Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky: hero, exile, father of aviation. Igor Sikorsky - the great Ukrainian who created the helicopter and glorified the United States Scientist Sikorsky

Igor Sikorsky short biography outlined in this article.

Igor Sikorsky short biography

Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky- Russian and American aircraft designer, scientist, inventor

He began his studies at the 1st Kyiv gymnasium. From 1903 to 1906 he studied at the St. Petersburg Naval School. In 1907 he entered the Kiev Polytechnic Institute. He built his first helicopter model at the age of 19.

In 1908-1911, he built his first two simplest coaxial helicopters without a swashplate. The carrying capacity of the apparatus built in September 1909 reached 9 pounds, none of the helicopters built could take off with a pilot, and Sikorsky switched to building aircraft.

In January 1910 he tested a snowmobile of his own design.

In 1910, he took to the air the first aircraft of his design C-2.

In 1911 he received a diploma of a pilot.

From 1912 to 1917 he worked as a chief designer in the department of the Russian-Baltic Carriage Works in St. Petersburg.

In 1912-1914, he created in St. Petersburg the Grand (Russian Knight), Ilya Muromets aircraft, which marked the beginning of multi-engine aviation.

In 1915, Sikorsky created the world's first mass-produced escort fighter, the C-XVI, for joint operations with Ilya Muromets bombers and protecting their airfields from enemy aircraft.

On February 18, 1918, Sikorsky, through Arkhangelsk, free from the Bolsheviks, left Russia, first to London, and then to Paris.

In March 1919, Sikorsky emigrated to the United States, settled in the New York area, at first earning money by teaching mathematics. In 1923, he founded the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation, an aviation firm, where he assumed the position of president.

Until 1939, Sikorsky created about 15 types of aircraft. Since 1939, he switched to the design of single-rotor helicopters with a swashplate, which became widespread.

The first experimental helicopter Vought-Sikorsky 300, created by Sikorsky in the United States, took off from the ground on September 14, 1939. In essence, it was a modernized version of his first Russian helicopter created back in July 1909.

Sikorsky Igor Ivanovich

Sikorsky I.I. (1889-1972) - an outstanding pioneer in the design of multi-engine aircraft, which changed the course of the history of flight on devices with fixed wings, and later - a designer of single-rotor helicopters, which became widespread.

Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky was born on May 25, 1889, in Kyiv. He was the second son and fifth child in the family of Ivan and Zinaida Sikorsky. His father was a world-famous psychologist, had the title of professor and taught at Kiev University. He is the author of many works on psychology, which were published in many languages. Father raised Igor according to his own methodology and passed on to him devotion to the Church, Throne and Fatherland, helped to develop an unshakable will and unique perseverance
in achieving the goal. Mother was also a doctor, but did not work in her specialty. The boy had an early interest in models of aircraft, which may have been facilitated by his mother's enthusiasm for the art, life and work of Leonardo da Vinci. At the age of 12, Igor made a small "helicopter" with a rubber motor that flew up.
In 1903, Igor Sikorsky entered the St. Petersburg Naval School to become a career officer, but, driven by an interest in technology, he left the service in 1906. After a short technical training in Paris, Sikorsky returned to Kiev and in 1907 entered the Polytechnic Institute. Sikorsky finished the academic year well, but decided that the abstract sciences and higher mathematics that he had to study there had little to do with practical problems and that it would be more useful and interesting to work in his own workshop and laboratory.
On a trip to Europe in the summer of 1908, Igor Sikorsky learned about the successful flights of the Wright brothers and met European inventors who were looking for their own paths in the field of flight. At that time, many believed that the most promising aircraft with a horizontal propeller that would fly straight up. WITH financial assistance sister Sikorsky in January 1909 again went to Paris to continue his studies and purchase a light engine. Returning to Kyiv in May 1909, he began to build a "helicopter", as helicopters were then called. In 1908-1909. he consults with leading domestic and foreign experts, visits France and Germany, buys the engine and the necessary parts of the structure. And in July 1909, in the courtyard of his Kyiv house, a twenty-year-old student completes the assembly of the first helicopter in Russia, brought to the stage of full-scale tests. However, its lifting force was still insufficient. In the early spring of next year, Sikorsky is building a second helicopter in the same way. This rotorcraft was able to lift its own weight. At the same time, Sikorsky successfully experiments with snowmobiles of his own design. On them, as well as on helicopters, he learns to design and build propellers. By that time, Igor Sikorsky was already “literate” enough to understand that with the then level of technology, engines, materials, and even more so with a shortage Money and lack of experience, he will not create a successful helicopter. And he decided to take up airplanes with a rigidly fixed wing until better times.

In early 1910, Igor Sikorsky tested the first S-1 biplane. Engine power 15 l. With. turned out to be insufficient, but on a converted C-2 model with a more powerful engine, Sikorsky made his first flight, albeit a small one. More and more advanced C-3, C-4 and C-5 models quickly followed, each of which added to his flying experience. And so, in the summer of 1911, on the S-5 with a 50 hp engine. With. Igor Sikorsky managed to stay in the air for more than an hour, reach a height of 450 m and make short flights in a straight line. This success brought him international fame.
The half-educated student immediately received two very flattering offers from St. Petersburg: firstly, he was invited to the post of chief engineer of the established military naval aviation; secondly, to the position of designer of the newly formed aeronautical department joint-stock company"Russian-Baltic Wagon Plant" (RBVZ). He accepted both and moved with a group of closest collaborators from Kyiv to the capital of the empire.
Thanks to this set of circumstances, Sikorsky managed to make a great contribution to the creation of a special kind of troops - Russian aviation navy, and he can rightfully be considered one of its founders. However, after serving only a year, he retired from the naval service, giving himself entirely to work at the RBVZ. From the summer of 1912, he became both the chief designer and manager at this plant. Big influence the fate of Igor Ivanovich was influenced by the outstanding organizer of the domestic engineering industry, the chairman of the board of the RBVZ, M.V. Shidlovsky. He made a bet on a twenty-three-year-old student and was not mistaken. At RBVZ, one after another, new Sikorsky aircraft appear - biplanes and monoplanes - which arouse invariable admiration from both the general public and specialists and bring Russia fame as one of the leading aviation powers. The creation of each aircraft meant an important leap forward. During only 1912 and 1913. thanks to the talent and work of Sikorsky, the following appeared in Russia: the first seaplane; the first aircraft sold abroad; the first specially designed training aircraft; first production aircraft; the first monocoque aircraft; the first aerobatic aircraft, etc. Three aircraft designed by Sikorsky emerged victorious in international competitions military airplanes, proving in a stubborn struggle their advantages over the latest foreign aircraft. The S-10 scout had a dozen and a half modifications, which by the beginning of the First World War formed the basis of the naval aviation of the Baltic Fleet. The maneuverable S-12 was also mass-produced and then successfully used at the front. At the same time, licensed production of some types of foreign aircraft was established at the plant. Thus, Sikorsky can rightly be counted among the founders of the domestic aviation industry.

