Who is Igor Sikorsky? Igor Sikorsky: why the brilliant designer fled Russia

Sikorsky's surname was always in the top ten of the hit parade of surnames that were hated by the Soviet regime. 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 spending the rest of his days sweeping a dusty Berlin cafe or dashingly driving a taxi 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 achievements Russian aviation It was not the world's first four-engine aircraft "Russian Knight", built by Igor Sikorsky at the age of 24, that was brought in, but the never-flying bomber "Svyatogor" made by Nesikorsky. While the censors, succumbing to the call “Down with Sikorism!”, 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. It’s better to run back to the designer’s childhood.

Boy in a cradle

Igor's father, Ivan Alekseevich Sikorsky, was a psychiatrist from the plow. Coming from a provincial family 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 royal dynasty. Igor's godparents become Grand Duke Pyotr Nikolaevich (cousin of the Emperor Alexandra 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 very educated woman. It was she who told little Igor about homo universalis Leonardo da Vinci who once lived in Italy. Of all the Italian inventions, the future designer was most interested in the drawing of an aircraft - a helicopter. The mother's story, coupled with the adventure novels of Jules Verne, had such a powerful effect on the child's fragile psyche 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 was in the air!

Igor sat for hours in a wicker cradle hanging five meters above the ground

Having woken up, the younger Sikorsky, instead of crossing himself and spitting, went into the yard and, with the help of the servants, pulled several ropes between two powerful poplars, from which he hung a wicker cradle. While schoolchildren of the same age excitedly threw their briefcases at each other, Igor sat thoughtfully for hours in a cradle hanging five meters above the ground. So he accustomed himself to heights, so as not to get scared when the time came to test his first aircraft.

The first successes of a truant

Having studied in the Naval Cadet Corps for three years, following the example of his older brother Sergei, Igor left the walls of the institution with the comment: “Not mine.” He was prevented from calmly mastering naval science by newspaper reports about the Wright brothers' flights. In 1906, 18-year-old Igor, with the blessing of his father, went to the Duvignot de Lanno technical school in Paris. A shy young man with a thin, elongated face and a carefully cultivated mustache did not attract the attention of Parisian beauties, and therefore could devote his time entirely to 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 despite the fact that he was actively absent, passing the time in an improvised home workshop. Igor’s very first “craft” - a steam motorcycle - made him a legend among his fellow students and teachers. But the coveted helicopter still did not work out.

Igor collected family council. He intends to return to Paris, which is this moment is the aviation center of the world, and for this it needs money. The family got excited. Older brother Sergei doubted that a 20-year-old boy with a large amount of money in cheerful Paris was a good idea. And 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 living proof. 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, more difficult 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 own weight, but not a pilot, Sikorsky returned to Kyiv with two engines of 25 and 15 horsepower and the idea of ​​​​building an airplane. And so that the propellers invented for the helicopter would not go to waste, Igor mounted them on a snowmobile of his own design, which was demonstrated on the snowy wasteland in front of the officers General Staff was widely covered by the Kyiv press. Sikorsky's fame grew stronger.

"Vityaz" and "Muromets"

1913 was a surprisingly happy year 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. Sikorsky built it not in Kyiv, but at the Russian-Baltic Carriage Plant, where he was appointed head of the aviation department. A few months after the first flight of the Vityaz general public a more advanced development was presented - the gigantic “Ilya Muromets” for those times. On February 12, 1914, Muromets set its first world record for the number of passengers taken on board. Sixteen people, and even the airfield dog Shkalik! The load amounted to 1290 kilograms. A whole bunch of ostriches!

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

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

Flying over Kiev, Sikorsky descended over his father's house and waved his wing. Then he directed 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 assassinated in Sarajevo. However, everyone was too absorbed in the flight to think about the consequences of this event.

Forced escape

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

If you get into trouble in a hard-to-reach place, a plane can drop flowers for you, and a helicopter can hover in the air and rescue you. Igor Sikorsky

On a cold January night in 1919, a dedicated worker from the Russian-Baltic Plant knocked on the door of this very apartment. He reported that during the day Sikorsky was interested in suspicious faces in leather jackets. Without hesitating for an hour, the designer collected his belongings and moved into a shed with a potbelly stove, next to the airfield. The next morning he began preparing the necessary papers for departure. A month later, Sikorsky left for Paris. He won't see Russia again.

