MAY 25, 1889, in the family of Ivan Alekseevich Sikorsky, a professor of psychology at Kiev University, the fifth child was born - a son who was named Igor.
The Sikorsky family was not only famous in Kiev, it was highly respected. The head of a venerable family, who chose as his field one of the most mysterious areas of medicine - psychiatry and the treatment of mental illness, by this time had already gained worldwide fame, becoming a recognized authority in this field. His works were translated into European languages, discussed at international congresses, and books on parenting were published abroad for more than one edition and were used as textbooks in many countries.
Zinaida Stepanovna Sikorskaya, nee Princess Temryuk-Cherkasskaya, also received a medical education. But, as they would say today, she did not work a day in her specialty, fully devoting herself to the family and raising children - Lydia, Olga, Elena, Sergey and Igor. She instilled in them a love of literature, music, history - that which she herself loved.
It was she who told little Igor about the great Italian thinker of the 15th century Leonardo da Vinci and one of his brilliant insights, never realized, - an aircraft that could take off straight from the spot, without a run.
This mother's story engraved in childhood memory. The dream to build such a car grew and grew stronger with the little boy. Believe it or not, but after reading a vague description of a helicopter in one of the novels of science fiction writer Jules Verne, Igor Sikorsky, at the age of eleven, made a model of a hitherto unseen machine. Wooden, with a rubber engine, she … no, she did not rise into the air, but only galloped like a hobbled foal across the lawn near the house. But this did not bother the young designer. As they say, dashing trouble is the beginning.
In 1903, Igor entered the St. Petersburg Naval Cadet Corps. With the development of software disciplines, the craving of the midshipman Sikorsky for technology became more and more apparent. He studied with pleasure, but more and more clearly understood that a military career was not for him.
Somehow Sikorsky caught sight of several short newspaper reports about the flights of the Wright brothers. And he again began to rave about the sky. The dream to create flying cars never left my head. But where can you learn this? After all, educational institutions of such a profile did not exist in Russia at that time. And in 1906, after completing the general course, Igor, despite the categorical disapproval of his parents, decided to leave the cadet corps. He leaves for France and enters the Duvigno de Lanno technical school. After studying there for six months, Sikorsky returned to his homeland and in the fall of 1907 entered the Kiev Polytechnic Institute.
A year of study has passed. The young inventor spent all his free time in an impromptu home workshop. A few months later, as if in passing, along with other technical research, he built a steam motorcycle, which astonished those around him. But Igor wanted something more.
In 1908, on vacation, he went with his father to Germany. There he comes across a newspaper article detailing one of the Wright brothers' flights. This message shocked Igor. The possibility of creating a flying machine - the age-old dream of mankind has been proven! He felt with all his heart that aviation was his life's work. But what is most surprising is that the airplanes that have just got on the wing seem to him no longer interesting. And Sikorsky - at nineteen! - decides to start creating an apparatus that could take off and land without a run, hang motionless in the air and move in any chosen direction. This idea fascinates the young man so much that he, without postponing things on the back burner, right in the hotel sketches the first drawing of a helicopter - an air machine that still exists only in his imagination …
Thorny paths of pioneers
HAVING RETURNED home after the holidays, Igor continued to work in his home workshop. At the same time, he reads everything he could get his hands on about aviation, and by the end of the year he already knows practically everything about the world aviation experience.
Knowledge needed to be translated into practical developments. But money was needed to build a full-scale helicopter. The small funds that were at the personal disposal of the young Sikorsky have long been spent on research. Moreover, the practical work fascinated the designer so much that he almost abandoned the institute, appearing in class from time to time. The teachers complained to the father about the unlucky, in their opinion, son and asked him to take action. However, Ivan Alekseevich saw in his son's hobbies not empty youthful fun.
Taking advantage of his parent's favor, Igor gathered a family council and, having told about his plans, asked for financial assistance. To continue his work, he needs to go to Paris, gain knowledge and experience, and most importantly, purchase an engine and other necessary materials to create not a model, but a working model of a rotary-wing machine capable of taking off from the ground. And although the opinions of the relatives were divided, Igor received the necessary funds and, no less important, his father's blessing for further technical research. And in January 1909 he left Kiev.