Igor Sikorsky became a very wealthy man, but lost everything when he fled Russia during the revolution of 1917. In the conditions of general frustration after the Russian revolution and the defeat of Germany, he did not see any special opportunities for the further development of aviation in Europe and decided to start from scratch in America. In March 1919 he arrived in New York as an emigrant.

After years of difficult existence as a lecturer and school teacher, in an attempt to find his niche in the declining post-war aviation industry, Igor Sikorsky with several partners, among whom were former Russian officers, founded his own company, Sikorsky Aero Engineering. They set up a workshop in an old barn on Long Island. In 1928 Sikorsky received US citizenship. By 1929 his company had become a division of more big company United Aircraft, and Sikorsky himself as its design development manager. Now she occupied a large modern factory building in Bridgeport, pc. Connecticut, and produced the S-38 twin-engine amphibian in significant numbers.
In 1931, the first flying boat of Igor Sikorsky S-40 "American Clipper" opened the mail and passenger routes of the Pan American World Airways around the Caribbean Islands and in South America. By the summer of 1937, the Pan American began serving the transpacific and transatlantic routes with the first four-engine S-42 aircraft. This "Clipper III", the prototype of which was the "Grand" 1913, completed the series of Sikorsky's airplanes. Until 1939, Sikorsky created more than 15 types of aircraft.
By the end of the 1930s, the requirements for military and commercial air transport had changed in such a way that it heralded the end of large flying boats, and Igor Sikorsky returned to the idea of ​​a helicopter. The aerodynamic theory and technology that had been lacking in 1910 was now in place. In the early weeks of 1939, with a well-trained design team under him, Sikorsky began work on the single-rotor VS-300 helicopter.
On September 14, 1939, the device took off for the first flight, and its creator controlled it. Throughout his career, Igor Sikorsky has always insisted on making the first flight on each structure himself. On May 6, 1941, on the same, but improved machine, he will set a world record for flight duration - 1 hour 32.4 s. Sikorsky quickly improved the VS-300 in the XR-4 experimental machine. The US Department of the Army was so confident in its merits that in 1942 it immediately placed a large order for new helicopter. By the end of World War II, more than 400 such aircraft had been built.
In 1937, the German designers G. Focke and A. Flettner, independently of each other, created flying and satisfactorily controlled helicopters with two large main rotors rotating in opposite directions, which ensured the balancing of the reaction moment. Igor Sikorsky, in 1939, was the first to use more a simple circuit with one main rotor and a small tail rotor, and today 90% of helicopters around the world are made according to this scheme. The first models of Igor Sikorsky were followed by a whole series (bearing his name) of others, of which the S-51, S-55, S-56, S-61, S-64 and S-65 were recognized as the most successful. Sikorsky was the first to build turbine helicopters, amphibious helicopters with retractable landing gear and "flying cranes". Sikorsky's helicopters were the first to fly across the Atlantic (S-61, 1967) and Pacific (S-65, 1970) oceans (with in-flight refueling).
Resuming work on the helicopter, Igor Sikorsky could hardly imagine the scale of the development of vertical take-off technology in the next 30 years. And he did not think about the widespread use of the helicopter in offensive military operations, which has been developed since the 1970s. He himself looked at the helicopter as vehicle, useful for industry and commerce, but primarily necessary for saving people and helping those who are caught natural disaster- fire, flood, etc. Igor Sikorsky estimated that 50,000 lives were saved by his helicopters.
Igor Sikorsky received many honorary doctorates, honorary memberships in scientific and technical societies in the USA and Europe. He was a laureate of the highest orders and medals, as well as aviation awards, including the Russian Cross of St. Vladimir, the Prize. Sylvanus Albert Reid for 1924 from the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences in New York, the medal to them. Daniel Gutgenheim for 1951, awards to them. Elmer Sperry for 1964, US National Defense Award for 1971, etc.
Igor Sikorsky retired as his company's engineering development manager in 1957, but remained a consultant until his death.
Active professional activity Igor Sikorsky covered the entire history of the fulfillment of a man's dream of flying - from the first flights of the Wright brothers to flights into space. And Sikorsky played a "fateful" role on the most important paths of the formation and development of aviation, introducing into this development personal contribution with an unusually wide range of innovative ideas.

What was he, this outstanding aircraft designer? Of medium height, with a soft, even shy, manner of speaking and behavior, he possessed remarkable strength, moral and physical. He loved to travel, traveled all over America by car, visited many countries of the world. He was fond of mountaineering, conquered many peaks of America and Canada. Volcanoes were his special love - "a mighty and majestic phenomenon of nature", according to Sikorsky. He preferred solitude to human communication, driving away from the bustle of the city by car.
In 1917, Sikorsky married, but this marriage was short-lived. He had a daughter, Tatyana, a future professor of sociology at the University of Bridgeport. The second time Sikorsky married in 1924 to Elizaveta Alekseevna Semenova. Their first-born Sergey worked in his father's company, was its vice president. The remaining three sons chose other professions: Nikolai became a violinist, Igor - a lawyer, Georgy - a mathematician.
A deeply religious man, Sikorsky not only supported the Russian Orthodox Church in America financially, but was himself the author of several theological works. Remembering his plight in the first years of his stay in America, he provided material assistance to various emigrant organizations.
Sikorsky died on October 26, 1972 and was buried in the town of Easton, Connecticut. During his life, he was awarded many honorary titles and awards, but his main award is the gratitude of people who widely use the machines he created. And among these grateful people are the presidents of the United States, who, starting with Dwight Eisenhower, fly helicopters with the inscription "Sikorsky" on the board.

