Igor Sikorsky
Игорь Сикорский
Studio portrait, c. 1950
Born	(1889-05-25)May 25, 1889 Kiev, Russian Empire
Died	October 26, 1972(1972-10-26) (aged 83) Easton, Connecticut, U.S.
Nationality	Russian-American^[1]^[2]^[3]
Education	Kyiv Polytechnic Institute
Occupation	Aircraft designer
Known for	Founding of Sikorsky Aircraft; first successful mass-produced helicopter, the Sikorsky R-4
Spouses	Olga Fyodorovna Simkovitch Elisabeth Semion
Children	5
Awards	Order of St. Vladimir Howard N. Potts Medal (1933) Daniel Guggenheim Medal (1951) ASME Medal (1963) Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy (1966) National Medal of Science (1967) John Fritz Medal (1968)

Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky^[a]^[b] (25 May 1889 – 26 October 1972) was a Russian–American^[1]^[2]^[3] aviation pioneer in both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. His first success came with the Sikorsky S-2, the second aircraft of his design and construction. His fifth airplane, the S-5, won him national recognition and F.A.I. pilot's license number 64.^[4] His S-6-A received the highest award at the 1912 Moscow Aviation Exhibition, and in the fall of that year the aircraft won first prize for its young designer, builder and pilot in the military competition at Saint Petersburg.^[5] In 1913, the Sikorsky-designed Russky Vityaz (S-21) became the first successful four-engine aircraft to take flight. He also designed and built the Ilya Muromets (S-22 – S-27) family of four-engine aircraft, an airliner which he redesigned to be the world's first four-engine bomber when World War I broke out.

After immigrating to the United States in 1919 because of the Russian Revolution, Sikorsky founded the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in 1923^[6] and developed the first of Pan American Airways' ocean-crossing flying boats in the 1930s, including the Sikorsky S-42 "Flying Clipper".

In 1939, Sikorsky designed and flew the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300,^[7] the first viable American helicopter, which pioneered the single main rotor and a single antitorque tail rotor configuration used by most helicopters today.^[8] Sikorsky modified the design into the Sikorsky R-4, which became the world's first mass-produced helicopter in 1942.

Early life

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Igor Sikorsky was born in Kiev, Russian Empire (now Kyiv, Ukraine), on May 25, 1889.^[9]^[5]^[10]^[11] He was the youngest of five children. His father, Ivan Alexeevich Sikorsky, was a professor of psychology in Saint Vladimir University (now Taras Shevchenko National University), a psychiatrist with an international reputation, and an ardent Russian nationalist.^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15]

Igor Sikorsky was an Orthodox Christian.^[16] When questioned regarding his roots, he would answer: "My family is of Russian origin. My grandfather and other ancestors from the time of Peter the Great were Russian Orthodox priests."^[3]

Sikorsky's mother, Mariya Stefanovna Sikorskaya (née Temryuk-Cherkasova),^[17] was a physician who did not work professionally. She is sometimes called Zinaida Sikorsky. 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. In 1900, at age 11, he accompanied his father to Germany and through conversations with his father became interested in natural sciences. After returning home, Sikorsky began to experiment with model flying machines, and by age 12, he had made a small rubber band-powered helicopter.^[18]

Sikorsky began studying at the Saint Petersburg Maritime Cadet Corps in 1903 at the age of 14. In 1906, he determined that his future lay in engineering, so he resigned from the academy, despite his satisfactory standing, and left the Russian Empire to study in Paris. He returned to the Russian Empire in 1907, enrolling at the Mechanical College of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. After the academic year, Sikorsky again accompanied his father to Germany in the summer of 1908, where he learned of the accomplishments of the Wright brothers' Flyer and Ferdinand von Zeppelin's rigid airships.^[19] Sikorsky later said about this event: "Within twenty-four hours, I decided to change my life's work. I would study aviation."^[20]

By the start of World War I in 1914, Sikorsky's airplane research and production business in Kyiv was flourishing, and his factory made bombers during the war. After the Russian Revolution in 1917, Igor Sikorsky fled his homeland in early 1918, because the Bolsheviks threatened to shoot him for being "the Tsar's friend and a very popular person".^[21] He moved to France where he was offered a contract for the design of a new, more powerful Muromets-type plane. But in November 1918 the war ended, and the French government stopped subsidizing military orders, whereupon he decided to move to the United States. On March 24, 1919, he left France on the ocean liner Lorraine, arriving in New York City on March 30, 1919.^[21]^[22]^[23]^[24]

Aircraft designer

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With financial backing from his sister Olga, Sikorsky returned to Paris, the center of the aviation world at the time, in 1909. Sikorsky met with aviation pioneers, to ask them questions about aircraft and flying. In May 1909, he returned to Russia and began designing his first helicopter, which he began testing in July 1909. Powered by a 25 horsepower Anzani engine, the helicopter used an upper and lower two-bladed lifting propeller that rotated in opposite directions at 160 rpm. The machine could only generate about 357 pounds (162 kg) of lift, not enough to lift the approximate 457 pounds (207 kg) weight. Despite his progress in solving technical problems of control, Sikorsky realized that the aircraft would never fly. He finally disassembled the aircraft in October 1909, after he determined that he could learn nothing more from the design.^[25] In February 1910, he undertook to build a second helicopter, and his first airplane. By the spring, helicopter No. 2 could lift its weight of 400 pounds (180 kg), but not the additional weight of an operator.^[26]

I had learned enough to recognize that with the existing state of the art, engines, materials, and – most of all – the shortage of money and lack of experience... I would not be able to produce a successful helicopter at that time.^[27]

