powered helicopter is named after Igor Sikorsky.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Story of the Winged-S

    (The Story of the Winged-S, first published in 1938, is th...)

    1938
  • The Message Of The Lord's Prayer 1942
  • Anything A Horse Can Do: The Story Of The Helicopter 1944

Religion

Sikorsky was an Orthodox Christian and authored two religious and philosophical books.

Politics

Sikorsky was not sympathetic to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.

Views

Igor Sikorsky has been called a mystic, but it feels that he was a philosopher searching for the higher truths that should guide man if he is to continue to survive within the growing mismatch between technology and social consciousness. Aside from the Story of the Winged-S, he wrote three other books-some small but powerful: The Message of the Lord's Prayer, published in 1942 and reprinted in 1963; The Invisible Encounter, published in 1947; and In Search of Higher Realities, published around 1969.

In these books his insight into man's social capabilities was just as powerful as was his insight into man's technical capabilities. He felt that man is capable of overcoming the dichotomy between society and technology if he will seriously look to the Creator for guidance.

Quotations: "I constructed the helicopter without knowing how to build it, but knowing one thing firmly - that I would have to build it and pilot it."

Personality

Igor Sikorsky was a whole man, one who it was a privilege to work with and to know. He will long be admired, respected, and loved.

Sikorsky was soft-spoken, he never gave orders, but he made suggestions that were always worth listening to. He was courtly in an unassuming way-he always bowed on the introduction. He retained a charming accent when speaking in English-and probably because he learned much of his English through reading the Bible, he always slightly accented the "ed" at the end of words. He was most considerate of others - he would wait often a considerable length of time until others, no matter how humble, finished speaking before even wishing them "Merry Christmas." Although shy, he was forceful in technical discussion.

Interests

• Electricity, chemistry

• Writers

  Jules Verne

• Artists

  Leonardo da Vinci

Connections

Sikorsky was married to Olga Fyodorovna Simkovitch. The couple divorced and Olga remained in Russian Empire with their daughter, Tania, while Sikorsky departed after the October Revolution. In 1923, Sikorsky's sisters immigrated to the United States, bringing Tania with them.

In 1924, Sikorsky married Elisabeth Semion (1903-1995) in New York. They had four sons - Sergei, Nikolai, Igor Jr., and George.

Father:

Ivan Alexeevich Sikorsky

Mother:

Mariya Stefanovna Sikorskaya

Spouse:

Elisabeth Semion

(m. 1924)

ex-spouse:

Olga Fyodorovna Simkovitch

Daughter:

Tania Sikorsky

Son:

Sergei Sikorsky

Son:

Nikolai Sikorsky

Son:

Igor Sikorsky, Jr.

Son:

George Sikorsky

References

• Helicopter: Pioneering With Igor Sikorsky
  1999
• Helicopter Man: Igor Sikorsky and His Amazing Invention
  2011