When he emigrated, the designer took a couple of hundred British pounds, a letter of recommendation from the head of the French military mission in Russia, and endless faith in his work. But Europe was already saturated with Russian emigrants, and even Sikorsky’s fame as a designer was devalued against the backdrop of the rapidly collapsing aviation industry. I didn’t want to sit in Paris without work, or even more so to return to my homeland, into the clutches of the commissars. 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 shore.

New York, New York!

Sikorsky had a mediocre command of the language, and at first Kyiv immigrants, of whom there were many in New York, helped him get comfortable. But he still couldn’t find a job in his specialty. For three months the designer wandered around aviation offices, trying in broken English to explain to glassy-eyed entrepreneurs what wonderful airplanes he could make. Entrepreneurs just indifferently lit a cigarette: America was swarming with unemployed aircraft designers and pilots transferred to the reserve after the end of the war. Igor replaced cheap hotel on a very cheap one, he reduced his daily expenses to an ascetic eighty cents, eating mainly beans and coffee. It's time to hate fate and drink yourself to death! But Sikorsky, who at first met seemed gentle and non-conflicting, actually had strong character fighter and refused to admit defeat.

Having tightly tied the reporter to one wing, he “attached” his nephew to the other

One of the emigrant 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, mathematics lessons turned into the basics of aviation. Sikorsky enthusiastically spoke from the pulpit about heavy aircraft of the future, capable of lifting forty or even fifty people. So the designer gained followers who were ready to build his planes for free. In addition, he met a pretty school teacher Elizaveta Semeon, the daughter of a Russian officer.

Man of the 20th century can be considered an intellectual super-dinosaur. Igor Sikorsky

Life was getting better. True, it took the designer about a year to build the first “American” aircraft, and that year was very busy. Based on a quick fix Sikorsky Aeroengineering Corporation was located in a windswept chicken coop on Long Island. There was always a shortage of money; even the impressive sum of 5 thousand dollars (about 80 thousand modern dollars) donated by composer Sergei Rachmaninov could not save him. 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 began pouring in - for example, transporting a piano for the president’s wife, Mrs. Hoover, and delivering illegal alcohol. The designer got some money and was able to marry Elizabeth. This marriage turned out to be extremely successful, which was undoubtedly facilitated by Elizabeth’s calm disposition and the devotion of Sikorsky, who preferred to devote 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 photograph the city from above, lying on the wing. Having tied the reporter tightly, 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 Hell's Angels.

Transatlantic collapse

Score of the march "Aviator", dedicated to Sikorsky

In the spring of 1926, a special client came to Sikorsky - the hero of France, the pilot Rene Fonck. He's planning to fly across the ocean, and he needs a plane that won't let him down. Igor devoted all his time to the ambitious project. The customer was not caught lightly: he was constantly rushing Sikorsky because he wanted to fly in the fall. The designer insisted on a full range of tests and proposed postponing the flight until the summer. Fonck 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 his co-pilot, radio operator and mechanic arrived at the airfield, they were greeted by hundreds of people. A plane with a cameraman was also at the ready to capture the beginning. historical event. Someone from the crowd loudly addressed the radio operator: “Mister, do you have enough money for Parisian amusements?” After waiting for the laughter to subside, he answered with a smile: “To visit heaven, a dollar is enough.” The team took their places, Fonck started the engines.

The next day, photographs of the plane crash are taken by American newspapers.

The plane accelerates. Suddenly, his speed drops, a trail of dust trails behind him, the landing gear wheels fly off, and the tail gear breaks off. A giant car falls into a ravine from a height of six meters and immediately bursts into flames. Fonk and the co-pilot manage to get out of the car, the mechanic and radio operator are burned alive.

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

Amphibious aircraft

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

More than any other transport, a helicopter brings us closer to the fairy tale about the little humpbacked horse and the flying carpet. Igor Sikorsky

For the next ten years, Sikorsky's hydroplanes enjoyed enormous popularity, 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 decline: 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 amassed a fortune. You can completely devote yourself to, say, communicating with four sons, especially since the designer loved children and spent everything with them free time. In addition, daughter Tatyana recently gave birth to the designer’s first grandson! But instead of retiring, Sikorsky Once again proves that he is Sikorsky.