Sikorsky's first aircraft of his own design, the S-1, used a 15 hp Anzani 3-cylinder fan engine in a pusher configuration, that could not lift the aircraft. His second design, called the S-2, was powered by a 25 hp Anzani engine in a tractor configuration and first flew on June 3, 1910, at a height of a few feet. On June 30, after some modifications, Sikorsky reached an altitude of "sixty or eighty feet" before the S-2 stalled and was completely destroyed when it crashed in a ravine.^[28]^[29] Later, Sikorsky built the two-seat S-5, his first design not based on other European aircraft. Flying this original aircraft, Sikorsky earned his pilot license; Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) license No. 64 issued by the Imperial Aero Club of Russia in 1911.^[30] During a demonstration of the S-5, the engine quit and Sikorsky was forced to make a crash landing to avoid a wall. 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.^[31] His next aircraft, the S-6 held three passengers and was selected as the winner of the Moscow aircraft exhibition held by the Russian Army in February 1912.^[30]

Sikorsky *Bolshoi Baltisky* of 1913, before receiving its pair of pusher engines

In early 1912, Igor Sikorsky became Chief Engineer of the aircraft division for the Russian Baltic Railroad Car Works (Russko-Baltiisky Vagonny Zavod or R-BVZ)^[32] in Saint Petersburg.^[33] His work at R-BVZ included the construction of the first four-cylinder aircraft, the S-21 Russky Vityaz, which he initially called Le Grand when fitted with just two engines, then the Bolshoi Baltisky (The Great Baltic) when fitted with four engines in two "push-pull" pairs, and finally Russki Vityaz in its four engine all tractor-engined configuration.^[34] He also served as the test pilot for its first flight on May 13, 1913.^[34] In recognition of his accomplishment, he was awarded an honorary degree in engineering from Saint Petersburg Polytechnical Institute in 1914. Sikorsky took the experience from building the Russky Vityaz to develop the S-22 Ilya Muromets airliner. Due to the 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. Vladimir.

After World War I, Igor Sikorsky briefly became an engineer for the French forces in Russia, during the Russian Civil War.^[35] Seeing little opportunity for himself as an aircraft designer in war-torn Europe, and particularly Russia, ravaged by the Bolshevik Revolution and Russian Civil War, he emigrated to the United States, arriving in New York on March 30, 1919.^[36]^[37]

List of aircraft designed by Sikorsky

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H-1 Sikorsky's first helicopter design, 1909
H-2 Sikorsky's second helicopter design, 1910
S-1 single-engine pusher biplane, Sikorsky's first fixed wing design, 1910
S-2 single-engine tractor biplane developed from the S-1, 1910
S-3 enlarged and improved version of the S-2, 1910
S-4 one-seat, single-engine biplane concept developed from the S-3, never flown, 1911
S-5 one-seat, single-engine biplane, Sikorsky's first practical aircraft, 1911
S-6 three-seat, single-engine biplane, 1912
S-7 two-seat, single-engine monoplane, 1912
S-8 two-seat single-engine biplane trainer, 1912
S-9 Krugly three-seat, single-engine monoplane, 1913
S-10 five-seat, single-engine biplane reconnaissance/trainer developed from the S-6, 1913
S-11 Polukrugly two-seat, single-engine mid-wing reconnaissance monoplane prototype, 1913
S-12 one-seat, single-engine trainer, Sikorsky's most successful aircraft in Russia, 1913
S-13 and S-14 proposed designs, never completed due to unavailability of engines
S-15 single-engine light bomber floatplane, 1913
S-16 two-seat, single-engine escort fighter, 1914–1915
S-17 two-seat, single-engine reconnaissance biplane based on the S-10, 1915
S-18 two-seat, twin-engine pusher biplane fighter/interceptor
S-20 two-seat biplane fighter, 1916
S-21 Russky Vityaz four-engine biplane airliner, first successful four engine aircraft, 1913
S-22–S-27 Ilya Muromets four-engine biplane airliner and heavy bomber, 1913
Avion Atlas proposed four-engined biplane bomber for France, cancelled due to the end of World.War I, 1918^{[citation needed]}
IS-27 Battleplane proposed four-engined biplane heavy bomber, developed from the Avion Atlas, for the USAAS, 1919^{[citation needed]}
S-28 projected four-engine biplane airliner; Sikorsky's first American design, 1919
S-29-A twin-engine biplane airliner, 1924
S-34 twin-engine amphibian, 1926^[26]^{: 167, 180}
S-35 trimotor built for René Fonck's attempt to win the Orteig Prize, 1926^[26]^{: 169–178}
S-36 twin engine amphibian, 1927^[26]^: 182
S-37 twin-engine built for René Fonck, but then converted to a passenger plane, 1927^[26]^{: 180–182}
S-38 twin-engine ten-seat flying boat, 1928^[26]^{: 182–183}
S-40 four-engine amphibian built for Pan Am, 1931^[26]^{: 187–193}
S-42 Clipper – flying boat, 1934
S-43 scaled-down version of S-42, 1934
VS-300 experimental prototype helicopter, 1939
VS-44 flying boat, 1942
R-4 world's first production helicopter, 1942

Life in the United States

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In the U.S., Sikorsky first worked as a school teacher and a lecturer, while looking for an opportunity to work in the aviation industry. In 1932, he joined the faculty of the University of Rhode Island to form an aeronautical engineering program and remained with the university until 1948.^[38] He also lectured at the University of Bridgeport.