The surname of Sikorsky has always been in the top ten of the hit parade of surnames that the Soviet regime hated. After all, this Kiev nugget, having left the Russian Empire, did not follow the example of thousands of other emigrants of the first wave and instead of sweeping a dusty Berlin cafe for the rest of his days or dashing taxis through the streets of Paris, he became one of the most successful aircraft designers in the world.

It got to the point of absurdity: in children's books, as an example of the achievements of Russian aviation, not the world's first four-engine aircraft "Russian Knight", built by Igor Sikorsky at the age of 24, was cited, but the bomber "Svyatogor" never took off in the air non-Sikorsky authorship. While the censors, succumbing to the call “Down with Sikorshchina!”, Diligently crossed out the name of the designer from all available documents and textbooks, Sikorsky himself received awards for his contribution to the development of aviation from the hands of Eisenhower, corresponded with Sinatra and condescendingly patted astronaut Neil Armstrong on the shoulder. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Better run back - to the childhood of the designer.

Boy in the cradle

Igor's father, Ivan Alekseevich Sikorsky, was a psychiatrist from the plow. Coming from the family of a provincial Orthodox priest, he made a dizzying career in medicine, the peak of which was the title of professor at the Department of Mental and Nervous Diseases of Kyiv University. The popularity of Sikorsky the doctor was so great that when, on May 25, 1889, his fifth and last child, son Igor, a good tradition has already developed in the family, according to which the godfather of each newborn was a representative of the royal dynasty. Godparents of Igor became Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich (cousin of Emperor Alexander III) and his mother grand duchess Alexandra Petrovna.

Igor's childhood was well-fed, contented and calm. He was the favorite of his mother, a highly educated woman. It was she who told little Igor about Leonardo da Vinci's homo universalis who once lived in Italy. Of all the inventions of the future designer, the Italian was most interested in the drawing of an aircraft - a helicopter. The story of the mother, coupled with the adventure novels of Jules Verne, had such a powerful effect on the fragile psyche of the child that he soon had an amazing dream. It is as if he is standing inside an elongated room with walnut doors and small windows, on the walls of which beautiful lamps hang, illuminating the room with a bluish light. The boy felt a slight vibration under his feet, and then it dawned on him: the room is in the air!

Waking up, the younger Sikorsky, instead of crossing himself and spitting, went into the courtyard and, with the help of servants, pulled several ropes between two powerful poplars, from which he hung a wicker cradle. While peers-gymnasium students excitedly threw portfolios at each other, Igor spent hours thoughtfully sitting in a cradle that hung five meters above the ground. So he accustomed himself to the height, so as not to be afraid when it comes time to test his first aircraft.

The first successes of the truant

Having studied following the example of his older brother Sergei in the Marine cadet corps three years, Igor left the walls of the institution with the comment: "Not mine." He was prevented from calmly mastering naval sciences by the reports that appeared in the newspapers about the flights of the Wright brothers. In 1906, 18-year-old Igor, with the blessing of his father, went to the Duvigno de Lanno technical school in Paris. A shy young man with a thin, long face and carefully grown mustaches did not attract the attention of Parisian beauties, and therefore could devote his time to a technical school. After studying for six months, Igor returned to Russia to bury his mother and enter the Kiev Polytechnic Institute.

Studying was easy for Igor, even though he was actively truant, while away the time in an impromptu home workshop. Igor's very first "craft" - a steam motorcycle - made him a legend among fellow students and teachers. But the coveted helicopter still did not work out.

Igor gathered a family council. He intends to return to Paris, which this moment is the aviation center of the world, and for this he needs money. The family got excited. The older brother Sergei doubted that a 20-year-old boy with a large amount of money in a merry Paris is a good idea. In general, Sergei does not believe in helicopters: nature itself has proven that a creature heavier than 10 kilograms cannot rise into the air, a jumping ostrich is living proof of this. But Igor persisted. In the end, money from the family budget was allocated, and after a few weeks, Igor introduced himself to aviation pioneer Ferdinand Ferber, who immediately told the enthusiastic Sikorsky that it was easy to invent a flying car, harder to build, and almost impossible to make it fly.

Indeed, after six months of construction and several months of testing a helicopter that could lift its own weight, but not the pilot, Sikorsky returned to Kiev with two motors with a capacity of 25 and 15 horsepower and the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bbuilding an airplane. And so that the propellers invented for the helicopter would not disappear in vain, Igor strengthened them on a snowmobile of his own design, the demonstration of which on a snowy wasteland in front of the officers of the General Staff was widely covered by the Kyiv press. The glory of Sikorsky grew stronger.

Vityaz and Muromets

The year 1913 was surprisingly happy for the young designer. And not only because he finally left the institute. The construction of the world's first aircraft with four engines, the Russian Knight, was completed. It was built by Sikorsky no longer in Kyiv, but at the Russian-Baltic Carriage Works, of which he was appointed head of the aviation department. A few months after the first flight of the Vityaz, a more advanced development was presented to the general public - the giant Ilya Muromets at that time. On February 12, 1914, Muromets set its first world record - in terms of the number of passengers taken on board. Sixteen people, and even the airfield dog Shkalik! The cargo amounted to 1290 kilograms. A whole bunch of ostriches!

For all this fuss, the designer forgot about one little thing: he never received an engineering degree. Here fans of Sikorsky's talent fussed. They wrote a collective letter about the achievements of their idol to the Kiev Polytechnic Institute with a request to "assign" a diploma to Igor. A couple of months later, Sikorsky "for the services rendered in the case military aviation”was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir IV degree, bestowing nobility.

Recognition inspired Igor to new exploits. He decided to set a world record for the longest flight on the Muromets. Sikorsky and three of his associates planned to overcome the route St. Petersburg - Odessa in a day, but in the end they flew only as far as Kyiv. The journey was brisk: a gas line burst, gasoline began to gush at the engine running at full speed, a three-meter flame engulfed part of the wing. Fortunately, the Muromets provided access to the engines in flight, so one of the mechanics rushed to put out the fire. Within a couple of seconds, the mechanic caught fire on his own, and the second mechanic had to put out his partner first, and then they put out the fire together, knocking him down with their jackets.

Flying over Kiev, Sikorsky descended over his stepfather's house and waved his wing. Then he sent the car to the airfield, where the designer, pilot and mechanics were already guarded by representatives of the Kyiv Aeronautics Society. After stormy greetings, someone casually mentioned news from abroad: Archduke Franz Ferdinand had been killed in Sarajevo. However, everyone was too absorbed in the flight to think about the consequences of this event.

