The Russian-American aeronautical engineer, aircraft manufacturer, and inventor Igor Sikorsky designed such famous aircraft as the flying clipper and was the major developer of the helicopter. Igor Sikorsky was born in Kiev, Russia, where his father was a professor of psychology at St. Vladimir University. Following his graduation from the Naval Academy at St. Petersburg, he studied in Paris and at the Polytechnic Institute in Kiev.
While in Germany in , he heard of the dirigible flights of Count Zeppelin and returned to Paris to study aviation. At the age of 20 he built his first helicopter.
He then turned to more conventional planes, and in his S-2 achieved some success. In he built the world's first four-engine plane, the Grand, which was adopted by the Russian army and used during World War I. Sikorsky was not sympathetic with the Bolshevik Revolution of and in left for Paris, where he lost money attempting to build his aircraft. His second 25 hp Anzani model S-2 flew on June 16, at a height of a few feet. It was discovered that a mosquito in the gasoline had been drawn into the carburetor, starving the engine of fuel.
The close call convinced Sikorsky of the need for an aircraft that could continue flying if it lost an engine. He also served as the test pilot for its first flight on May 13, In recognition for his accomplishment, he was awarded an honorary degree in engineering from Saint Petersburg Polytechnical Institute in Sikorsky took the experience from building the Russky Vityaz to develop the S Ilya Muromets airliner.
Due to outbreak of World War I , he redesigned it as the world's first four-engined bomber , for which he was decorated with the Order of St. Sikorsky Aero Engineering Company stock certificate. Sikorsky S flying boat. Sikorsky Skycrane carrying a house. In the United States, Sikorsky first worked as a school teacher and a lecturer, while looking for an opportunity to work in the aviation industry.
In , he joined the faculty of the University of Rhode Island to form an Aeronautical Engineering program and remained with the University until With the additional funds, he produced the S , one of the first twin-engine aircraft in America, with a capacity for 14 passengers and a speed of mph. In , Sikorsky became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Meanwhile, Sikorsky also continued his earlier work on vertical flight while living in Nichols, Connecticut.
On February 14, , he filed an application to patent a "direct lift" amphibian aircraft which used compressed air to power a direct lift "propeller" and two smaller propellers for thrust. Sikorsky's success with the VS led to the R-4 , which became the world's first mass-produced helicopter in Sikorsky's final VS rotor configuration, comprising a single main rotor and a single antitorque tail rotor, has proven to be one of the most popular helicopter configurations, being used in most helicopters produced today.
Sikorsky was married to Olga Fyodorovna Simkovitch in Russia. They were divorced and Olga remained in Russia with their daughter as Sikorsky departed ahead of the October Revolution. In , Sikorsky's sisters emigrated to the United States, bringing six-year old Tania with them. The Sikorsky Memorial Bridge , which carries the Merritt Parkway across the Housatonic River next to the Sikorsky corporate headquarters, is named for him. 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.
Business Hall of Fame in In October , one of the streets in Kiev was renamed after Sikorsky. The decision was made by the City Council at the request of the U. Embassy in Ukraine , which opened its new office in that street. In November , one of the Russian supersonic heavy strategic bomber Tu , based at the Engels-2 Air Force Base, was named after Igor Sikorsky, that caused controversy among air base crew members.
One of the officers said that Igor Sikorsky doesn't deserve it because he laid the foundations of the U. However, the Long Range Aviation command officer said that Igor Sikorsky is not responsible for the activities of his military aircraft. Summarizing his beliefs, in the latter he wrote:.
Military Wiki Explore. Popular pages. Unlike those whose designs relied on multiple rotors to lift the craft off the ground, Sikorsky focused on the possibility of a single main rotor; this produced encouraging results. The more difficult problem was the number and arrangement of the tail rotors that kept the aircraft from spinning out of control once aloft.
After several years and several experimental models, Sikorsky discovered that a single rotor mounted vertically on the tail of the aircraft worked best, and on January 14, , Sikorsky himself piloted the first successful test flight of the helicopter in America.
The flight established a standard for the future development of the helicopter and in the process made the Sikorsky Aviation Company a leader in helicopter design. Many, Sikorsky included, hoped that the helicopter might become a vehicle for personal travel, as commonplace as the automobile. But the advanced skill required to fly a helicopter kept it from becoming a family vehicle. Instead, the helicopter became largely a rescue aircraft, able to take off and land in restricted areas and to hover at sea.
With the onset of conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, the military used the helicopter extensively as a troop carrier, gunship, and medical evacuation vehicle. Today, the military, together with civilian rescue teams, remain the prime customers for helicopter sales. Meanwhile, Sikorsky Aviation Corporation of Stratford, today a division of United Technologies Corporation, has remained a major producer of helicopters for an international market.
Igor Sikorsky and his Flying Machines Facebook. By Richard DeLuca Unlike the powered airplane, for which the Wright Brothers can be identified as the sole inventors, many people made contributions to the perfection of vertical flight between and Igor I.
Sikorsky, ca.
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