In 1923, Sikorsky formed the Sikorsky Manufacturing Company in Roosevelt, New York.^[39] He was helped by several former Russian military officers. Among Sikorsky's chief supporters was composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, who introduced himself by writing a check for US$5,000 (equivalent to $92,275 in 2024).^[40] Although his prototype was damaged in its first test flight, Sikorsky persuaded his reluctant backers to invest another $2,500. With the additional funds, he produced the S-29, one of the first twin-engine aircraft in the U.S., with a capacity for 14 passengers and a speed of 115 mph.^[41] The performance of the S-29, slow when compared to military aircraft of 1918, proved to be a "make or break" moment for Sikorsky's funding.^{[citation needed]}

In 1928, Sikorsky became a naturalized citizen of the United States. The Sikorsky Manufacturing Company moved to Stratford, Connecticut in 1929. It became a part of the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation (now United Technologies Corporation) in July of that year.^[42] The company manufactured flying boats, such as the S-42 "Clipper", used by Pan Am for transatlantic flights.^[27]

Meanwhile, Sikorsky also continued his earlier work on vertical flight while living in Nichols, Connecticut. On February 14, 1929, 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.^[43] On June 27, 1931, Sikorsky filed for a patent for another "direct lift aircraft", and was awarded patent No. 1,994,488 on March 19, 1935.^[44] His design plans eventually culminated in the first (tethered) flight of the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 on September 14, 1939, with the first free flight occurring eight months later on May 24, 1940. Sikorsky's success with the VS-300 led to the R-4, which became the world's first mass-produced helicopter, in 1942. Sikorsky's final VS-300 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.^[8]

Personal life

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Sikorsky was married to Olga Fyodorovna Simkovitch in the Russian Empire. They were divorced and Olga remained in Russia with their daughter, Tania, as Sikorsky departed following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. In 1923, Sikorsky's sisters immigrated to the U.S., bringing six-year-old Tania with them.^[45] Sikorsky married Elisabeth Semion (1903–1995) in 1924, in New York.^[46] Sikorsky and Elisabeth had four sons; Sergei, Nikolai, Igor Jr. and George.^[47]

Tania Sikorsky von York (March 1, 1918 – September 22, 2008), Sikorsky's eldest child and only daughter. Tania was born in Kyiv. Educated in the U.S., she earned a B.A. at Barnard College and a doctorate at Yale University. She was one of the original faculty members of Sacred Heart University in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where she served as Professor of Sociology for 20 years.^[48]
Sergei Sikorsky (1925– ), Sikorsky's eldest son. He joined United Technologies in 1951 and retired in 1992, as Vice-President of Special Projects at Sikorsky Aircraft.^[49]^[50]
Igor Sikorsky Jr. is an attorney, businessman and aviation historian.^[51] Igor Sikorsky III is also a pilot.^[52]

Sikorsky died at his home in Easton, Connecticut, on October 26, 1972, and is buried in Saint John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Cemetery, located on Nichols Avenue in Stratford.^[53]

Legacy

[edit]

In 1966, Sikorsky was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame.^[54]

Sikorsky's and Andrei Tupolev's professional careers were covered in the 1979 Soviet biopic The Poem of Wings (Russian: Поэма о крыльях), where Sikorsky was portrayed by Yury Yakovlev. A working model of Sikorsky Ilya Muromets was recreated for filming.^[55]

The Sikorsky Memorial Bridge, which carries the Merritt Parkway across the Housatonic River 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.^[56]

Sikorsky was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1987.^[57]^[58]

In October 2011, one of the streets in Kyiv was renamed for Sikorsky. The decision was made by the City Council at the request of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, which opened its new office on that street.^[59] The Sikorsky's family house in the city's historical center is preserved to this day but is in a neglected condition pending restoration.^{[citation needed]}

In November 2012, one of the Russian supersonic heavy strategic bomber Tu-160, based at the Engels-2 Air Force Base, was named for Igor Sikorsky, which caused controversy among air base crew members. One of the officers said that Igor Sikorsky does not deserve it because he laid the foundations of the U.S., rather than Russian aviation. However, the Long Range Aviation command officer said that Igor Sikorsky is not responsible for the activities of his military aircraft, noted that Sikorsky had also designed the first heavy bomber for Russia.^[60] In 2013, Flying magazine ranked Sikorsky number 12 on its list of the 51 Heroes of Aviation.^[61]

In August 2016, the National technical university of Ukraine "Kyiv politechnical institute" was named National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute" after its former student and outstanding aircraft designer.^[62]

On March 22, 2018, the Kyiv City Council officially renamed Kyiv International Airport to "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv International Airport Zhuliany".^[63]^[64]

Philosophical and religious views

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Sikorsky was a deeply religious Russian Orthodox Christian^[65] and authored two religious and philosophical books (The Message of the Lord's Prayer and The Invisible Encounter). Summarizing his beliefs, in the latter he wrote:

Our concerns sink into insignificance when compared with the eternal value of human personality — a potential child of God which is destined to triumph over life, pain, and death. No one can take this sublime meaning of life away from us, and this is the one thing that matters.^[66]^[67]

Published works

[edit]

Sikorsky, Igor Ivan. The Message of the Lord's Prayer. New York: C. Scribner's sons, 1942. OCLC 2928920
Sikorsky, Igor Ivan. The Invisible Encounter. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1947. OCLC 1446225
Sikorsky, Igor Ivan. The Story of the Winged-S: Late Developments and Recent Photographs of the Helicopter, an Autobiography. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1967. OCLC 1396277

See also

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Aerosledge – Sikorsky built some of these propeller-powered snowmobiles in 1909–10
Fedor Ivanovich Bylinkin – an early aircraft collaborator with Sikorsky, in 1910
Sikorsky Prize – a prize for human powered helicopters named in his honor
10090 Sikorsky – an asteroid named in honor of Igor Sikorsky