Forced escape

During the First World War, Sikorsky was responsible for the supply of Muromets heavy bombers for the army. In total, a little more than eighty pieces were released. Meanwhile, the situation inside the country was heating up. In the young family of Sikorsky, things were also not going well. In 1916, the designer married a spoiled and capricious, but very pretty Olga Sinkevich and even managed to get a daughter, Tatyana. But soon after the wedding, one more was added to the negative characteristics of the wife: Olga became an ardent communist. Sikorsky, the royal favorite and godson of the Grand Dukes, did not match her new image. After filing a divorce, Sikorsky moved from a house near St. Petersburg, which he built for the family, to an apartment.

On a cold January night in 1919, a worker from the Russian-Baltic Plant, devoted to the designer, knocked on the door of this very apartment. He said that during the day suspicious faces in leather jackets were interested in Sikorsky. Without delaying an hour, the designer packed up his belongings and moved into a change house with a potbelly stove, next to the airfield. The next morning he busied himself with preparing the necessary papers for the departure. A month later, Sikorsky left for Paris. He will never see Russia again.

In emigration, the designer took a couple of hundred British pounds, letter of recommendation from the head of the French military mission in Russia and endless faith in his work. But Europe was already full of Russian emigrants, and even Sikorsky's fame as a designer was depreciating against the backdrop of the rapidly dwindling aviation industry. I did not want to sit in Paris without a job, I did not want to return to my homeland, into the clutches of the commissars, all the more so. There remained a country of great opportunities and active people on the other side of the ocean. In the spring of 1919, Sikorsky set foot on the American coast.

New York, New York!

Sikorsky had a mediocre command of the language, and at first he was helped to get comfortable by Kyiv immigrants, of whom there were many in New York. But he still could not get a job in his specialty. For three months, the designer wandered around the aviation offices, trying in broken English to explain to entrepreneurs with a glassy look what wonderful aircraft he could make. Entrepreneurs only indifferently lit a cigarette: America was teeming with unemployed aircraft designers and pilots who were transferred to the reserve after the end of the war. Igor changed from a cheap hotel to a very cheap one, reduced his daily expenses to an ascetic eighty cents, eating mostly beans and coffee. It's time to hate fate and sleep! But Sikorsky, who at first acquaintance seemed to be a gentle and non-confrontational person, actually possessed strong character fighter and refused to admit defeat.

One of the emigrants' acquaintances took pity on the haggard Igor and recommended him for a position as a mathematics teacher at an evening school for Russian workers on the East Side. Gradually, the lessons of mathematics turned into the basics of aviation. Sikorsky enthusiastically spoke from the pulpit about the heavy aircraft of the future, capable of lifting forty or even fifty people. So the designer had followers ready to build his planes for free. In addition, he met the pretty school teacher Elizaveta Simeon, the daughter of a Russian officer.

Life got better. True, it took the designer about a year to build the first "American" aircraft, and this year was very busy. Based on hastily The Sikorsky Aeroengineering Corporation was based in a windswept chicken coop on Long Island. Money was constantly in short supply, even the impressive amount of 5 thousand dollars (about 80 thousand modern dollars), donated by the composer Sergei Rachmaninov, did not save. The first tests of the S-29-A were unsuccessful: the plane fell to the ground like a stone, but, fortunately, no one was seriously injured. But when the plane was able to fly, orders poured in - for example, the transportation of a piano for the wife of the president, Mrs. Hoover, and the delivery of illegal alcohol. The designer had some money, and he was able to marry Elizabeth. This marriage turned out to be extremely successful, which, undoubtedly, was facilitated by both the calm disposition of Elizabeth and the devotion of Sikorsky, who preferred to give all his energy not to women, but to airplanes. Soon, Sikorsky's sister reached America, and not alone, but with her son and Igor's daughter, little Tatyana. Sikorsky quickly found a use for his nephew. One day, a lively New York newspaper reporter decided to take pictures of the city from a height, lying on the wing. Tightly tying the reporter, the designer "attached" his nephew to the other wing - for balance. The plane served its creator for a couple more years until it was sold to entrepreneur Howard Hughes, who spectacularly blew up the S-29-A in his film Hells Angels.

Transatlantic collapse

In the spring of 1926, a special client came to Sikorsky - the hero of France, the pilot Rene Fonck. He planned to fly over the ocean, and he needs a plane that will not let you down. Igor devoted all his time to the ambitious project. The customer was not easy to get: he constantly hurried Sikorsky, because he wanted to fly in the fall. The designer, on the other hand, insisted on the full scope of tests and proposed to postpone the flight until the summer. Funk was adamant.

The flight was scheduled for September 20, 1926. Cars with spectators began to arrive at the airfield long before dawn. When Fonck and the co-pilot, radio operator and mechanic who flew with him appeared at the airfield, they were greeted by hundreds of people. A plane with a cameraman was also at the ready to capture the beginning of the historic event. Someone in the crowd loudly turned to the radio operator: “Mister, do you have enough money for Parisian amusements?” After waiting for the laughter to subside, he replied with a smile: "To visit paradise, a dollar is enough." The team took their places, Fonck started the engines.

The plane is accelerating. Suddenly, its speed drops, a plume of dust trails behind it, the landing gear wheels fly off, the tail strut breaks off. A giant car falls into a ravine from a height of six meters and immediately ignites. Fonck and the co-pilot manage to get out of the car, the mechanic and the radio operator are burned alive.

The next morning, photographs of the catastrophe are taken by American newspapers, and the footage is shown in cinemas for a long time before the screenings. Six months later, Sikorsky is still in debt due to an uninsured plane and lost trust. And in May 1927, little-known young aviator Charles Lindbergh makes the first ever transatlantic flight in a battered, single-engine aircraft.

Amphibious aircraft

And again, Sikorsky demonstrates miracles of stress resistance. He borrows money and moves the plant closer to the water. The designer seeks to create an amphibious aircraft that is distinguished by its capacity and is capable of covering long distances. The first amphibian was ready in the same 1927, the official customer was the largest aviation company United States "Pan American". The amphibian was to be received by the airline's technical adviser, Charles Lindbergh. Despite the fact that Lindbergh indirectly rubbed the nose of the designer with his flight across the ocean, they immediately became friends. Lindbergh approved of the amphibian. During a demonstration flight for the press, Sikorsky exited the cockpit and descended into the passenger compartment. It was already evening, and at the moment when he opened the door, the lights in the cabin turned on. The designer froze in place in amazement: he saw a dream from his childhood. Small windows, walnut doors, lamps illuminating the salon with a pale blue light - a room floating in the clouds.

