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Igor Sikorsky

Igor Iwanowitsch Sikorsky was a man with great visions. It was in 1909, when he – at the age of 20 and still living in Russia – built his first rotary-wing aircraft, hoping to be able to take off and land vertically. However, the 25-hp (18-kW) Anzani motorcycle-based engine was too weak and too heavy to take off. One year later he started a second attempt with a two-engined rotary-wing design. It took off, but was not able to carry any load. Thus, Sikorsky turned his attention to fixed-wing aircraft and started to design – at that time huge – four-engined biplanes. Among others, he constructed the "Ilya Muromets", the first four-engined bomber aircraft. This bomber was put into service in 1914, and in 1915 it flew its first attacks in Poland. After the October Revolution in Russia in 1917, he emigrated to the United States. Between both World Wars he had great success with flying boats such as the S-42.
However, after a few years he returned to his initial idea of a helicopter. He writes:

"If a man is in need of a rescue, an airplane can come in and throw flowers on him, and that’s just about all.
But a direct lift aircraft could come in and save his life."

In 1938, Sikorsky as a technical director of Vought-Sikorsky under holding company United Aircraft (today United Technologies) put plans for a helicopter on the table, after he had been granted a patent for the design of a helicopter in 1931. The United Aircraft management agreed provided that the research work would not cost too much. Vought-Sikorsky was based in Stratford, Connecticut.
On 14 September, 1939, Sikorsky’s first fully functional helicopter, the VS-300, started to its first (tethered) flight. After a crash without any harm for himself a new version was designed, the VS-300A, with continuously integrated constructional modifications. On 14 August, 1940, Sikorsky sent a proposal on the use of helicopters in the U.S. Army to the U.S. Army Air Corps. Early 1941, the Army Air Corps awarded United Aircraft a contract to develop a two-seated helicopter prototype based on the VS-300, with the military designation "XR-4" (Experimental Rotorcraft). Finally, Sikorsky received a serial production order by the United States Armed Air Forces (USAF) comprising 100 R-4Bs. This made the R-4 the first helicopter in the world being built in high-volume production. It was on 3 January, 1944 , that a U.S. helicopter was used for the first lifesaving mission. The destroyer "USS Turner" anchored off the coast of New Jersey suffered an explosion causing many dead and injured. Some were heavily injured and had to be brought to the hospital at Sandy Hook, north of Bridgeport. Large quantities of plasma were urgently needed, but were in short supply. Due to a snow storm, fixed-wing aircraft were not able to fly across the Long Island Sound to Manhattan, where there was enough supply available. A transport by boat or car would have been too time-consuming. It was Commander Frank Erickson of the Coast Guard who dared to fly with his YR-4B and returned in less than 60 minutes with its precious freight.

The further development of the helicopter was extremely fast. Sikorsky alone developed more than 15 different military and civil models in various versions. The latest version is the "Comanche", the reconnaissance and combat helicopter of the new millennium. It has been developed in collaboration with Boeing.

Igor Sikorsky’s vision that the helicopter would revolutionise mass transportation did not come true. But even so, we cannot imagine military and civil rescue work without the helicopter.
More than 1.2 million people have been rescued from immediate danger since the first rescue mission using a rotary-wing aircraft. Indeed, this vision of Sikorsky did come true. He died on 26 October, 1972, in Easton.