Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky
By Illa Vij

THE first practical single-rotor helicopter, which made a successful flight,was built and flown by Igor .I. Sikorsky.

Sikorsky, a Russian child of 11 years, had a prophetic dream — that he was on a flying machine and the experience that he had in the craft was identical to his experience, later in life, on an aircraft built by his firm Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky had the dream three years before the Wright brothers’ aeroplane had made its first successful flight. He had deep faith in his dream, which finally came true. Sikorsky was born in 1889. His father Professor Sikorsky observed that Igor had a special interest in technical subjects. He encouraged his son to study physics, astronomy and electricity. By the time Igor was 10 years old, he had decided that flying would be his aim and career in life. He had several hobbies, of which one was to make small bombs in a bottle and then explode them in a hole in the ground! Next, he began making models of aeroplanes and tried to make them fly. In the meantime, of course, other people were also modelling and trying to fly all kinds of aircraft.

In 1907, French engineer Louis Brequet made a helicopter and piloted it. The helicopter was capable of a vertical flight. But Igor was determined to make a better and a more practical one. He joined the School of Aeronautics in Paris for a short course. But the course did not include a single flight — as the machines, weather and technical supplies were completely unreliable. So when Sikorsky left the school, he had still not flown! When he returned to Kiev, he brought back a three-cylinder, 25 h.p. engine. Igor began working on his aircraft. He named this aircraft S-1(Sikorsky’s aeroplane No.1). The designer was then only 21 years old. This aircraft could taxi across the field, but still could not go up into the air.

Igor’s sister, Olga, had financed his experimental work, and now all her money had been spent with hardly any success. Soon Igor built S-2 which did go up in air and then S-3, improving with each model. The S-4 and S-5 models were built on loans from friends. Igor was very fortunate to have a family that never discouraged him. Despite the fact that Olga had lost her money, she insisted that Igor should continue building his aircraft till he gained complete success. The S-5 model went up to 300 feet and landed perfectly. By 1911, Igor began gaining fame. In 1913, Sikorsky built the first aeroplane in the world with four engines. It weighed 9,000 pounds, it had four 100-h.p. engines, a luxurious passenger cabin, two pilot seats with double control and even a toilet.

The next machine was even bigger, beating the world record by carrying 16 passengers. Regular passenger and mail service seemed to be in sight, but World War I broke out, and fierce battles were fought on Russian territory. Planes designed by Sikorsky were used to carry bombs and air raids were carried out. By 1918, Igor had to leave Russia, because he could not continue his career in a country that had undergone violent upheavals, and was bankrupt. In March 1919, Sikorsky landed in New York. But there no one was ready to recognise his talent. Very soon, Igor realised that he barely had any money even to feed himself. He managed to secure a mathematics teacher’s job at a school for Russian immigrants on New York’s eastern side. Though he was totally disheartened, yet he drew a design for a new machine, which he called S-29. He met many Russian immigrants and some of them got interested in Sikorsky’s talent. A share company, Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation, was formed in 1923 by these people, with meagre means. The objective of the company was to go for the construction of the S-29, an all-metal, twin-engine airliner. Work started on the farm of one of the Russian immigrants with very limited and primitive equipment like hand-drill press, aluminium scissors, an old motor-car bumper and discarded bed springs. In April 1924, the S-29 was ready. On its first flight, Sikorsky decided to take only three men as passengers, but seven to eight men crowded into it. Sikorsky did not have the heart to tell them to step out. The machine took off reluctantly, and after a few minutes, he had to make an emergency landing in a golf course. Sikorsky knew that the had made the mistake of overloading the liner. Funds were again gathered and another S-29 was constructed. A perfect take off with a 10-minute uneventful flight and a perfect landing marked its success. Sikorsky’s fame once again spread.

The Sikorsky Corporation began growing and became the biggest and most successful aircraft production company in the world. The corporation also made trans-oceanic flying boats.

Sikorsky boarded his S-40, the first Amercian clipper, in 1931 to find whether his dream had come true. Early in 1941, Sikorsky returned to his first lone — the helicopter. All these years little progress had made regarding the helicopter. By December 1941, the machine was ready and it underwent many tests. It was called XR-4, American army’s first modern helicopter.

In April 1942, Igor Sikorsky’s helicopter gave its performance, watched in awe by spectators (There are conflicting dates regarding Sikorsky’s first flight in the helicopter. Some sources say it was 1939, while some state it to be 1942). Leslie Morris, the chief test pilot, made it jump up to about seven feet, held it motionless in mid-air, flew it sideways, backwards. The helicopter went up and down like a lift and landed back on the grooves the wheels had formed before the take-off. It was unbelievable! Two weeks later, Igor Sikorsky himself established a world record by staying in the air in his XR-4 for over an hour-and-a-half, Sikorsky’s helicopter created a sensation all over the country. Sikorsky’s helicopters were used in World War II by the Americans. Besides the war, they were also used save lives during flood disasters and fires. Now plant diseases are controlled by spraying chemicals from helicopter.

Despite numerous hurdles, Sikorsky’s family and friends never gave up, enabling him to fulfil his prophetic dream. Sikorsky died in 1972.