For the next ten years, Sikorsky's hydroplanes were very popular, glorifying and enriching their creator. Amphibious aircraft have flown in the Caribbean, operated in Africa and even crossed the ocean, gaining a reputation as the safest and most comfortable transport in the world.

Nevertheless, interest in amphibians gradually began to fall: they could not compete with faster and more maneuverable "land" aircraft.

Sikorsky is fifty years old. He has already made a name for himself and made a fortune. You can completely devote yourself to, say, communicating with your four sons, especially since the designer loved children and spent all his free time with them. In addition, recently daughter Tatyana gave birth to the first grandson of the designer! But instead of retiring, Sikorsky once again proves that he is Sikorsky.

Mr Helicopter

The idea to design a helicopter never left Sikorsky. Now he approached her thoroughly. Together with his friend Lindberg, the designer in 1938 visited Nazi Germany. And if Lindbergh and his wife were more interested in Hitler, then Sikorsky, bowing to the Fuhrer from afar, rushed to the workshop of the German designer Focke, who had reached great success in the helicopter industry. Having praised the German helicopter with a transverse scheme, Sikorsky returned to the USA with the firm conviction that the transverse scheme was garbage, it was necessary to build a single-rotor helicopter. Many did not believe in the possibility of creating a helicopter. But the main thing was that the US Congress believed, which allocated three million dollars to Sikorsky for the creation of a serial helicopter.

On May 20, 1940, the first public lift of an American experimental helicopter, more like a skeleton of a helicopter, took place - the Vout-Sikorsky 300. The car flew perfectly to the right, left, back and even turned on the spot, but at the same time stubbornly did not want to fly forward. The happy designer announced that this little thing is easy to fix. The helicopter was piloted by Sikorsky himself, his favorite fedora hat crowned his head.*

* Note Phacochoerus "a Funtik:
Sikorsky's favorite wardrobe item was a Fedora hat. The pilots even had a tradition of asking the hospitable designer to visit and ask to try on the “Fedora”. Allegedly, after that, everything will be fine with you on Sikorsky helicopters.

Two years after that demonstration, the world's first serial Sikorsky R-4 helicopter was commissioned by the US Army. The machines began to be actively used towards the end of the Second World War, and helicopters were used mainly in rescue operations. It was the beginning of a new era. From now on, the name Sikorsky has become synonymous with a helicopter, just like the name Ford has become synonymous with a car. Sikorsky's rotorcraft filled all the airspace over the United States, thanks to which the designer received the nickname Mr. Helicopter.

Over the next twenty-five years, Sikorsky developed about fifty helicopters, including a double-deck helicopter, an amphibious helicopter, a flying crane, a helicopter made of rubberized fabric ... The number of prizes and awards Sikorsky grew: in total, he was honored eighty-nine times, with a third of the awards to the designer were presented by American presidents.

Gradually, Sikorsky began to retire. Less and less often he got into his Volkswagen Beetle to go to the factory. But now the designer devoted more time to numerous hobbies, among which were sailing, playing the piano, writing philosophical and religious essays and shooting. Sikorsky's favorite trick during parties, which he and his wife regularly arranged for numerous friends and acquaintances, was knocking down a candle flame with a bullet from ten meters away. The aircraft designer died in 1972 at the age of 83 - in a dream, next to his beloved wife. The Sikorsky Corporation is thriving to this day, and 99 percent of the helicopters in the world are made according to the scheme proposed by the designer. Who said anything about ostriches?

Today, Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky personifies the successful development of the three most important types of modern aircraft. Large four-engine aircraft, giant flying boats and multipurpose helicopters who played important role in the development of aviation, appeared thanks to the genius of the legendary aircraft designer.

Igor Sikorsky: biography

The aviation pioneer was born on May 25, 1889 in Kyiv, Ukraine (then - Russian empire). His father, Ivan Alekseevich, was a doctor and professor of psychology. The mother also had medical education but never practiced. Sikorsky Igor Ivanovich considered his nationality established - his ancestors from the time of Peter I were servants of the Russian Orthodox Church, therefore, were Russian. One of his earliest memories is of his mother's story of Leonardo da Vinci's attempts to design. From that moment on, the dream of flying captured his imagination, despite being repeatedly told of the proven impossibility of it. Finally, at the age of 12, Igor Sikorsky built. Working on the energy of twisted rubber bands, the structure took to the air. Now the boy knew that his dream was not a reckless fantasy.

Inspirational Journey

A few years later, when Igor was vacationing in Germany with his father, he learned about the first airship launches carried out by Count von Zeppelin. He also read about the successful flights of the Wright brothers and was amazed that the newspaper reported such a great achievement in small print on the back page. At that moment, Sikorsky decided to devote his life to aviation. His particular goal was to develop an apparatus capable of hovering over a single point or flying in any desired direction - a helicopter.

He immediately began to conduct his experiments in a small hotel room, creating a rotor and measuring its lift. Upon returning to Kyiv, Igor left the Polytechnic Institute and began extensive research in the nascent He was not even twenty, he had great enthusiasm and many ideas, but little practical experience and money.

School of Aeronautics

Soon Igor Sikorsky went to Paris to buy an engine and other parts for his helicopter. There, on the local airfield, the smell of burnt castor oil and the sight of imperfect, early model airplanes trying to fly left an indelible mark on his soul. Soon, Sikorsky entered the newly created, highly informal French school of aeronautics, although the impatient student never got a chance to take to the air. While buying an Anzani three-cylinder engine, he met Louis Blériot, who was also buying an engine for his new monoplane. A few weeks later, the plucky Blériot entered on the first flight across the English Channel. This historical event deeply influenced the further development of aviation.