In Paris, he daily visited the airfields of Issy-les-Moulineaux and Juvisi, eagerly perceiving everything that was happening. And there was so much to see! Even the attempts to fly made a deep impression on the young man. There were a lot of various designs, which were the fruit of ingenious, semi-insane or completely insane ideas of inventors. Many vehicles could not even move. If the car ran across the field, bouncing, it was already promising. In the event of an accident, if it did not kill the pilot, it was considered quite suitable. There was a wonderful, open and honest struggle of ideas embodied in these fragile mechanisms that promised mankind a new stage in its development and conquest of the planet.
In Paris, Sikorsky met one of the pioneers of world aviation, Ferdinand Ferber. Designer and test pilot in one person, Ferber received the young man, listened to him carefully and … advised not to waste time on a helicopter, but to concentrate efforts on the airplane as a more promising machine and provided the young inventor with the necessary literature. And at the same time he offered the young man to take a course in the pilot school he had recently organized.
It is clear that Sikorsky gratefully accepted the master's proposal. He combined classes with informal communication with Ferber, who favored him. Once a conversation arose between a student and a teacher about aircraft engines:
- Which one is the best and most reliable? - asked Sikorsky.
- There are no better or good engines now, - was the answer of the Frenchman. Then Igor formulated the question in a different way:
- Which one is the least bad?
- Take a closer look at the Anzani engine …
It was with this engine, bought in France, that Sikorsky returned to Kiev in May 1909, where he learned two news that shocked him. One of the European newspapers reported that the French pilot Louis Bleriot flew over the English Channel in his airplane with an Alexander Anzani engine, overcoming an unthinkable distance of 40 kilometers at that time. Another posted a small note about the death of the pilot and aircraft designer Ferdinand Ferber during the flight …
It would be fair to say that by the summer of 1909, mankind already knew something about airplanes, but still practically nothing about helicopters. A student of the Kiev Polytechnic Igor Sikorsky was at that time, if not the only, then certainly one of the few enthusiastic designers involved in rotary-wing aircraft.
He worked tirelessly, not knowing sleep and rest. And in July 1909, the construction of a working model of the world's first helicopter was completed. When starting to test his machine, the inventor set modest goals - to check the operation of all mechanisms and estimate the magnitude of the lifting force.
Alas, it was not enough to lift the car off the ground. It was required, with the existing engine power, to lighten the weight of the structure itself and to seriously improve the rotors. Sikorsky feels that he lacks either engineering or theoretical knowledge, and in the fall he again goes to Paris to get acquainted with the novelties of the rapidly developing aviation.
This time he manages to witness not a series of attempts to tear the winged machines off the ground, but real flights. Including the historic flight of Count de Lambert, who on October 18, 1909, taking off on the Wright brothers' apparatus from the Juvisy airfield, sailed over the French capital at an altitude of 400 m, flew around the Eiffel Tower and returned safely to the launch site. Impressed by what he saw, Sikorsky, without abandoning ideas for creating a helicopter, decides to build an aircraft of his own design and take it into the air. He wants to fly!
Igor returns to Kiev with two new, more powerful Anzani motors. And proceeds to build … a snowmobile. Sikorsky did not need a car unseen before neither in Russia nor in the world for fun. While the first airplane and the second helicopter were being assembled in the hangars, the designer decided to test engines in all modes, propellers of various designs and materials, and, no less important, to gain practical experience in operating a machine driven by a propeller.
All winter Sikorsky, causing amazement among the townspeople and delight among the boys, rolled passengers along the snow-covered streets of Kiev. Only at the beginning of March, both engines were removed from the snowmobile and installed on air vehicles. Igor was the first to decide to test his beloved brainchild.
And in the early spring of 1910, a miracle happened in Russia, nobody appreciated its true worth: for the first time in the world, a machine with two rotors - a helicopter that was able to lift its own weight of 180 kilograms - took off and hovered in the air …
Alas, while this was the limit of its capabilities: even to take on board a pilot, the new apparatus still lacked strength, not to mention passengers or payload. Igor realized that in the near future he would not be able to build a full-fledged machine capable of "rising without a run and hovering in the air in one place without horizontal speed" - there is no sufficiently developed theory, practically no experimental data. And the designer completely switched to the creation of airplanes, especially since the construction of the first machine of his own design was already nearing the end …
"We teach airplanes to fly …"
PLANE S-1, which Sikorsky's volunteers at the end of April 1910 rolled out of a shed, loudly called a hangar, onto a lawn on the outskirts of Kiev, was a two-post biplane. Anzani fifteen-horsepower pusher engine was installed on the lower fender behind the seat. The elevator was controlled using the handle located to the right of the pilot, the ailerons were controlled by the handle to the left of the pilot, the rudder was controlled from the pedals …
For three weeks Igor Ivanovich tried in vain to lift his brainchild into the air. The inexperienced pilot could not manage to catch the desired angle of attack. A device stumbling across imperfect chassis - ordinary bicycle wheels! - on the bumps and falling into the pits, all the time strove to turn around during the run. The engine power was clearly not enough. Once the pilot managed to get off the ground half a meter, but this happened only thanks to a strong gust of wind. In addition, the gap was so short-lived that Sikorsky did not even manage to test the rudders … In general, S-1 was born "stillborn".