References

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Notes

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^ In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Ivanovich and the family name is Sikorsky.
^ ‹The template Lang-rus is being considered for deletion.› Russian: Игорь Иванович Сикорский, IPA: [ˈiɡərʲ ɪˈvanəvitʃ sʲɪˈkorskʲɪj] ^ⓘ, Ukrainian: Ігор Іванович Сікорський, romanized: Ihor Ivanovych Sikorskyi

Citations

[edit]

^ ^a ^b "Britannica Concise Encyclopedia" Archived April 4, 2023, at the Wayback Machine. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 2006, p. 1751.
^ ^a ^b "Sergei Sikorsky: Reflecting on the 90th Anniversary of Sikorsky Aircraft" Archived July 19, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Quote: Some 90 years ago, on March 5, 1923, a Russian refugee named Igor Sikorsky organized a new company"
^ ^a ^b ^c Jacobson, Lee (April 2013). "Igor Sikorsky Was a Reflection of His Heritage and Experiences in Life" (PDF). Sikorsky Archives News. Igor I. Sikorsky Historical Archives. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 21, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2020. My family is of Russian origin. My grandfather and other ancestors from the time of Peter the Great were Russian Orthodox priests. Consequently, the Russian nationality of the family must be considered as well established
^ "Sikorsky S-5". Sikorsky Archives. Archived from the original on July 18, 2018. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
^ ^a ^b "History". SikorskyArchives.com. Part 2. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
^ "About Sikorsky." Archived November 3, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Sikorsky Aircraft. Retrieved: December 11, 2008.
^ Spenser 1998, p. 25.
^ ^a ^b Woods 1979, p. 262.
^ Fortier, Rénald. "Igor Sikorsky: One Man, Three Careers." Archived October 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine aviation.technomuses.ca, 1996. Retrieved: October 29, 2008.
^ "Igor Sikorsky | Historical Archives | History" Archived June 1, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. sikorskyarchives.com
^ Sergei I. Sikorsky (2007). The Sikorsky Legacy. Arcadia Publishing. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-7385-4995-8.
^ Homo Imperii A History of Physical Anthropology in Russia, Marina Mogilner 2013, p. 72.
^ Homo Imperii A History of Physical Anthropology in Russia, Marina Mogilner 2013, p. 167.
^ Homo Imperii A History of Physical Anthropology in Russia, Marina Mogilner 2013, p. 177.
^ Hillis, Faith. Children of Rus': Right-Bank Ukraine and the Invention of a Russian Nation 2013, ISBN 0-8014-5219-8, p. 259.
^ "Sikorskyarchives.com". Archived from the original on January 18, 2015. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
^ Mikheev, V. R. "Sikorsky: Hero, Exile, the Father of Aviation" (English translation). Archived December 9, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Pravmir.ru, October 31, 2011. Retrieved: May 16, 2012.
^ Woods 1979, p. 254.
^ "The Case Files: Igor Sikorsky" Archived August 25, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. Franklin Institute. Retrieved: August 24, 2017.
^ Christiano, Marilyn (July 5, 2005). "Igor Sikorsky: Aircraft and Helicopter Designer". Voice of America News. Archived from the original on August 3, 2008. Retrieved July 17, 2010.
^ ^a ^b [1] Archived December 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine "Sergei Sikorsky: My father's fate (English translation version of an interview published in Russian by pravmir.ru)"
^ "Игорь Иванович Сикорский: отец авиации и храмостроитель". Pravmir (in Russian). June 7, 2009. Archived from the original on August 15, 2016. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
^ Kutuzov, Mikhail. "The Genius of Flight" (English translation). Archived October 18, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Russian Archipelago, 2012. Retrieved: May 16, 2012.
^ Ukrainian Congress Committee of America 1978, p. 187
^ Woods 1979, p. 255.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Sikorsky, Igor (1952). The Story of the Winged-S. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. pp. 25–37.
^ ^a ^b "Igor Sikorsky." Archived March 5, 2010, at the Wayback Machine Encyclopædia Britannica, 2009 via britannica.com. Retrieved: October 14, 2009.
^ Sikorsky, Igor (1944). The Story of the Winged-S. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. p. 48. ISBN 978-1-258-16355-6. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^ "Sikorsky Celebrates." Popular Aviation September 1930, p. 20.
^ ^a ^b Woods 1979, p. 256.
^ Current Biography 1940, pp. 734–736.
^ Murphy 2005, p. 180.
^ Lake 2002, p. 31.
^ ^a ^b Haddrick Taylor, Michael John (May 1, 1986). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Helicopters. Exeter Books. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-671-07149-3.
^ "Airmen leave Russia." Archived January 21, 2022, at the Wayback Machine The New York Times, June 25, 1918. Retrieved May 23, 2011.
^ Woods 1979, p. 257.
^ "Russian airplane will be made here." Archived January 21, 2022, at the Wayback Machine The New York Times, April 20, 1919. Retrieved: July 17, 2010.
^ "URI History and Timeline". University of Rhode Island. Archived from the original on November 14, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2010.
^ Spenser 1998, p. 15.
^ Prokhorov, Vadim. "Oldies & Oddities: Sikorsky's Piano Man" (History of Flight). Archived July 24, 2012, at archive.today Air & Space Magazine/Smithsonian, Volume 17, Issue 4, November 1, 2002. Retrieved: July 17, 2010.
^ Current Biography 1940, p. 735.
^ Spenser 1998, pp. 15–17.
^ "Patent number: 1848389". Google.com. Archived from the original on February 17, 2013. Retrieved November 25, 2010.
^ "Patent number: 1994488." Archived February 17, 2013, at the Wayback Machine google.com. Retrieved: November 25, 2010.
^ "Military Mission." Archived September 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine The Case Files: Igor Sikorsky, Franklin Institute. Retrieved: October 29, 2008.
^ Hacker and Vining 2007, p. 116.
^ Skyways July 1995, p. 71.
^ "Tania Sikorsky Von York." Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Foster's Daily Democrat, September 26, 2008. Retrieved: October 16, 2008.
^ "First Helicopter Civilian Rescue November 29, 1945." Archived December 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Sikorskyarchives.com. Retrieved: July 17, 2010.
^ Zenobia, Keith. "Sergei Sikorsky: Recollections of a Pioneer, The Legacy of Igor Sikorsky." Archived August 1, 2020, at the Wayback Machine PMLAA News Newsletter (Pine Mountain Lake Aviation Association), 19:6, 2004. Retrieved: December 2, 2010.
^ Church, Diane. "Sikorsky to speak in Plainville tonight." Bristol Press, March 19, 2012.
^ "Igor Sikorsky Seminar." Archived March 4, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Aviation Digest: Bradford Camps, June 2003.
^ ""St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Cemetery"". Archived from the original on January 16, 2015. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
^ Sprekelmeyer, Linda, editor. These We Honor: The International Aerospace Hall of Fame. Donning Co. Publishers, 2006. ISBN 978-1-57864-397-4.
^ Сушинова, Яна (May 28, 2018). "Самолет С-22 "Илья Муромец". Инфографика". "Аргументы и факты". Archived from the original on November 4, 2018. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
^ "Igor I. Sikorsky: Sikorsky Aircraft." Archived January 9, 2013, at the Wayback Machine JA Worldwide. Retrieved: October 12, 2009.
^ Ikenson 2004, p. 24.
^ "Igor I. Sikorsky." Archived December 11, 2009, at the Wayback Machine National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, Inc. via invent.org. Retrieved: October 12, 2009.
^ "Kyiv changes street name at Washington's request" Archived November 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Kyiv Post. Retrieved: November 26, 2011.
^ Mikhailov, Alexei and Bal′burov, Dmitry. "Ту-160 присвоили имя американского авиаконструктора Сикорского (in Russian) (The Tu-160 was named after the American Sikorsky Aircraft Designer)." Archived December 22, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Izvestia November 13, 2012.
^ "Flyingmag.com". Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
^ "The history of KPI | Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute". Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
^ [2] Archived March 23, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. Pravda.com
^ "Kyiv Zhuliany Airport (IEV)". Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
^ "Faith Of the Orthodox Born in Russia". The New York Times. April 10, 1994. Archived from the original on December 26, 2021. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
^ "The Invisible Encounter". Archived April 4, 2023, at the Wayback Machine The Universalist Leader, Volume 130, Issue 5, 1948, p. 115.
^ "Igor I. Sikorsky." Archived July 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine AvStop Online Magazine. Retrieved: July 17, 2010.

