Aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky at the controls of an R-5 helicopter

Aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky at the controls of an R-5 helicopter

Igor Sikorsky
Aircraft designer
Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky, was a Russian-American aviation pioneer in both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. First success came with the S-2, the second fixedwing plane of his design and construction.

Born: May 25, 1889, Kiev, Ukraine
Died: October 26, 1972, Easton, Connecticut, United States
Organization founded: Sikorsky Aircraft
Parents: Mariya Stefanovna Sikorskaya, Ivan Sikorsky
Siblings: Elena Sikorsky, Lydia Sikorskaya, Olga Sikorsky, Sergei Sikorsky
Children: Sergei Sikorsky, Igor Sikorsky, Tania Sikorsky, George Sikorsky, Nikolai Sikorsky




Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (Russian: И́горь Ива́нович Сико́рский ; IPA: [ˈiɡərʲ ɪˈvanəvitɕ sʲɪˈkorskʲɪj] ( listen), tr. Ígor' Ivánovič Sikórskij; Ukrainian: Ігор Іванович Сікорський , tr. Ihor Ivanovych Sikorskyi; May 25, 1889 – October 26, 1972),[5][N 1] was a Russian-American[1][2][3] aviation pioneer in both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. First success came with the S-2, the second fixedwing plane of his design and construction. His fifth airplane, the S-5, won him national recognition as well as F.A.I. license Number 64. His S-6-A received the highest award at the 1912 Moscow Aviation Exhibition. and in the fall of that year the aircraft won for its young designer, builder and pilot first prize in the military competition at Petrograd.[6]

After immigrating to the United States in 1919, Sikorsky founded the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in 1923,[7] and developed the first of Pan American Airways' ocean-conquering flying boats in the 1930s.

In 1939 Sikorsky designed and flew the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300,[8] the first viable American helicopter, which pioneered the rotor configuration used by most helicopters today.[9] Sikorsky modified the design into the Sikorsky R-4, which became the world's first mass-produced helicopter in 1942.