 Ukrainian by Birth, American by Choice By Aleksandr ZAGORNY |
Igor Sikorsky
'Mr. Helicopter'
"Men's dream of flying is an unfinished saga carrying us now toward even greater adventures in outer space. But wherever we may go, and whatever we achieve through our efforts to push back the horizon of our knowledge, Igor Sikorsky will remain a source of inspiration - a true man of vision."
- Richard Nixon
During the past century our magnificent country was notable for its disdainful attitude to geniuses. It consciously neglected, pursued, sold them over to other countries and never regretted losing them. Others successfully enjoyed the achievements of our talented people while yawning Soviet leaders were busy boasting of their deserting.
In 1943 a great event occurred in Aviation History. Igor Sikorsky, the legendary aviation pioneer, gave the world its first practical helicopter. I can predict objections referring me to the very first piloted helicopter invented by Paul Cornu in 1907. However, this design was not successful and another helicopter built by Frenchman Etienne Oehmichen flew only 1 kilometer in 1924.
Igor Sikorsky is considered to be the "father" of helicopters not because he invented the first. He is called that because he invented the first successful practical helicopter, upon which future designs were based. "Mr. Helicopter", as he was called, Sikorsky had to travel a long road before he found the ways and means to build a helicopter. He invented multi-motored airplanes and large flying boats. Igor Sikorsky's successful VS-300 had become the model for all modern single-rotor helicopters. He also designed and built the first military helicopter, XR-4, which he delivered to Colonel Franklin Gregory of the U.S. Army.
Through innovative designs he set numerous aviation world records. A genius with great natural ability, spirituality, humanity and a true patriot of his country had to leave it with great pain in his heart to make his career abroad. Unfortunately, he devoted his talent to the "Land of Opportunity" as Sikorsky used to call the powerful and prosperous USA. He used to say, "In America I found the confirmation of my hopes and came to understand the reason for the success of this great country, nothing can equal the free work of free men. This is the foundation upon which the indisputable success of the United States of America has been built." However, nowadays Americans are reluctant to remember that the first helicopter designed by Sikorsky buzzed in one of the Kyiv yards...
Igor Sikorsky was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 25, 1889 to a family of a famous psychology professor and a doctor. The mother of the would-be aircraft designer fostered in him a love for music, literature and art. It was she who told him about the models of aircrafts drawn by the remarkable Leonardo Da Vinci. Sikorsky developed an early interest in aviation. The favorite book of small Igor was "Robur the Conqueror" by Jules Verne where the writer described a giant aircraft, the prototype of the helicopter. Once Igor had a dream as if he was flying on the board of an aircraft and it became the goal of his life. In time his dream proved to be prophetic.
Sikorsky finished secondary school in Kyiv, studied engineering in Paris, then graduated from the Petrograd Naval College. However, the profession of a sailor did not attract him. A youthful tour around Germany in the company of his father, during which he first heard of the Wright brothers and came in detailed contact with the work of Count Zeppelin settled the question of what career the youthful Sikorsky was to follow.
Upon his return to Kyiv in 1907, Sikorsky entered the Mechanical Engineering College of the Polytechnical Institute where he organized and headed the aviation society. The ambitious designer set himself the goal of constructing a helicopter. In spring 1910 he constructed his first remote control helicopter and launched it in the yard of his house in Kyiv. The helicopter failed due to a lack of power and understanding of the art of the rotary-wing. Undiscouraged, Sikorsky did not give up his idea to build a helicopter. Being an optimistic person, he admired a simple creed, "Money lost - nothing lost, health lost - little lost, spirit lost - everything lost."
Sikorsky turned his attention to fixed-wing aircraft and went back to Paris, then the aeronautical center of Europe, to learn what he could of the embryo science. While in Paris, he became known to many of the men who later were to make great names in aviation - Bleriot, Ferber, and others. Despite advice to the contrary from these and other experienced men, Sikorsky announced plans to build a helicopter. Once he shared his plans with Captain Ferber, one of the pioneers of aeronautics. "I assure you that you would waste time building a helicopter. I advise you to take up building airplanes", said Ferber. Sikorsky decided to follow the advice but never betrayed his goal to build a helicopter.
First success came with the S-2, the second fixed-wing 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 St.Petersburg.
Mr. Sikorsky's success in 1912 led to a position as head of the aviation subsidiary of the Russian Baltic Railroad Car Works. In this position, as a result of a mosquito-clogged carburetor and subsequent engine failure, he conceived the idea of an aircraft having more than one engine -a most radical idea for the times. With the blessings of his parent company, he embarked on an engineering project which gave the world its first multi-engine airplane, the four-engined "The Grand." The revolutionary aircraft featured such things as an enclosed cabin, a lavatory, upholstered chairs and an exterior catwalk atop the fuselage where passengers could take a turn about in the air.