Sources

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Delear, Frank J. Igor Sikorsky: His Three Careers in Aviation. New York: Dodd Mead, 1969, Revised edition, 1976. ISBN 978-0-396-07282-9.
Hacker, Barton C. and Margaret Vining. American Military Technology: The Life Story of a Technology. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8018-8772-7.
Ikenson, Ben. Patents: Ingenious Inventions, How They Work and How They Came to Be. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2004. ISBN 978-1-57912-367-3.
Lake, Jon. The Great Book of Bombers: The World's Most Important Bombers from World War I to the Present Day. St. Paul, Minnesota: MBI Publishing Company, 2002. ISBN 0-7603-1347-4.
Leishman, J. Gordon. "The Dream of True Flight." Online summary: Principles of Helicopter Aerodynamics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-521-85860-7.
Murphy, Justin D. Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918: An Illustrated History of Their Impact (Weapons and warfare series). Santa Barbara, California, USA: ABC-CLIO, 2005. ISBN 1-85109-488-1.
Sikorsky, Igor Ivan. The Story of the Winged-S: Late Developments and Recent Photographs of the Helicopter, an Autobiography. New York: Dodd, Mead, originally published 1938 (updated editions, various years up to 1948), Revised edition, 1967.
Spenser, Jay P. Whirlybirds, A History of the U.S. Helicopter Pioneers. Seattle, Washington, USA: University of Washington Press, 1998. ISBN 0-295-97699-3.
Woods, Carlos C. "Memorial Tributes", pp. 253–266. Igor Ivan Sikorsky. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Engineering (The Academy), 1979.
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (1978). "Sikorsky". The Ukrainian Quarterly. 34–35 (1). ISSN 0041-6010.
U.S. patent 2,318,259
U.S. patent 2,318,260

External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Igor Sikorsky.

Official Sikorsky historical archives
Igor Sikorsky at IMDb
Igor Sikorsky Aerial Russia – the Romance of the Giant Aeroplane – early days of Igor Sikorsky online book
Igor Sikorsky. Time magazine, November 16, 1953. (Cover)
The New England Air Museum Archived November 16, 2017, at the Wayback Machine in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, has extensive Sikorsky exhibits
Wingless Helicopter Flies Straight Up September 1940 Popular Mechanics article showing Sikorsky flying his first helicopter and introducing him to the general public

v t e Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation
Subsidiaries	PZL Mielec Schweizer Aircraft
People	Igor Sikorsky Schweizer brothers
Products	UAC TurboTrain
Related	Lockheed Martin United Technologies

United States National Medal of Science laureates

Behavioral and social science

1960s	1964 Neal Elgar Miller
1980s	1986 Herbert A. Simon 1987 Anne Anastasi George J. Stigler 1988 Milton Friedman
1990s	1990 Leonid Hurwicz Patrick Suppes 1991 George A. Miller 1992 Eleanor J. Gibson 1994 Robert K. Merton 1995 Roger N. Shepard 1996 Paul Samuelson 1997 William K. Estes 1998 William Julius Wilson 1999 Robert M. Solow
2000s	2000 Gary Becker 2003 R. Duncan Luce 2004 Kenneth Arrow 2005 Gordon H. Bower 2008 Michael I. Posner 2009 Mortimer Mishkin
2010s	2011 Anne Treisman 2014 Robert Axelrod 2015 Albert Bandura
2020s	2023 Huda Akil Shelley E. Taylor 2025 Larry Bartels