Mister Helicopter

The idea to construct a helicopter never left Sikorsky. Now he approached her thoroughly. Together with his friend Lindbergh, the designer visited in 1938 fascist Germany. And if Lindbergh and his wife were more interested in Hitler, then Sikorsky, bowing to the Fuhrer from afar, rushed into the workshop of the German designer Focke, who had achieved great success in helicopter engineering. Having praised the German helicopter with a transverse design, Sikorsky returned to the USA with the firm conviction that the transverse design was garbage, and that a single-rotor helicopter should be built. 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 to create a production helicopter.

The designer froze in place in amazement: he was actually seeing a dream from his childhood.

On May 20, 1940, the first public lifting of an American experimental helicopter, which resembled more of a helicopter skeleton, took place - the Vought-Sikorsky 300. The car flew perfectly to the right, left, backward and even turned around on the spot, but at the same time stubbornly refused to fly forward. The happy designer announced that this little thing was easy to fix. The helicopter was piloted by Sikorsky himself, his head crowned with his favorite fedora hat.*

* Note by Phacochoerus"a Funtik:
Sikorsky's favorite item of clothing was the fedora hat. Pilots even developed a tradition of asking the hospitable designer to visit and ask to try on a fedora. Supposedly after this everything will be smooth for you on Sikorsky helicopters.

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

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

Gradually, Sikorsky began to retire. He got into his Volkswagen Beetle less and less often 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 the parties that he and his wife regularly organized for numerous friends and acquaintances was knocking out the flame of a candle with a bullet from ten meters. The aircraft designer died in 1972 at the age of 83 - in his sleep, next to his beloved wife. The Sikorsky corporation is thriving to this day, and 99 percent of helicopters in the world are made according to the design proposed by the designer. Who said something about ostriches?

Sikorsky Igor Ivanovich - (eng. Igor Sikorsky, May 25, 1889, Kyiv, Russian empire- October 26, 1972, Easton, Connecticut, USA) - Russian and American aircraft designer, scientist, inventor, philosopher. Creator of the world's first: four-engine aircraft "Russian Knight" (1913), passenger aircraft "Ilya Muromets" (1914), transatlantic seaplane, serial single-rotor helicopter (USA, 1942).

Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky was born on May 25, 1889 in Kyiv in the family of a famous psychotherapist, professor at Kyiv University - Ivan Alekseevich Sikorsky (1842-1919). Grandson of an Orthodox priest.

In 1900, at the age of 11, I had an amazing dream. I saw myself walking along a narrow corridor. On both sides there were doors trimmed with walnut, like on a steamship, and there was an amazing carpet on the floor. The soft blue light of electric lamps fell from above. When I walked, the floor under my feet vibrated slightly, and this vibration was similar to the rocking of a steamship. I was convinced in my dream that I was on board a huge flying ship. When I woke up, they told me that man had never created a successful flying machine, and in general, it was impossible.

Sikorsky Igor Ivanovich

From 1903 to 1906 studied at St. Petersburg maritime school. In 1907 he entered the Kiev Polytechnic Institute.

In 1908-1911 built his first two simple coaxial helicopters without a swashplate. The carrying capacity of the apparatus, built in September 1909, reached 9 pounds. It was presented at a two-day aeronautical exhibition in Kyiv in November of the same year. None of the helicopters built could take off with a pilot, and Sikorsky switched to building airplanes.

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

In 1910, the first aircraft of its design, the S-2, took off into the air.

In 1911 he received a pilot's diploma.

In 1912-1914. created the Grand, Russian Knight, and Ilya Muromets aircraft, which laid the foundation for multi-engine aviation. On March 27, 1914, on the S-6 biplane, Sikorsky managed to set world speed records: with two passengers on board - 111 km/h, with five - 106 km/h. For two years, Sikorsky's airplanes won top prizes at military aircraft competitions. Special attention focused on improving aerodynamic characteristics - the tail truss was replaced with a streamlined fuselage. The S-6a aircraft, modernized in this way, earned a large gold medal at the Moscow Aeronautical Exhibition in April 1912. In 1915, Sikorsky created the world's first mass-produced escort fighter - the S-XVI for joint operations with the Ilya Muromets bombers and protecting their airfields from aircraft enemy. Sikorsky's subsequent designs, the C-XVII and C-XVIII fighters, were not successful and existed only in prototypes.

Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky became famous primarily as an aircraft designer. In addition, he is known as public figure, scientist and philosopher. Four countries: Russia, Ukraine, Poland and the USA consider him their great citizen. Much of his legacy survives in the United States.

Sikorsky's early years

Igor Sikorsky was born on May 25, 1889 in the family of the Russified nobleman Ivan Sikorsky, a famous physician at that time, a professor of psychiatry who worked at the University of St. Vladimir (now Kiev Shevchenko University). In 1900, during a trip to Germany, the boy first learned about aeronautics and became interested in aircraft models. In 1903, 14-year-old Sikorsky left for St. Petersburg and entered the Naval School.

The young man did not complete his studies: three years later he realized that he wanted to engage in aircraft design and returned to Kyiv to study at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute. In addition to the main course, the young man attended the “Aeronautics Section”. Sikorsky created his first simple models of helicopters in 1908.

Career of Sikorsky I.I. in Russia

In 1908 elder sister For Igor Sikorsky, Olga paid for his education at the Paris School of Aeronautical Technology (now the ESTACA School). After a year of training, the young designer returned to Russia and began work on his first helicopter project. The first Sikorsky models had a small carrying capacity and did not have a reliable control system.

In 1911, Sikorsky received a license to fly. That same year, the engineer conducted a demonstration flight of his S-5 model, which lasted about 30 seconds. The next model, the S-6, entered service Russian army in February 1912. At the same time, Sikorsky received the position of chief engineer of the aviation department of the Russo-Balt plant.

In 1913, its facilities produced the S-23 “Russian Knight” aircraft with four engines and a payload of 600 kg. It became the basis for the production of the Ilya Muromets serial bombers, which were put into service in 1914. The production of Ilya Muromets aircraft continued until 1917.

Life of Igor Sikorsky in exile

Igor Sikorsky did not support the revolution. A short time he collaborated with the French interventionists, and in February 1918 he left Russia forever. In 1923, he founded the Sikorsky Aero Engineering company (now Sikorsky Aircraft) in the USA. At first, this company was engaged in the design of airplanes and seaplanes, and then switched to creating helicopters. The development of technical thought allowed Sikorsky to return to the implementation of the idea, which he rejected in 1910 as impossible.

Sikorsky's first successful helicopter (S-43, also known as VS-300) was presented to the public in 1939. In 1942, Sikorsky R-4 helicopters were adopted by the US and British aviation. Later, other models of Sikorsky helicopters entered service with the United States and its allies.

In the post-war years, Sikorsky helicopters set a number of aviation records: the S-61 model was the first helicopter to make a transatlantic flight, and the S-65 was the first flight across Pacific Ocean. Igor Sikorsky worked in his company until 1954. He then handed over the business to his son and retired.

Social activity

Living in the USA and being a citizen of this country (since 1929), Igor Sikorsky remained an active figure in emigration. He supported friendly relations with Sergei Rachmaninov, who helped the inventor in the early years of Sikorsky Aircraft. Social activity Sikorsky included the following aspects:

• work in the “Sovereign Conference”, created by Prince Kirill Vladimirovich;
• participation in the work of the Tolstoy Foundation as a member of the board of directors;
• publication of works on Christian philosophy (“The Lord’s Prayer”, “Evolution of the Soul”);
• giving public lectures.

The great inventor died on October 26, 1972. His memory is immortalized in many objects located in Russia, Ukraine and the USA.

Sikorsky Igor Ivanovich, born 1889 in Kyiv, died October 26, 1972 in Easton (Connecticut, USA). American aircraft designer, creator of the world's first helicopter.

The 22-year-old Kiev resident became famous throughout the world in 1911., when he took into the sky an aircraft of his own design, the S-5, with a 50 hp engine. s., a speed of 125 km/h and a flight range of 85 km with a maximum flight ceiling of 500 m.

The young aircraft designer was invited to St. Petersburg, where he 1912-1914. created 4-engine airplanes "Grand" (1913) and "Ilya Muromets" (1914), which marked the beginning of multi-engine aviation in 2 directions at once - passenger and bomber, since they could transport up to 40 people or up to 2.8 t of cargo.