On June 2, 1910, the C-2 was prepared for the first flight. Sikorsky installed a 25 hp engine on it. from., filmed from a helicopter. And he installed it in front, taking into account the already rich experience of plane crashes by that time: in any serious accident, the engine broke off the mountings and fell with all its weight on the pilot.
The morning of the next day turned out to be quiet and cloudless in Kiev. A light breeze was blowing. C-2 was rolled out of the hangar. Igor Ivanovich took the pilot's seat. Warmed up the engine, squeezed out the maximum gas. Three people barely held the car rushing into the sky by the tail and wings. On command, they let go of the airplane. There were no instruments on board; Sikorsky made an idea of the speed by the incoming air flow. This time it was significantly higher than in previous takeoff attempts. And the pilot smoothly pulled the elevator handle … Sports commissars of the Kiev Aeronautics Society, invited on that day by Sikorsky, who was absolutely confident in his success, recorded: flight range - 200 meters, duration - 12 seconds, height - 1.5 meters. This was the third flight of a Russian-made aircraft in Russia.
After completing two more successful flights in a straight line and feeling very confident in the air, Sikorsky decided to make the first flight in a circle in his life. To accomplish our plan, it was necessary to fly over a deep ravine, turn over the field, cross the stream and return to the starting point.
On June 30, in the afternoon, Sikorsky lifted the car into the air, easily gained a height of about seven (!) Meters, crossed the field and on its border began to turn towards the ravine. The jet from the propeller, together with the smoke from the burning castor oil and drops of oil, hit my face, my hands felt the elasticity of the steering wheels of the obedient machine. All this gave rise to delight and a feeling of happiness in Igor Ivanovich's soul: he was flying an airplane of his own design over the ground!..
And I did not immediately notice that the swamp, located at the bottom of the ravine, began to rapidly approach. The next moment there was a crash: the C-2 hit the slope, the pilot flew out of the cockpit and was covered by the crashed vehicle. Fortunately, friends were not far away. Before takeoff, they had come to the edge of the ravine to see the first U-turn closer, and now they were witnessing an accident. To their surprise, the tester was safe and sound, apart from bruises and scratches. The plane, along with the engine, was completely destroyed and could not be restored.
Failure did not cool the ardor of Sikorsky. For a long time and thoroughly - both as a designer and as a test pilot - he analyzed the causes of the first accident that happened to him and the apparatus of his design. And he came to the conclusion that the C-2, even at maximum engine speed, could barely stay in the air during simple horizontal flight. The turn required a reserve of power, which was not there. The situation was aggravated by a ravine with a cold swamp at the bottom, over which an air hole formed. A set of these unfavorable factors played a fatal role.
The C-2 no longer existed. In total, he stayed in the air for less than 8 minutes, but this time was enough for the pilot and designer Sikorsky to receive a large amount of new information, which could now be used to calculate, build and pilot future aircraft.
During July, Sikorsky made drawings of a new car and on August 1 went to Paris for the engine. This time he bought a forty-horsepower Anzani engine. By the time Igor Ivanovich returned to Kiev, his assistants were finishing the assembly of the airplane. The end of October and the whole of November were spent on debugging and adjusting the car, taxiing and jogging. In early December, C-3 performed its first straight flight. The aircraft was undoubtedly more perfect than the previous ones: it took off easily, responded well to the actions of the controls, and had a power reserve. On it, Sikorsky first rose to a height of more than 15 meters … On December 13, 1910, while trying to fly in a circle, the plane crashed onto the ice of a frozen pond, almost burying its creator under the rubble.