Biological sciences

1960s	1963 C. B. van Niel 1964 Theodosius Dobzhansky Marshall W. Nirenberg 1965 Francis P. Rous George G. Simpson Donald D. Van Slyke 1966 Edward F. Knipling Fritz Albert Lipmann William C. Rose Sewall Wright 1967 Kenneth S. Cole Harry F. Harlow Michael Heidelberger Alfred H. Sturtevant 1968 Horace Barker Bernard B. Brodie Detlev W. Bronk Jay Lush Burrhus Frederic Skinner 1969 Robert Huebner Ernst Mayr
1970s	1970 Barbara McClintock Albert B. Sabin 1973 Daniel I. Arnon Earl W. Sutherland Jr. 1974 Britton Chance Erwin Chargaff James V. Neel James Augustine Shannon 1975 Hallowell Davis Paul Gyorgy Sterling B. Hendricks Orville Alvin Vogel 1976 Roger Guillemin Keith Roberts Porter Efraim Racker E. O. Wilson 1979 Robert H. Burris Elizabeth C. Crosby Arthur Kornberg Severo Ochoa Earl Reece Stadtman George Ledyard Stebbins Paul Alfred Weiss
1980s	1981 Philip Handler 1982 Seymour Benzer Glenn W. Burton Mildred Cohn 1983 Howard L. Bachrach Paul Berg Wendell L. Roelofs Berta Scharrer 1986 Stanley Cohen Donald A. Henderson Vernon B. Mountcastle George Emil Palade Joan A. Steitz 1987 Michael E. DeBakey Theodor O. Diener Harry Eagle Har Gobind Khorana Rita Levi-Montalcini 1988 Michael S. Brown Stanley Norman Cohen Joseph L. Goldstein Maurice R. Hilleman Eric R. Kandel Rosalyn Sussman Yalow 1989 Katherine Esau Viktor Hamburger Philip Leder Joshua Lederberg Roger W. Sperry Harland G. Wood
1990s	1990 Baruj Benacerraf Herbert W. Boyer Daniel E. Koshland Jr. Edward B. Lewis David G. Nathan E. Donnall Thomas 1991 Mary Ellen Avery G. Evelyn Hutchinson Elvin A. Kabat Robert W. Kates Salvador Luria Paul A. Marks Folke K. Skoog Paul C. Zamecnik 1992 Maxine Singer Howard Martin Temin 1993 Daniel Nathans Salome G. Waelsch 1994 Thomas Eisner Elizabeth F. Neufeld 1995 Alexander Rich 1996 Ruth Patrick 1997 James Watson Robert A. Weinberg 1998 Bruce Ames Janet Rowley 1999 David Baltimore Jared Diamond Lynn Margulis
2000s	2000 Nancy C. Andreasen Peter H. Raven Carl Woese 2001 Francisco J. Ayala George F. Bass Mario R. Capecchi Ann Graybiel Gene E. Likens Victor A. McKusick Harold Varmus 2002 James E. Darnell Evelyn M. Witkin 2003 J. Michael Bishop Solomon H. Snyder Charles Yanofsky 2004 Norman E. Borlaug Phillip A. Sharp Thomas E. Starzl 2005 Anthony Fauci Torsten N. Wiesel 2006 Rita R. Colwell Nina Fedoroff Lubert Stryer 2007 Robert J. Lefkowitz Bert W. O'Malley 2008 Francis S. Collins Elaine Fuchs J. Craig Venter 2009 Susan L. Lindquist Stanley B. Prusiner
2010s	2010 Ralph L. Brinster Rudolf Jaenisch 2011 Lucy Shapiro Leroy Hood Sallie Chisholm 2012 May Berenbaum Bruce Alberts 2013 Rakesh K. Jain 2014 Stanley Falkow Mary-Claire King Simon Levin
2020s	2023 Gebisa Ejeta Eve Marder Gregory Petsko Sheldon Weinbaum 2025 Bonnie Bassler Angela Belcher Helen Blau Emery N. Brown G. David Tilman Teresa Woodruff

Chemistry

1960s	1964 Roger Adams
1980s	1982 F. Albert Cotton Gilbert Stork 1983 Roald Hoffmann George C. Pimentel Richard N. Zare 1986 Harry B. Gray Yuan Tseh Lee Carl S. Marvel Frank H. Westheimer 1987 William S. Johnson Walter H. Stockmayer Max Tishler 1988 William O. Baker Konrad E. Bloch Elias J. Corey 1989 Richard B. Bernstein Melvin Calvin Rudolph A. Marcus Harden M. McConnell
1990s	1990 Elkan Blout Karl Folkers John D. Roberts 1991 Ronald Breslow Gertrude B. Elion Dudley R. Herschbach Glenn T. Seaborg 1992 Howard E. Simmons Jr. 1993 Donald J. Cram Norman Hackerman 1994 George S. Hammond 1995 Thomas Cech Isabella L. Karle 1996 Norman Davidson 1997 Darleane C. Hoffman Harold S. Johnston 1998 John W. Cahn George M. Whitesides 1999 Stuart A. Rice John Ross Susan Solomon
2000s	2000 John D. Baldeschwieler Ralph F. Hirschmann 2001 Ernest R. Davidson Gábor A. Somorjai 2002 John I. Brauman 2004 Stephen J. Lippard 2005 Tobin J. Marks 2006 Marvin H. Caruthers Peter B. Dervan 2007 Mostafa A. El-Sayed 2008 Joanna Fowler JoAnne Stubbe 2009 Stephen J. Benkovic Marye Anne Fox
2010s	2010 Jacqueline K. Barton Peter J. Stang 2011 Allen J. Bard M. Frederick Hawthorne 2012 Judith P. Klinman Jerrold Meinwald 2013 Geraldine L. Richmond 2014 A. Paul Alivisatos 2025 R. Lawrence Edwards

