Igor Sikorsky

Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (May 25, 1889 - October 26, 1972) was a Russian-American aviation pioneer who pioneered both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. His first success came with the S-2, his second aircraft design and build. His fifth airplane, the S-5, earned him national recognition as well as F.A.I. license number 64. His S-6-A won the highest award at the 1912 Moscow Aviation Exhibition, and the aircraft won first prize for its young designer, builder, and pilot in the military competition at Saint Petersburg in the fall of that year.

Sikorsky founded the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in 1923 after immigrating to the United States in 1919, and developed the first of Pan American Airways' ocean-crossing flying boats in the 1930s.

Sikorsky designed and flew the first viable American helicopter, the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300, which pioneered the rotor configuration used by most helicopters today. Sikorsky modified the design into the Sikorsky R-4, which became the world's first mass-produced helicopter in 1942.

Sikorsky was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame in 1966. The professional careers of Sikorsky and Andrei Tupolev were covered in the 1979 Soviet biopic The Poem of Wings (Russian: ома о крлx), in which Sikorsky was played by Yury Yakovlev. For filming, a working model of the Sikorsky Ilya Muromets was created.

The Sikorsky Memorial Bridge, which connects the Merritt Parkway to the Sikorsky corporate headquarters, is named after him. The Connecticut State Legislature has named Sikorsky a Connecticut Aviation Pioneer. Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in Stratford, Connecticut, remains one of the world's leading helicopter manufacturers to this day, and a nearby small airport has been named Sikorsky Memorial Airport.