There was a reason to fall into despair. But barely recovering after swimming in the December polynya, Igor Ivanovich draws up a plan for further work: in the spring he intends to raise C-4 and C-5 into the air. And if the first was, in fact, a copy of the crashed C-3, then the C-5 was originally conceived by the designer as a new step in aircraft construction.
First, the steering wheel first appeared on it. Secondly, a somewhat heavy, but more reliable Argus engine was used, which had a water cooling and a power of 50 hp. with. Thirdly, Sikorsky changed the configuration and internal structure of the wing, and for the first time applied a special treatment of the skin, which significantly improved the aerodynamic qualities of the airplane. Fourth, the C-5 - the first of the aircraft - has an additional fuel tank and the ability to switch to it right in the air. And, fifthly, also for the first time in aircraft construction, there was … a second seat on the machine!
At the end of April 1911, flight tests of the C-5 began, starting which Sikorsky tried to take into account as much as possible all his experience of a fifteen-minute stay in the air and two falls. Igor Ivanovich had no other sources of knowledge on piloting at that time.
After several test lifts from the ground, Sikorsky made his first truly impressive flight on the C-5 on May 17: after staying in the air for more than four minutes, he performed a circle motion at an altitude of 100 meters and landed safely in front of an enthusiastic Kiev audience. It was a real triumph!
The first flight of the C-5 was followed by others, even more prolonged and high-altitude. Sikorsky could already be in the air for up to half an hour and climb to a height of 300 meters. On June 12, for the first time in Russia, he made several flights with a passenger on board.
On August 18, Igor Ivanovich passed the exam for the rank of pilot-aviator. The Russian Imperial Aero Club, on behalf of the International Aviation Federation, issued him a pilot's certificate number 64. Inspired Sikorsky set four All-Russian records in the coming days: he reached an altitude of 500 meters, made a non-stop flight at a distance of 85 kilometers, staying in the air for 52 minutes and developing on one of the sections of the route speed of 125 km / h.
On September 1, the pilot and aircraft designer, who had already received worldwide fame and recognition, was invited to the maneuvers of the Russian troops near Kiev. During the demonstration flights, the C-5 showed a higher speed than military aircraft, although their fleet consisted of the latest foreign brands. At the same time, Sikorsky made several flights with officers of the General Staff on board. The general staff were delighted: from above, the terrain and the troops maneuvering on it were visible at a glance! This is how the first combat mission of the airplane was determined - a reconnaissance aircraft …
By the end of the year, Sikorsky manages to create and lift into the air another of his aircraft - the C-6. For the first time, a completely plywood fuselage and a closed cockpit, designed for a pilot and already two passengers, appear on it. On December 29, 1911, Igor Ivanovich sets his first and first Russian world record on this plane: with three people on board the S-6, he reached a speed of 111 km / h.
Three months later, on March 12, 1912, the modified Sikorsky plane takes off with five passengers on board. We can say that on this day Russian and world passenger aviation was born.
And to its creator - a student who has not completed his studies! - not even twenty-three yet …
Air armada "Sikorsky"
After the Kiev maneuvers, Sikorsky's planes became seriously interested in the Military and Naval Ministries. Igor Ivanovich received a state order for the manufacture of three machines. And in April 1912, another flattering offer followed: a young man who did not have an engineering degree was invited to the post of chief designer of the aviation department of the Russian-Baltic Carriage Works.
Having weighed everything, Sikorsky accepted the offer by signing a five-year contract, which included the sale to the plant of exclusive rights to the production of the S-6 and its modifications, for all calculations and inventions in aviation that have already been made and which will be made during the term of the contract. In return, Igor Ivanovich received the right to build at least one prototype aircraft annually at the expense of the plant and the ability to recruit specialists at his own discretion. Now a wide field of activity opened up in front of him, at his disposal was the production and financial base, relying on which the designer could fully devote himself to creative work. A new stage began in the life of the inventor.
At the end of May, Sikorsky with six of his close like-minded friends arrived in St. Petersburg and immediately began work. For two years, they were able to create more than twenty experimental aircraft, among which were unique in engineering solutions.