Engineering sciences

1960s	1962 Theodore von Kármán 1963 Vannevar Bush John Robinson Pierce 1964 Charles S. Draper Othmar H. Ammann 1965 Hugh L. Dryden Clarence L. Johnson Warren K. Lewis 1966 Claude E. Shannon 1967 Edwin H. Land Igor I. Sikorsky 1968 J. Presper Eckert Nathan M. Newmark 1969 Jack St. Clair Kilby
1970s	1970 George E. Mueller 1973 Harold E. Edgerton Richard T. Whitcomb 1974 Rudolf Kompfner Ralph Brazelton Peck Abel Wolman 1975 Manson Benedict William Hayward Pickering Frederick E. Terman Wernher von Braun 1976 Morris Cohen Peter C. Goldmark Erwin Wilhelm Müller 1979 Emmett N. Leith Raymond D. Mindlin Robert N. Noyce Earl R. Parker Simon Ramo
1980s	1982 Edward H. Heinemann Donald L. Katz 1983 Bill Hewlett George Low John G. Trump 1986 Hans Wolfgang Liepmann Tung-Yen Lin Bernard M. Oliver 1987 Robert Byron Bird H. Bolton Seed Ernst Weber 1988 Daniel C. Drucker Willis M. Hawkins George W. Housner 1989 Harry George Drickamer Herbert E. Grier
1990s	1990 Mildred Dresselhaus Nick Holonyak Jr. 1991 George H. Heilmeier Luna B. Leopold H. Guyford Stever 1992 Calvin F. Quate John Roy Whinnery 1993 Alfred Y. Cho 1994 Ray W. Clough 1995 Hermann A. Haus 1996 James L. Flanagan C. Kumar N. Patel 1998 Eli Ruckenstein 1999 Kenneth N. Stevens
2000s	2000 Yuan-Cheng B. Fung 2001 Andreas Acrivos 2002 Leo Beranek 2003 John M. Prausnitz 2004 Edwin N. Lightfoot 2005 Jan D. Achenbach 2006 Robert S. Langer 2007 David J. Wineland 2008 Rudolf E. Kálmán 2009 Amnon Yariv
2010s	2010 Shu Chien 2011 John B. Goodenough 2012 Thomas Kailath
2020s	2023 Subra Suresh 2025 John Dabiri

Mathematical, statistical, and computer sciences

1960s	1963 Norbert Wiener 1964 Solomon Lefschetz H. Marston Morse 1965 Oscar Zariski 1966 John Milnor 1967 Paul Cohen 1968 Jerzy Neyman 1969 William Feller
1970s	1970 Richard Brauer 1973 John Tukey 1974 Kurt Gödel 1975 John W. Backus Shiing-Shen Chern George Dantzig 1976 Kurt Otto Friedrichs Hassler Whitney 1979 Joseph L. Doob Donald E. Knuth
1980s	1982 Marshall H. Stone 1983 Herman Goldstine Isadore Singer 1986 Peter Lax Antoni Zygmund 1987 Raoul Bott Michael Freedman 1988 Ralph E. Gomory Joseph B. Keller 1989 Samuel Karlin Saunders Mac Lane Donald C. Spencer
1990s	1990 George F. Carrier Stephen Cole Kleene John McCarthy 1991 Alberto Calderón 1992 Allen Newell 1993 Martin David Kruskal 1994 John Cocke 1995 Louis Nirenberg 1996 Richard Karp Stephen Smale 1997 Shing-Tung Yau 1998 Cathleen Synge Morawetz 1999 Felix Browder Ronald R. Coifman
2000s	2000 John Griggs Thompson Karen Uhlenbeck 2001 Calyampudi R. Rao Elias M. Stein 2002 James G. Glimm 2003 Carl R. de Boor 2004 Dennis P. Sullivan 2005 Bradley Efron 2006 Hyman Bass 2007 Leonard Kleinrock Andrew J. Viterbi 2009 David B. Mumford
2010s	2010 Richard A. Tapia S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan 2011 Solomon W. Golomb Barry Mazur 2012 Alexandre Chorin David Blackwell 2013 Michael Artin
2020s	2025 Ingrid Daubechies Cynthia Dwork