First designs

By mid-1909, Igor Sikorsky completed his first helicopter. But no matter how hard its twin counter-rotating rotor sliced ​​through the air, the craft showed no desire to budge. Sikorsky finally built a biplane and in June of that year he took it several meters into the air. For twelve whole seconds he tasted success. In the following months, Igor created other prototypes, flew them for short flights and often crashed them, which was not uncommon in the early days of aviation. But he, using undamaged parts, built the next, improved model. Sikorsky was not discouraged by the first failures, because he learned a lot about helicopters and was sure: if not the next aircraft, then the one that will be after it will someday take off.

Confession

By the beginning of the spring of 1910, the second rotary-wing aircraft, on which Sikorsky worked tirelessly, was prepared for testing. The helicopter proved to be as stubborn as its creator. The designer's perseverance was admirable, but gradually he came to the sad conclusion that perhaps he was ahead of his time and should build traditional aircraft.

Throughout his many years of aviation career, Sikorsky never forgot his dream of building a truly successful helicopter. Soon he received a diploma as a pilot of the Imperial All-Russian Aero Club and demonstrated his C-5 aircraft at military maneuvers near Kiev. There the aircraft designer met Tsar Nicholas II. The next C-6A model received the highest award at an aviation show in Moscow. But a minor incident, when a mosquito clogged a fuel line and forced Sikorsky to make an emergency landing, turned out to be fateful.

"Ilya Muromets" - a giant aircraft

This case led the aircraft designer to the idea of ​​increasing the reliability of the aircraft by using several engines - an extraordinary and radical concept at that time. Sikorsky proposed to build a four-engine biplane of a huge (at that time) size. The aircraft was nicknamed "Grand". In front of the aircraft was a large open balcony. A roomy passenger compartment was located behind the cockpit.

In May 1913, the aircraft designer made the first test flight on it. This flight was a moment of great personal satisfaction, as many told Sikorsky that such a huge aircraft could not fly. His faith in his ideas and determination to stick to his own convictions paid off handsomely. Tsar Nicholas II came to inspect the "Grand" and for the development of the first four-engine airplane presented the aircraft designer with an engraved watch. Encouraged, Sikorsky built an even larger aircraft, called the Ilya Muromets. The aircraft had an open bridge over the fuselage where intrepid passengers could stand and enjoy the scenery below. The big ship was a sensation in military circles, and representatives of the Russian Navy came to Petrograd to inspect a copy equipped with pontoons.

World War I

After the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Russia was mired in the First World War. The Ilya Muromets was converted into a bomber that became the backbone of the Russian air offensive against the Germans. In total, the aircraft participated in more than 400 sorties, and only one was damaged by anti-aircraft fire. When in 1917 the Bolshevik revolution swept the empire, the hero of our story decided to leave the country. In the summer of 1918, Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky, whose family remained in Russia, leaving behind all personal belongings, left for Paris, where he began to design a large bomber for the air service of the United States Army. But the end of the war put an end to his work. A few months later, having emigrated to the United States, Sikorsky would fulfill the dream of his life. In the United States, he had no friends and no money. But he was inspired because he believed that in this country a person with worthwhile ideas had a chance to succeed.

American dream

He briefly worked for McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio, helping develop the super-bomber. But at the time, aircraft manufacturing was considered a dying industry, and the unemployed Sikorsky returned to New York. Unable to find work in aviation, he took up lecturing for Russian immigrants in mathematics and astronomy. At the same time, he visited local airfields and longingly watched other people's airplanes. Igor began lecturing on the subject of aviation and provided himself with the financial opportunity to return to his beloved work. Sikorsky designed a twin-engine commercial aircraft capable of carrying 12 to 15 passengers, the forerunner of the modern airliner.

First American

Having accumulated the necessary amount, Sikorsky began building an aircraft in the barn of a poultry farm on Long Island. But there was not enough money for all the parts, and he used a lot of good parts from local junkyards. The engines were old, from World War I. Finally, the great Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff bailed out his compatriot with a $5,000 subscription. When the new aircraft was ready for its first test flight, eight assistant aircraft designers crowded on board. Igor Sikorsky knew that this was a mistake, but he could not refuse them. After a slow start, the engines failed, and Igor Ivanovich made an emergency landing, severely damaging the airplane. It seemed to be the end. But Sikorsky long ago learned not to lose heart, and a few months later he restored the aircraft under the name C-29-A. The letter "A" here stands for the word "America". The C-29-A turned out to be a surprisingly good aircraft, which ensured the financial success of the Sikorsky company. Aviator Roscoe Turner purchased the aircraft for charter and scheduled flights. Later, the device was even used as a flying tobacco shop.

In 1926 the whole aviation world was excited about the $25,000 prize being offered to the first person to fly direct between New York and Paris. Sikorsky was asked to build a large three-engined biplane for the French war hero René Fonck, who planned to win the prize. The crew was in a hurry with the final preparations before the end of flight tests. During the takeoff run, the overloaded aircraft ran over the embankment. In a matter of seconds, it turned into a blazing hell. Fonck miraculously escaped, but two crew members died. Almost immediately, the plucky Frenchman ordered another airplane to try for the prize a second time. But before it was built, an unknown person completed his solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, receiving the prize and admiration of millions of people.

"American Clipper"

And again, Sikorsky's company fought for its existence. Then he decided to build a twin-engine amphibian. The plane turned out to be very practical and reliable, and Sikorsky created a whole fleet of such aircraft. Almost immediately, Pan American Airways used the amphibians to establish new air routes to Central and South America.

Soon Sikorsky had more orders than he could handle. He reorganized his company and built new plant in Stratford. A year later, the company became a subsidiary of the United Aircraft Corporation. Sikorsky was offered to design a huge seaworthy transport aircraft for Pan Am, which was to become a pioneer in the field of transoceanic transportation. The majestic "American Clipper" was the second new type of aircraft created by the aircraft designer. The dimensions of the aircraft were almost twice the dimensions of other aircraft of that time. At the end of 1931, after Mrs. Herbert Hoover "christened" the Clipper, Charles Lindbergh made her first flight from Miami to the Panama Canal.

This large flying boat was the forerunner of a whole series of similar vehicles that paved the American air routes across all oceans. Among the best was the C-42, completed in 1934 and with excellent performance, which allowed Lindberg to set 8 world speed, range and payload records in a day! Shortly thereafter, Pan Am used the flying boat to open air links between the US and Argentina. Six months later, another Clipper took off from Alameda, California, and opened an air route to Hawaii. This was followed by other air routes across the Pacific in New Zealand. In 1937, another Clipper made the first scheduled air flight across the North Atlantic. Sikorsky's large overseas aircraft were now busy with commercial traffic across both major oceans.