At the beginning of the summer, the S-8 "Baby" was built - the world's first training biplane, in which the controls were simultaneously brought to the seats of the instructor pilot and the cadet pilot. Almost simultaneously with it, the construction of the S-6 B and S-7 was carried out. At the first, a regular pilot-observer seat was provided, that is, it was the first Russian reconnaissance aircraft. The Seven was originally designed and built as a high-speed fighter. Soon after the tests, this aircraft was sold to Bulgaria and performed well in the fighting in the Balkans. Even before the end of the summer, a three-seater C-9 monoplane, a light reconnaissance aircraft C-11 and an aerobatic training C-12 took off.
And the engineering thought of Sikorsky continued to be in full swing. He seriously considered creating multi-engine air giants. And, having received the approval of the management of the plant and the board of the Russian-Baltic Joint Stock Company, in September 1912 he began to implement his bold plans.
In February 1913, a new plane, which the factory people, generous with all sorts of nicknames, christened "Grand" (that is, "big"), was ready and appeared before the public in all its grandeur. The dimensions and weight of the "Grand" surpassed by about two times everything that was then in the world aircraft engineering. Its wingspan was 27 meters, its takeoff weight was about 4 tons. Four Argus engines of 100 liters each. with. each were located in tandem installations on the lower wing near the fuselage, in front of which there was an open balcony, behind it was a closed glazed cockpit 5, 75 in length and 1.85 meters in height. In the cockpit there are two seats for the pilots, behind them is a glass partition with a door to the passenger compartment, behind which there was a washbasin and a toilet (!).
It took two months to fine-tune the giant. On April 30, "Grand" performed its first flight in a circle, on May 6 - the second, finally proving its right to exist. Sikorsky started flying in the vicinity of St. Petersburg and over the city. Rumors about the air giant spread across Russia. In Europe, they were surprised and did not believe. Emperor Nicholas II, who was in Krasnoe Selo, expressed a desire to take a look at the new "Russian miracle". The plane was flown there, and on June 25, the Emperor, accompanied by the designer, boarded the airship. The court photographer captured Sikorsky and Nicholas II on the balcony of the plane, when the contented autocrat presented the gold watch to the inventor.
Rumor claims that it was then that the emperor expressed the desire to rename the aircraft: the tsar was embarrassed by the foreign name of a completely Russian achievement. Whether it is true or not, but soon "Grand" (aka S-21) was christened "Russian Knight" and under this name remained in the history of world aviation.
For the creation of the "Russian Knight" the State Duma gave Sikorsky 75,000 rubles. It was on this machine that Sikorsky performed the first blind flight - by instruments, through a solid wall of rain - and set the world record for the duration of the flight - 1 hour 54 minutes, having eight people on board.
The history of the "Russian Knight" ended in a very curious way: at the end of August, the engine of a fighter that was being tested and fell apart right above the airfield fell from a great height onto the plane, pumped out of the hangar. After examining the damage, Igor Ivanovich decided not to restore the air giant, but to create a new, more perfect one. The Russian-Baltic Joint Stock Company and the Russian War Ministry supported the designer. Thus, the "Russian Knight" - a subject of national pride - became the ancestor of a whole class of heavy multi-engine aircrafts, built in 1913-1917 and known under the general name "Ilya Muromets" (aka S-22).
The first one was assembled and took off in December 1913. And already on February 12, 1914, he set his first world record: he took off, having on board 16 people and an airfield dog named Shkalik. The latter, of course, was not taken into account by the commission. But even without it, the payload lifted by Muromets amounted to 1290 kg, which was an outstanding achievement.
In April, the second Ilya took off. His "older brother" by this time, at the insistence of the naval department, was converted by Sikorsky into a seaplane and until 1917 remained the world's largest amphibious aircraft. And on the second "Murom", Igor Ivanovich, taking on board members of the State Duma, on June 4, 1914 climbed to an altitude of 2000 meters. As a result, not only was a new world record set, but approval was obtained for the manufacture of ten aircraft and their adoption by the Russian army as a heavy bomber.
To finally convince everyone of the extraordinary capabilities of the machine, Sikorsky and his team flew from St. Petersburg to Kiev and back on June 16. Although he established a number of world achievements, proved the advantages of multi-engine ships in long-term flights, opened the road for transport aviation, acquired the most valuable experience in instrument flight, this outstanding event did not receive a proper assessment: the First World War that began soon overshadowed everything else …
During the war years, Sikorsky created the S-13 and S-14 single-seat fighters, the S-15 double float light bomber intended for naval aviation, the world's first high-speed C-16 fighter-interceptor (in which a young aircraft designer took part then, and in the near future the "king of fighters" N. N. …
And, of course, a whole air armada of heavy bombers "Ilya Muromets", which became, probably, the favorite brainchild of Igor Ivanovich.
