30 Facts About Igor Sikorsky

Igor Sikorsky's 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.

In 1939, Igor Sikorsky designed and flew the Vought-Igor Sikorsky VS-300, the first viable American helicopter, which pioneered the rotor configuration used by most helicopters today.

Igor Sikorsky modified the design into the Igor Sikorsky R-4, which became the world's first mass-produced helicopter in 1942.

Igor Sikorsky was born in Kiev, Russian Empire on May 25,1889.

Igor Sikorsky's father, Ivan Alexeevich Sikorsky, was a professor of psychology in Saint Vladimir University, a psychiatrist with an international reputation, and an ardent Russian nationalist.

Igor Sikorsky's mother, Mariya Stefanovna Sikorskaya, was a physician who did not work professionally.

Igor Sikorsky began studying at the Saint Petersburg Maritime Cadet Corps, in 1903, at the age of 14.

Igor Sikorsky returned to the Russian Empire in 1907, enrolling at the Mechanical College of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.

Igor Sikorsky moved to France where he was offered a contract for the design of a new, more powerful Muromets-type plane.

Igor Sikorsky met with aviation pioneers, to ask them questions about aircraft and flying.

Igor Sikorsky finally disassembled the aircraft in October 1909, after he determined that he could learn nothing more from the design.

Later, Igor Sikorsky built the two-seat S-5, his first design not based on other European aircraft.

In early 1912, Igor Sikorsky became Chief Engineer of the aircraft division for the Russian Baltic Railroad Car Works in Saint Petersburg.

Igor Sikorsky served as the test pilot for its first flight on May 13,1913.

Igor Sikorsky took the experience from building the Russky Vityaz to develop the S-22 Ilya Muromets airliner.

In 1923, Igor Sikorsky formed the Igor Sikorsky Manufacturing Company in Roosevelt, New York.

Igor Sikorsky was helped by several former Russian military officers.

In 1928, Igor Sikorsky became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Igor Sikorsky manufactured flying boats, such as the S-42 "Clipper", used by Pan Am for transatlantic flights.

Meanwhile, Igor Sikorsky continued his earlier work on vertical flight while living in Nichols, Connecticut.

On June 27,1931, Igor Sikorsky filed for a patent for another "direct lift aircraft", and was awarded patent No 1,994,488 on March 19,1935.

Igor Sikorsky was married to Olga Fyodorovna Simkovitch in the Russian Empire.

In 1923, Igor Sikorsky's sisters immigrated to the US, bringing six-year-old Tania with them.

Igor Sikorsky married Elisabeth Semion in 1924, in New York.

Igor 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.

Igor Sikorsky has been designated a Connecticut Aviation Pioneer by the Connecticut State Legislature.

Igor Sikorsky was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the Junior Achievement US Business Hall of Fame in 1987.

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.

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 designed the first heavy bomber for Russia.

Igor Sikorsky was a deeply religious Russian Orthodox Christian and authored two religious and philosophical books.