Igor Sikorsky

Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (25 May 1889 – 26 October 1972)[1] (Russian: Игорь Иванович Сикорский) was a Russian-American pioneer of aviation who designed the first four-engine fixed-wing aircraft and the first successful helicopter of the most common configuration (single main rotor tail rotor).[2][1]
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Biography
* 2 See also
* 3 References
* 4 Further reading
* 5 External links

[edit] Biography

Igor Sikorsky was born in Kiev, Russian Empire (now the capital of Ukraine), as the youngest of five children.

Sikorsky's father, Ivan Alexeevich Sikorsky, was a professor of psychology from mixed Russian and Polish ethnicity. The origin of the Sikorsky family is in the Polish szlachta that was deported after the failure of the January Uprising. Ivan Alexeevich Sikorsky was a son and grandson of Russian Orthodox Church priests. He held monarchist and Russian nationalist views, and those affected his son's political views. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Igor Sikorsky's mother, Mariya Stefanovna Sikorsky (nee Temryuk-Cherkasov), who was half Ukrainian (on the paternal side) and half Russian (on the maternal side), was a physician that did not work professionally. While homeschooling young Igor, she gave him a great love for art, especially in the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci, and the stories of Jules Verne. He started to experiment with model flying machines, and, by age 12, he had made a small rubber band-powered helicopter.[1] [9] [10]

Sikorsky studied at the Naval War College in St. Petersburg from 1903 through 1909, but did not finish formal studies. For a short time, between the years 1906-1907, he studied engineering in Paris. In 1908, Sikorsky and his father traveled to Germany; there, he saw a newspaper picture of Orville Wright and his plane.[1] Sikorsky later said about this event: "Within twenty-four hours, I decided to change my life's work. I would study aviation."

With financial backing from his sister, Sikorsky returned to Paris, in 1909. Paris was then the center of aviation in Europe. He met several French pilots, including Louis Bleriot, the first person to fly across the English Channel. Sikorsky returned to Kiev the same year and started to experiment with flying machines.

In 1912, Igor Sikorsky became Chief Engineer in the Russian Baltic Railroad Car Factory in Saint Petersburg.[2] In 1914, he was awarded the Degree in Engineering "Honoris Causa" by Saint Petersburg Polytechnical Institute. His S-6-B aircraft won a small order from the Russian Army. Other early work included the construction, as chief engineer, of the first four-engine aircraft, the Bolshoi Baltiski, which he called Le Grand. He was also the test pilot for its first flight, on 13 May 1913. Sikorsky's planes were used by Russia as bombers in World War I (see Ilya Muromets) and he was decorated with the Order of St. Vladimir.

Sikorsky's inspiration, for designing an airplane with more than one engine, was from a mosquito. During a demonstration of his record-setting (in 1911, 70 mph) S-5, the plane had to make a forced landing. It was discovered that the insect had flown into the gasoline and been drawn into the carburetor. The close call convinced Sikorsky of the need for a plane that could continue flying if it lost an engine. [11]

After World War I, Sikorsky briefly became an engineer for the French forces in Russia during the Russian Civil War. Seeing little opportunity for himself as an aircraft designer in war-torn Europe (and particularly Russia, ravaged by the October Revolution and Civil War), he emigrated to the United States in 1919.

In the United States., Sikorsky first worked as a school teacher and a lecturer, while looking for an opportunity in the aviation industry. In 1923, helped by several former Russian army officers, he formed the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Company. Among Sikorsky's chief supporters was composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, who introduced himself by writing a check for $5,000 [roughly $61,000 in 2007 dollars]. Though his prototype was damaged in its first test flight, Sikorsky persuaded his reluctant backers to invest another $2,500; with it, he produced the S-29, one of the first twin-engine planes in America, with a capacity for 14 passengers and a speed of 115 mph [12]. The performance of the S-29 proved to be a "make or break" moment for Sikorsky's funding.

In 1928, Sikorsky became a naturalized citizen of the United States. The next year, Sikorsky Aero Engineering Company was purchased by, and became a subsidiary of, United Aircraft, itself now a part of United Technologies Corporation. The company manufactured flying boats, such as the S-42, used by Pan Am for trans-Atlantic flights and known as Pan Am Clippers.

Sikorsky had experimented with helicopter-type flying machines while in Russia. He brought his work to fruition on 14 September 1939 with the first flight of the Vought-Sikorsky 300, a machine with a single three-blade rotor powered by a 75 horsepower (56 kW) engine. Its first free (untethered) flight was on 26 May 1940. The VS-300 was not the first successful rotary-wing aircraft to fly, but it was the first of the single-rotor configuration that became the world standard.

Sikorsky has been designated a Connecticut Aviation Pioneer by the 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 Airport.

Sikorsky was a deeply religious Russian Orthodox Christian and authored two religious and philosophical books (The Message of the Lord's Prayer, The Invisible Encounter).[13] He had a daughter born in Russia and four sons born in the United States. His eldest son, Sergei, remained active with the company following Igor's death in 1972. Sikorsky died in his house in Easton, Connecticut, on October 26, 1972. The Sikorsky Bridge, which carries the Merritt Parkway across the Housatonic River next to Sikorsky's headquarters is named after Sikorsky.

[edit] See also

* Aerosan—Sikorsky built some of these propeller-powered sleighs in 1909–10.
* Il'ya Muromets - Second aircraft designed by Igor Sikorsky
* Sikorsky Prize - A prize for human powered helicopters named in his honor.

[edit] References

1. ^ a b c d Fortier, Rénald (1996). Igor Sikorsky: One Man, Three Careers. Retrieved on 2007-01-12.
2. ^ a b Lake, Jon (2002). The Great book of Bombers - The world's most important bombers from World War I to the present day. MBI Publishing Company, 31. ISBN 0-7603-1347-4.
3. ^ http://www.interesniy.kiev.ua/new/opinions/desyaterik/24
4. ^ http://berkovich-zametki.com/2005/Zametki/Nomer10/Domil1.htm
5. ^ http://www.archipelag.ru/authors/kutuzov/?library=2140
6. ^ http://www.rusk.ru/svod.php?date=2007-02-14
7. ^ http://www.is.svitonline.com/v_menzhulin/Vvedenie.pdf
8. ^ http://www.russk.ru/st.php?idar=710455
9. ^ http://vivovoco.rsl.ru/VV/PAPERS/ECCE/SIKORSKY.HTM
10. ^ http://www.pravmir.ru/article_2402.html
11. ^ Current Biography 1940, pp 734-36
12. ^ Id. at p 735
13. ^ http://www.russk.ru/st.php?idar=710455

[edit] Further reading

* Sikorsky's autobiography, The Story of the Winged S. (originally published 1938; updated editions, various years up to 1948)
* Frank J. Delear, Igor Sikorsky: His Three Careers in Aviation (New York, 1969) - described as "the only biography"[1]

[edit] External links

* U.S. Patent 1,848,389 : "Aircraft, especially aircraft of the direct lift amphibian type and means of construction and operating the same"
* Igor Sikorsky Aerial Russia - the Romance of the Giant Aeroplane - early days of Igor Sikorsky online book
* Igor Sikorsky article from ctheritage.org (reference)
* Biography from Sikorsky company
* Official Sikorsky historical archives
* Igor Sikorsky. Time magazine. 16 November 1953. (Cover)
* New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, has extensive Sikorsky exhibits
* "VOICE OF AMERICA: EXPLORATIONS - March 27, 2002: Igor Sikorsky"
* Igor Sikorsky@Everything2.com
* Transatlantic Re-enactment Flight