His success with "The Grand" led him to design an even bigger aircraft, called the "Ilia Mourometz", after a legendary 10th Century Russian hero. More than 70 military versions of the "Ilia Mourometz" were built for use as bombers during World War I.
The Revolution put an end to Sikorsky's career in Russian aviation. Sacrificing a considerable personal fortune, he emigrated to France where he was commissioned to build a bomber for Allied service. The aircraft was still on the drawing board when the Armistice was signed and Sikorsky, after casting about in vain for a position in French aviation, traveled to the United States in 1919.
He arrived in New York or March 30, 1919 full of dreams and aspirations for a new life and career in aviation. Sadly this was not forthcoming. His passport revealed he entered America to "construct aircraft" and he made several attempts to re-enter aviation without success. Airplanes and motors built for World War I were available at extremely low prices and aviation was described to him as a "dying industry". Soon his money was running out and he resorted to teaching Russian immigrants mathematics, later astronomy and aviation lessons were included. He also started to lecture to various groups which brought him in contact with people who shared his enthusiasm for aviation and this convinced Igor Sikorsky to start his own aeronautical enterprise.
An aviation company was formed and dedicated to building the S-29A (Sikorsky type 29, America) and was based near Roosevelt Field on Long Island. The name of this company was "Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation" which was founded on March 5, 1923. Sikorsky Aircraft has a proud and rich history spanning 75 years of aircraft construction, perhaps making us the oldest aviation company in existence.
The first aircraft built by the young and financially insecure concern was the S-29-A (for America), a twin-engine, all-metal transport which proved a forerunner of the modern airliner. A number of aircraft followed but the company achieved its most significant success with the twin-engine S-38 amphibian, which Pan American Airways used to open new air routes to Central and South America. All Sikorsky aircraft of the time were known for ease of handling and luxurious comfort.
With two careers behind him and the oceans conquered, Sikorsky turned once again to the helicopter. Through the years he had jotted down ideas for possible designs, some of which were patented. Finally, on September 14, 1939, Sikorsky took his VS-300 a few feet off the ground to give the western hemisphere its first practical helicopter. His dogged determination and faith in his own ability to build what many considered to be an impossible vehicle established the bedrock upon which today's helicopter industry rests.
Military contracts followed the success of the VS-300, and in 1943, large-scale manufacture of the R-4 made it the world's first production helicopter. The R-4 was followed by a succession of bigger and better machines and since then, the helicopter has clearly established its ability to perform a myriad of difficult missions, including the saving of thousands of lives, in both peace and war. Sikorsky was especially proud of the helicopter's life saving ability and of organizations such as the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service which had put helicopters to what he believed was their finest use. He was often heard saying, "If a man is in need of rescue, an airplane can come in and throw flowers on him, and that's just about all. But a direct lift aircraft could come in and save his life."
The awards and honors accorded to Sikorsky fill nine typewritten pages and include the National Medal of Science, the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy, the U.S. Air Force Academy's Thomas D. White National Defense Award, and the Royal Aeronautical Society of England's Silver Medal.
Although recognized primarily as a practical inventor of material things, Sikorsky was also a deeply religious visionary and philosopher with an intense interest in man, the world and the universe. It was Sikorsky's abiding faith in God and his strong belief in the importance of the individual that helped him overcome the frustrations and failures that marked his career. Sikorsky liked to say that "the work of the individual still remains the spark, which moves mankind ahead," and he proved it throughout his life.
Although he never attempted to force anyone to accept his beliefs, Sikorsky wrote two books, "The Message of the Lord's Prayer," and "The Invisible Encounter," as well as numerous pamphlets, to express them. In the first book, Sikorsky expressed his belief in a final destiny for man and a higher order of existence, while in the second, he pleaded that modern civilization has a greater need for spiritual rather than material power.
Even after his retirement in 1957 at the age of 68 Sikorsky continued to work as an engineering consultant for Sikorsky and he was at his desk the day before he died, on October 26, 1972, at the age of 83.
Igor Sikorsky's diverse roles as an aircraft designer, pilot, aviation pioneer and visionary, have stimulated our quest in advancing aviation to its unlimited potential. His vision for flight is still illuminating us at Sikorsky Aircraft today one day at a time!
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More in the section:
The Waves of Ukrainian Emigration
Read also previous issue' articles:
A heat wave in Ukraine
"The Spirit of Hollybush" Comes to Donetsk
The new wave of Labor Migration
Home Discoveries
Asserting dignity
New Public Health for the New Ukraine
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