Physical sciences

1960s	1963 Luis W. Alvarez 1964 Julian Schwinger Harold Urey Robert Burns Woodward 1965 John Bardeen Peter Debye Leon M. Lederman William Rubey 1966 Jacob Bjerknes Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Henry Eyring John H. Van Vleck Vladimir K. Zworykin 1967 Jesse Beams Francis Birch Gregory Breit Louis Hammett George Kistiakowsky 1968 Paul Bartlett Herbert Friedman Lars Onsager Eugene Wigner 1969 Herbert C. Brown Wolfgang Panofsky
1970s	1970 Robert H. Dicke Allan R. Sandage John C. Slater John A. Wheeler Saul Winstein 1973 Carl Djerassi Maurice Ewing Arie Jan Haagen-Smit Vladimir Haensel Frederick Seitz Robert Rathbun Wilson 1974 Nicolaas Bloembergen Paul Flory William Alfred Fowler Linus Carl Pauling Kenneth Sanborn Pitzer 1975 Hans A. Bethe Joseph O. Hirschfelder Lewis Sarett Edgar Bright Wilson Chien-Shiung Wu 1976 Samuel Goudsmit Herbert S. Gutowsky Frederick Rossini Verner Suomi Henry Taube George Uhlenbeck 1979 Richard P. Feynman Herman Mark Edward M. Purcell John Sinfelt Lyman Spitzer Victor F. Weisskopf
1980s	1982 Philip W. Anderson Yoichiro Nambu Edward Teller Charles H. Townes 1983 E. Margaret Burbidge Maurice Goldhaber Helmut Landsberg Walter Munk Frederick Reines Bruno B. Rossi J. Robert Schrieffer 1986 Solomon J. Buchsbaum H. Richard Crane Herman Feshbach Robert Hofstadter Chen-Ning Yang 1987 Philip Abelson Walter Elsasser Paul C. Lauterbur George Pake James A. Van Allen 1988 D. Allan Bromley Paul Ching-Wu Chu Walter Kohn Norman Foster Ramsey Jr. Jack Steinberger 1989 Arnold O. Beckman Eugene Parker Robert Sharp Henry Stommel
1990s	1990 Allan M. Cormack Edwin M. McMillan Robert Pound Roger Revelle 1991 Arthur L. Schawlow Ed Stone Steven Weinberg 1992 Eugene M. Shoemaker 1993 Val Fitch Vera Rubin 1994 Albert Overhauser Frank Press 1995 Hans Dehmelt Peter Goldreich 1996 Wallace S. Broecker 1997 Marshall Rosenbluth Martin Schwarzschild George Wetherill 1998 Don L. Anderson John N. Bahcall 1999 James Cronin Leo Kadanoff
2000s	2000 Willis E. Lamb Jeremiah P. Ostriker Gilbert F. White 2001 Marvin L. Cohen Raymond Davis Jr. Charles Keeling 2002 Richard Garwin W. Jason Morgan Edward Witten 2003 G. Brent Dalrymple Riccardo Giacconi 2004 Robert N. Clayton 2005 Ralph A. Alpher Lonnie Thompson 2006 Daniel Kleppner 2007 Fay Ajzenberg-Selove Charles P. Slichter 2008 Berni Alder James E. Gunn 2009 Yakir Aharonov Esther M. Conwell Warren M. Washington
2010s	2011 Sidney Drell Sandra Faber Sylvester James Gates 2012 Burton Richter Sean C. Solomon 2014 Shirley Ann Jackson
2020s	2023 Barry Barish Myriam Sarachik 2025 Richard Alley Wendy Freedman Keivan Stassun

v t e Recipients of the ASME Medal
1921–1950	1921: Hjalmar G. Carlson 1922: Frederick A. Halsey 1923: John R. Freeman 1926: Robert Andrews Millikan 1927: Wilfred Lewis 1928: Julian Kennedy 1930: W. L. R. Emmet 1931: Albert Kingsbury 1933: Ambrose Swasey 1934: Willis Carrier 1935: Charles T. Main 1936: Edward Bausch 1937: Edward P. Bullard Jr. 1938: Stephen J. Pigott 1939: James E. Gleason 1940: Charles F. Kettering 1941: Theodore von Kármán 1942: Ervin G. Bailey 1943: Lewis K. Sillcox 1944: Edward G. Budd 1945: William F. Durand 1946: Morris E. Leeds 1947: Paul W. Kiefer 1948: Frederick G. Keyes 1949: Fred L. Dornbrook 1950: Harvey C. Knowles
1951–1975	1951: Glenn B. Warren 1952: Nevin E. Funk 1953: Crosby Field 1954: E. Burnley Powell 1955: Granville M. Read 1956: Harry F. Vickers 1957: Llewellyn M. K. Boelter 1958: Wilbur H. Armacost 1959: Martin Frisch 1960: C. Richard Soderberg 1962: Philip Sporn 1963: Igor I. Sikorsky 1964: Alan Howard 1965: Jan Burgers 1967: Mayo D. Hersey 1968: Samuel C. Collins 1969: Lloyd H. Donnell 1970: Robert R. Gilruth 1971: Horace Smart Beattie 1972: Waloddi Weibull 1973: Christopher C. Kraft Jr. 1974: Nicholas J. Hoff 1975: Maxime A. Faget
1976–2000	1976: Raymond D. Mindlin 1977: Robert W. Mann 1979: Jacob P. Den Hartog 1980: Soichiro Honda 1981: Robert S. Hahn 1983: Jack N. Binns Sr. 1984: Aaron Cohen 1985: Milton C. Shaw 1986: Orlan W. Boston 1987: Philip G. Hodge 1988: Eric Reissner 1989: William R. Sears 1990: Harley A. Wilhelm 1992: Daniel C. Drucker 1993: Richard H. Gallagher 1996: Robert C. Dean Jr. 1997: Bernard Budiansky 1998: Frank Kreith 1999: H. Norman Abramson
2000–present	2000: Arthur E. Bergles 2001: Warren M. Rohsenow 2002: Leroy S. Fletcher 2003: Norman R. Augustine 2004: Bradford W. Parkinson 2005: Robert E. Uhrig 2006: Richard J. Goldstein 2007: Dean L. Kamen 2008: Frank E. Talke 2009: Nam-pyo Suh 2010: John Abele 2011: C. Daniel Mote, Jr. 2012: Jan D. Achenbach 2013: Siavouche Nemat-Nasser 2014: Van C. Mow 2015: James R. Rice 2016: J. N. Reddy 2017: Zděnek P. Bažant 2018: Thomas J.R. Hughes 2019: Reginald I. Vachon 2020: Subra Suresh 2021: Pol D. Spanos 2022: Katepalli R. Sreenivasan 2023: Huajian Gao