The dream came true

Throughout these successful years, aircraft designer Igor Sikorsky never forgot his desire to build a practical helicopter. He never thought of it as an aircraft, rather it was a dream that he wanted to realize more than anything else. In 1939, Sikorsky finally achieved his lifelong goal by developing the first real helicopter. But the apparatus presented such a completely new and complex problem that the designer had to devote himself entirely to solving it. It was a challenge that called all his intelligence, energy and love to fly. But this achievement was his chance to once again be on the verge of a new challenge that Sikorsky had dreamed of for so long. The helicopter has been the personal goal of the aircraft designer for three decades. And so, in the spring of 1939, he began to design it, using the ideas accumulated over all this time. By September, the apparatus was ready for the first tests. The machine had one main and a second small screw at the end of the tubular fuselage - to counter torque. In addition, it used unique system changes in the angle of the main rotor blades during its rotation. In an incredibly short six-month period, one of the insoluble problems of aviation was overcome.

Having made changes to the design, in 1941 Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky set the first flight duration record - 1 hour 5 minutes and 14 seconds. Two days later, the apparatus equipped with floats could already start both on land and on water. Thus Sikorsky made his third major contribution to aviation, embodied in the dream of a strange flying machine that would still serve mankind well and amaze the world with its superb maneuverability in the air. Moreover, the helicopter will become a monument to a person with unshakable faith in a great dream and even greater faith in himself, which allowed him to achieve his goal.

Sikorsky Igor Ivanovich, whose inventions left a noticeable mark on the history of aviation, died on October 26, 1972.

Every time US President George W. Bush needs to get to his ranch, he boards a Sikorsky helicopter. The Queen of Great Britain Elizabeth II calls the same helicopter the most convenient means of transportation. Americans consider Igor Sikorsky a national genius. And Russia and Ukraine can only quietly be proud of its origin.

Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (1889-1972), Russian and American aircraft designer and industrialist. Born in Russia, from 1908 he built aircraft, including the world's first 4-engine aircraft "Russian Knight" and "Ilya Muromets". In 1919, he emigrated to the United States (in 1923 he founded a company), where, under the leadership of Sikorsky, passenger and military aircraft and helicopters were created.

Igor Sikorsky is an outstanding pioneer in the design of multi-engine aircraft, which changed the course of the history of fixed-wing flight, and later a designer of helicopters with a single-rotor system that became widespread.

Early interest in "helicopters"

Igor Sikorsky was born into the family of a certified doctor, professor of psychology at Kyiv University. His mother was also a doctor, but did not work in her specialty. The boy had an early interest in models of aircraft, which may have been facilitated by his mother's enthusiasm for the art, life and work of Leonardo da Vinci. At the age of 12, Igor made a small "helicopter" with a rubber motor that flew up.

Study and search

In 1903, Igor Sikorsky entered the St. Petersburg Naval School to become a career officer, but, driven by an interest in technology, he left the service in 1906. After a short technical training in Paris, Sikorsky returned to Kiev and in 1907 entered the Polytechnic Institute. Sikorsky finished the academic year well, but decided that the abstract sciences and higher mathematics that he had to study there had little to do with practical problems and that it would be more useful and interesting to work in his own workshop and laboratory.

First experience with helicopters

On a trip to Europe in the summer of 1908, Igor Sikorsky learned about the successful flights of the Wright brothers and met European inventors who were looking for their own paths in the field of flight. At that time, many believed that the most promising aircraft with a horizontal propeller, which would fly straight up. With the financial help of his sister, Sikorsky again went to Paris in January 1909 to continue his studies and purchase a light engine. Returning to Kyiv in May 1909, he began to build a "helicopter", as helicopters were then called. With the first model, he failed, revealing a number of practical difficulties. But the second aircraft, with a more powerful engine, tested in 1910, also did not fly. By that time, Igor Sikorsky was already “literate” enough to understand that with the then level of technology, engines, materials, and even more so with a lack of funds and lack of experience, he could not create a successful helicopter. And he decided to take up airplanes with a rigidly fixed wing until better times.

Experiments with airplanes

In early 1910, Igor Sikorsky tested the first S-1 biplane. Engine power 15 l. With. turned out to be insufficient, but on a converted C-2 model with a more powerful engine, Sikorsky made his first flight, albeit a small one. More and more advanced C-3, C-4 and C-5 models quickly followed, each of which added to his flying experience. And so, in the summer of 1911, on the S-5 with a 50 hp engine. With. Igor Sikorsky managed to stay in the air for more than an hour, reach a height of 450 m and make short flights in a straight line. This success brought him international fame.

Successful career aircraft designer

From 1912 to 1917, Igor Sikorsky served as chief designer of the Russian-Baltic Plant in St. Petersburg (Petrograd), which supplied airplanes for the Russian army. Here he built the S-6, S-10 and S-11 airplanes, which won first places in Russian military aircraft competitions in 1912-13. Here, in 1913, he built (and personally flew around) the world's first four-engine Grand Airplane, the forerunner of many modern bombers and transport aircraft. Then, under the leadership of Igor Sikorsky, multi-engine aircraft "Russian Knight" and "Ilya Muromets" were built. Among other aircraft created by Sikorsky were reconnaissance monoplanes (experimental and serial), float versions of land aircraft, fighters, a number of modifications of the Ilya Muromets, etc. Among his design innovations, accepted everywhere only in the mid-1920s, was completely closed cockpit for pilot and passengers.

Revolution and emigration

Igor Sikorsky became a very wealthy man, but lost everything when he fled Russia during the revolution of 1917. In the conditions of general frustration after the Russian revolution and the defeat of Germany, he did not see any special opportunities for the further development of aviation in Europe and decided to start from scratch in America. In March 1919 he arrived in New York as an emigrant.

In 1919 Sikorsky emigrated to the United States.

Who knows what the fate of world aviation would have been if in 1923 Sergei Rachmaninov had not borrowed $5,000. Igor Sikorsky. After leaving revolutionary Russia, the famous aircraft designer ended up in New York without a livelihood and was forced to work as a teacher at an evening school. With Rachmaninov's money, he managed to establish a small design company, Sikorsky Aeroingeneering Corporation, whose staff consisted of unemployed Russian emigrants - engineers, workers, pilots.