By the way, already at the beginning of the war, Igor Ivanovich for the first time expressed the idea of the possibility of using the Ilya to land "a few but well-trained groups of volunteer hunters deep behind enemy lines," that is, the use of aviation for the deployment of airborne sabotage units. Alas, the idea did not receive support from the military.
But as a bomber that took on board up to 500 kg of bombs, "Ilya Muromets" showed itself to the fullest. It was under the leadership of Sikorsky that the first cassette cabinets for salvo bomb drops, electric throwers and bombing sights were developed and installed. It was he who first placed photographic equipment on bombers to record the results of the raid and planned aerial photography. It was Sikorsky who first began to "armour" the most vulnerable parts of the aircraft - to close the cockpit and gas tanks with metal sheets. He was the first to install bow and tail articulated machine-gun mountings on his bombers, turning the Muromtsev into “flying fortresses”. For the first time this term was applied precisely to Russian bombers. And it is no coincidence: during the entire war, of 75 "Muromtsy" German fighters shot down only one (!), Knocked out - three, but they all reached their territory. And the air gunners of Russian heavy bombers drove eleven German and Austrian aircraft into the ground.
Connecting continents
On March 30, 1919, Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky, who by the will of fate became an emigrant, set foot on the land of America. A new stage of life began. Although there were only a few hundred dollars in his pocket, the future was painted in rainbow colors: after all, people with a lively mind, with ideas, were always appreciated in the USA, and he had a dime a dozen of them! However, everything turned out to be not so simple. There was no work, the aviation industry was shutting down, aircraft and engines were sold at bargain prices. Military orders were not given, transport aviation practically did not exist - the time for the development of the vast expanses of the country had not yet come.
In the summer, Sikorsky made an attempt to create an aviation company, but it immediately failed. Out of despair, the designer took up any job, gave lessons in arithmetic, algebra, geometry, lectured on astronomy and the development of aviation in émigré clubs. And incredible projects about flights across the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean continued to be born in his head. And fate once again smiled at the genius.
On March 5, 1923, in the town of Rooseveltfield on Long Island, a company with a very loud name "Sikorski Aeroengineering Corporation" was formed, the number of shareholders in which grew rapidly. Among them was even the famous Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninov, who acquired shares for 5 thousand dollars and agreed (as an advertisement for the enterprise) to take the position of vice president of the company.
The first aircraft built by Igor Ivanovich in America was the passenger S-29 A, which was easily converted into a cargo one. The first flight was made by him on September 24, 1924 and marked the return of the designer to aviation.
After the construction of the S-29 A, Sikorsky made several structurally interesting machines that attracted attention with their simplicity, reliability and high flight performance.
A six-seat S-34 was created specifically to gain experience in the development of amphibious aircraft. The S-35 aircraft was developed by Sikorsky by order of the French ace of the First World War, Rene Fonck, who intended to fly over the Atlantic. But the car, due to an error of the pilot, crashed right at the start of the record attempt, burying half of the crew under its wreckage. For the designer, a black streak began again, but he did not give up.
In subsequent years, the Sikorsky family was supplemented by the S-36, S-37 and S-38 flying boats. The latter, after testing in 1928, was recognized as the best aircraft of its class in the world and soon began flying not only in the USA, but also in Canada, Central and South America, Hawaii, and Africa.
In the late autumn of 1931, three S-40s began cruising the skies over the Caribbean Sea, making regular flights to Cuba and Bermuda. And in 1934 they were replaced by the legendary S-42, capable of covering a distance of 4,000 kilometers. Passenger transantlantic flights have become a reality. It was the S-42 that made the first flights on the San Francisco – Honolulu and San Francisco – New Zealand routes, and in 1937 connected North America with Portugal and England.
In April 1939, the management of the United Aircraft Corporation decided to merge its branch, the Sikorsky Aircraft Design Company, with the Vout firm. Igor Ivanovich was destined for the unenviable role of a modest subcontractor, executor of someone else's will, someone else's creative ideas. Naturally, this situation did not suit him. Friends and the closest circle of the designer understood this, but no one saw a way out of this situation.
Nobody, except for Sikorsky himself, who already knew what he would do next …
And again helicopters
ALL THESE years Igor Ivanovich did not leave the thought of building a helicopter. He constantly followed the development of this type of aircraft, together with his closest colleagues, he was quietly engaged in helicopter topics, and since 1929 he conducted his own research, patented ideas. Back in 1930, the designer suggested that the board of United Aircraft get involved in the creation of a rotorcraft, but this proposal did not receive support. And he, on his own initiative, at his own peril and risk, continued research on this "impossible, unreliable, awkward and awkward" aircraft, being confident that he would soon be able to create workable samples.
The first experimental Sikorsky VS-300 helicopter took off under the control of the designer on September 14, 1939, and the first public demonstration of the new machine took place on May 20, 1940 in Bridgeport. After two years of intense testing, in 1942 an experienced two-seater S-47 (R-4) helicopter was created, which soon entered serial production. It became the only helicopter of the anti-Hitler coalition countries used on the fronts of the Second World War.
Sikorsky's helicopters received baptism of fire in the spring of 1944 in Burma, where the Anglo-Indian troops fought heavy battles with the Japanese. For the supply of units, often fighting in the deep rear of the Japanese troops, for the removal of the wounded and crews of downed aircraft, aviation was required that could take off and land on limited areas. Initially, small light aircraft were used for this. However, even they could not get to some places. In addition, helicopters were used for communications, reconnaissance, and artillery fire adjustments, especially during the battles for the Imphal surrounded by the Japanese, when the besieged garrison was supplied exclusively by air for several months.
After the war, shares in Sikorsky's company took off again. The Management Board of United Aircraft restored the independence of Sikorsky Aircraft, which soon received a new production base of its own.
Over time, more advanced light Sikorsky helicopters appeared. The post-war S-51 was particularly successful. It was widely used in many states for both military and civilian purposes, and withstood intense competition with aircraft from other helicopter companies. This helicopter especially distinguished itself in rescue operations. It was this appointment that Sikorsky considered the main one for the helicopter. The next model, the light S-52, became the world's first helicopter to perform aerobatics.
And yet, as in aircraft construction, the greatest success awaited Igor Ivanovich in the field of creating heavy machines. Here he had no equal. Brilliantly changing the layout, Sikorsky created transport helicopters that were extremely successful for their time. It was the largest, largest and fastest helicopter of its time.
The best helicopter created by Sikorsky took off in 1954. It was S-58. It was built by a number of countries, and many of its copies are still in operation. In terms of its flight, technical and economic characteristics, it surpassed all helicopters of its time and became the “swan song” of the great aircraft designer.
In 1958, when the serial production of the S-58 reached its peak - 400 cars a year, Igor Ivanovich retired, retaining the position of an advisor to the company …
An outstanding inventor, an ingenious engineer, a brave test pilot, an outstanding person in all respects, left this world on October 26, 1972, finding peace in the cemetery of Easton, Connecticut.
Looking up to the sky
“WE NEED to work, and most importantly - to learn what will help us to restore the Motherland when it demands it from us,” Sikorsky said, speaking to his compatriot emigrants.
All his life he remained a patriot of Russia, did a lot to promote the achievements of Russian culture and science in America, permanently remaining a member of the board of the Tolstoy Foundation and the Society of Russian Culture. He gave a lot of lectures and reports, and not necessarily on aviation topics. Being a deeply religious person, he contributed in every way to the development of the Russian Orthodox Church in the United States, supported it not only financially. Sikorsky wrote a number of books and brochures - "An Invisible Meeting", "Evolution of the Soul", "In Search of Higher Realities" and others, which are considered by experts to be among the most original works of Russian theological thought abroad.
During his life, Sikorsky received over 80 various honorary awards, prizes and diplomas. Among them are the Russian Order of St. Vladimir IV degree, medals of David Guggenheim, James Watt, a diploma from the National Gallery of Fame of Inventors. In 1948 he was presented with a rare award - the Wright Brothers Memorial Prize, and in 1967 he was awarded the John Fritz Medal of Honor for scientific and technical achievements in the field of basic and applied sciences. In aviation, besides him, only Orville Wright was awarded it.
And yet the main award of the great aircraft designer is the gratitude of people who widely use the machines he created.
By the way, starting with Dwight D. Eisenhower, all the top officials of the American state fly on helicopters with the inscription "Sikorsky". And the first persons of the Russian state could fly …