At first, Sikorsky decided to continue the work begun back in Russia, and engaged in the production and improvement of heavy aircraft, similar to the famous Ilya Muromets (which was in service in tsarist army), the ancestor of modern long-range bombers. However, despite the support of the Russian diaspora, this idea failed. First World War ended, and military equipment was unclaimed.

It was necessary to create a "people's" aircraft. Then Sikorsky came up with a unique car. A ten-seat twin-engine amphibian could land where only “Indian pies and American hunter boats” had previously swam. This invention brought Sikorsky Aeroingeneering Corporation huge popularity on both sides of the ocean. The number of customers grew rapidly, and the company's revenue increased many times over. Soon Sikorsky was able to open own factory in Stratford (Connecticut). However, even such a stunning success did not allow the company to truly “turn around”. The Great Depression began. In June 1929, to save itself from bankruptcy, the Sikorsky Aeroingeneering Corporation became part of the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation, later renamed United Technologies.

In 1929, the aircraft designer received the first major civilian order in his life - Pan American acquired several S-38 twin-engine aircraft. The machine had a short fuselage of a flying boat with a high tail and retractable landing gear. Sikorsky continued to develop his success and began to develop the design of aircraft with a large load on the wing.

In the early 1930s, two unique aircraft S-40 and S-42. These were the world's first transport aircraft equipped with constant speed propellers. The S-42, designed for long-haul flights, set an altitude record (6220 m) in 1934, carrying a payload of more than 4900 kg. It was the S-42 amphibian that made the first flight across the Atlantic in 1934 and across the Pacific Ocean in 1935. In 1937, the first passenger flights across the Atlantic began on serial aircraft of this type.

In the late 1930s, a small world market aviation technology was oversaturated, the demand for flying amphibians began to fall catastrophically, and Sikorsky Aeroingeneering suffered losses. Being in a desperate situation, Igor Sikorsky understood that in order to save Sikorsky Aeroingeneering, a completely new scientific idea was needed, which would allow creating an absolutely new type aircraft. During the year, a pilot-industrial copy of the helicopter was created. Behind a short time the car became popular. The press, stunned by the success of the designer, called Igor Sikorsky “helicopter pilot No. 1”. Over the next thirty years, Sikorsky created 18 models of completely different helicopters, which became an integral part of the armed forces of almost half of the countries of the world.

Igor Sikorsky personally took off his first experimental helicopter on September 14, 1939. A few years later, an experimental two-seat helicopter S-47 (R-4) was created, which soon entered the mass production. This machine was built according to the scheme, which later became a classic for the entire world helicopter industry. The S-47 had one large main rotor and a small tail rotor.

During the Second World War, during the landing of small parties of troops, American troops constantly suffered significant losses from the forces of the Wehrmacht. In 1942, the generals demonstrated to US President Theodore Roosevelt the Sikorsky rotorcraft, the appearance of which could significantly change the balance of power at the front. The head of the White House liked the helicopter, and he agreed that the Department of Defense would acquire a small batch of these aircraft. In the period from 1942 to 1945, 150 Sikorsky helicopters participated in the battles, and they have proven themselves well. After the war, the American army actively began to equip its units with helicopters. Today, the US Air Force is armed with approximately 7,000 helicopters for various purposes, most of them are Sikorsky aircraft.

The mass use of Sikorsky helicopters began in Asia during the Korean (1950 - 1953) and Vietnam Wars(1965 - 1972). Since that time, the S-51 and S-55 helicopters have become the base vehicles for the armed forces of the United States, England and France. Improving his design and using the already classic helicopter scheme, Sikorsky created a truck capable of lifting 3.5 tons, and then a more powerful one with a carrying capacity of 14 tons.

The peak of the design career of the Russian head of an American corporation was the S-56 and S-58 models. S-56 is not only one of the largest helicopters in the world, but also the fastest. According to their flight technical and economic indicators the S-58 model was the best copy of that time. In 1958, the serial production of the helicopter reached a record number - 400 machines per year. Licensed production of the S-58 has been established in several countries around the world, and individual helicopters are operated even today.

In 1958, the permanent head of Sikorsky Aircraft, Igor Sikorsky, retired, retaining his position as a company consultant. In October 1998, Dean Borgman received an unexpected offer from United Technologies, a diversified corporation, to join Sikorsky. Without thinking twice, he accepted the offer and in July 1999 became the head of the company.

At that time, products manufactured under the Sikorsky brand already occupied a leading position in the market for medium and heavy helicopters with a total weight of 5 to 33 tons. These helicopters were in service in all NATO countries and were used in more than 40 countries around the world. Since 1998, Sikorsky has led the international S-92 helicopter project, which involves the largest airlines in Japan, Spain, China, Brazil and Taiwan. This aircraft was intended for international military exercises.

At the present time, almost all key US production programs are based on Sikorsky brand helicopters. Seahawk helicopters were developed specifically for the US Navy, and the famous Black Hawk and H-60 ​​are widely used in all branches of the US armed forces. Heavy CH-53E and MN-53E are designed to transport people and equipment during hostilities.

well deserved honor

Igor Sikorsky received many honorary doctorates, honorary memberships in scientific and technical societies in the USA and Europe. He was a laureate of the highest orders and medals, as well as aviation awards, including the Russian Cross of St. Vladimir, the Prize. Sylvanus Albert Reid for 1924 from the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences in New York, the medal to them. Daniel Gutgenheim for 1951, awards to them. Elmer Sperry for 1964, US National Defense Award for 1971, etc.

Retirement, death

Igor Sikorsky retired as his company's engineering development manager in 1957, but remained a consultant until his death.

Unique Breadth of Contribution

The active professional activity of Igor Sikorsky covered the entire history of the fulfillment of a person's dream of flying - from the first flights of the Wright brothers to flights into space. And Sikorsky played a "fateful" role on the most important paths of the formation and development of aviation, making a personal contribution to this development with an unusually wide range of innovative ideas.

I.I. Sikorsky

Sikorsky's contribution to the development of world aviation is appreciated. His name is included in the US National Inventors Hall of Fame along with Edison, Fermi and Pasteur. And the John Fritz Medal of Honor for scientific and technical achievements in the field of fundamental sciences in the field of aviation was awarded to only two engineers - Igor Sikorsky and Orville Wright. Only one Russian - Igor Sikorsky ...