It was an unprecedented breakthrough when in 1914 the first plane, the Ilya Muromets, flew from Moscow, covering a distance of 1020 miles in just 13 hours and 10 minutes.

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Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky was a genius. At the age of 24, he presented Nicholas II with the world's first multi-engine aircraft, the Russian Knight, which opened the era of heavy aviation, then Sikorsky became the founder of wind turbine construction.

First helicopter

Igor Sikorsky was born on May 6, 1889 in Kyiv. He was the fifth child in the family. The parents of the future “father of aircraft manufacturing” were intelligent people and both had medical education. The head of the family, Ivan Alekseevich, professor at the University of St. Vladimir, received world fame as the author of numerous works on psychiatry, general psychology and neuropsychiatric hygiene. In 1913, Sikorsky Sr. was invited as an expert to the trial of the scandalous “Beilis case.” Ivan Alekseevich gave a conclusion in which he assumed the “ritual nature of the murder.” The subsequent wave of anti-Semitism and pogroms undermined Ivan Alekseevich’s health, and he never returned to the university. Sikorsky’s mother instilled in her son a love of art, from her little Igor learned about Leonardo da Vinci and his developments aircraft. Sikorsky's favorite book was Jules Verne's novel Robur the Conqueror. The aircraft from this book may have become the prototype of Sikorsky's future projects. Igor Sikorsky made his first model of an aircraft at the age of 12; it was a helicopter with a rubber motor.

From cadets to engineers

Sikorsky did not immediately decide to become an aircraft designer. At one time, Igor Ivanovich studied in the naval cadet corps, but entering there was more likely to follow in the footsteps of his older brother than “a decision for life.” Although Sikorsky was satisfied with his studies in the cadet corps, he makes the fateful decision to enter a higher technical institution and dreams of becoming an engineer. The year was 1906, Russia was in a fever with waves of revolutionary protest, and universities actually did not work. Sikorsky does not waste time and goes to study in Paris, at the Duvignot de Lano technical school.

After studying there for a year, Sikorsky returned to Kyiv and entered the Polytechnical Institute. Showing good results in academic performance, Igor Ivanovich still decides that he should not waste time studying disciplines that are not required for an aircraft designer. Sikorsky will receive his diploma only 7 years later, already being a famous aircraft designer. Now he is traveling to Europe, where he gets acquainted with the latest developments in aircraft manufacturing and buys an engine in Paris. Returning to Kyiv, Sikorsky builds his first “helicopter”, but fails twice - the helicopters do not have enough thrust. Sikorsky decides to start developing airplanes with rigidly fixed wings, without abandoning his dream of helicopter construction.

Madness of the Brave

Aircraft manufacturing at the beginning of the 20th century was the lot of people who were fanatical and brave to the point of madness. Taking to the air in a small plane with a wooden slatted fuselage is an activity for the elite. Numerous accidents of the first aircraft, however, did not stop the pioneers of aircraft construction. Sikorsky personally tested his gliders and came close to death several times.

On June 3, 1910, he took off for the first time on a BiS-2 (S-2) aircraft, but real success came later, when the fifth modification of the Sikorsky aircraft (S-5) took off into the sky. The hard work was not in vain. In his biplane, Sikorsky passed the pilot exam, set four All-Russian records, made demonstration flights and even gave rides to passengers. At the beginning of September 1911, military maneuvers took place. Sikorsky took part in them and demonstrated the superiority of his aircraft over foreign brands. We must understand that at this time Igor Sikorsky was a 22-year-old dropout student.

"Russian Knight"

“Star sickness” is not about Sikorsky. The young engineer had no intention of stopping in his research and development. An important point became Sikorsky's understanding of the future role of heavy aviation. He decides to take a truly bold step - designing a four-engine aircraft suitable for operation in the harsh conditions of the Russian climate. It had to be a reliable aircraft that, among other improvements, could also be repaired during flight. In March 1913, such an aircraft was built. It was given the name “Grand”, but after several flights it was renamed “Russian Knight”. The plane quickly became a legend; the world simply did not believe that such a plane was a reality; Nicholas II personally inspected the “Russian Knight” and climbed on board. The king awarded the young inventor a gold watch. The aircraft, which exceeded in size and take-off weight all those built so far, marked the beginning of a new direction in aviation - heavy aircraft construction.

Revolution

Sikorsky did not accept the revolution. After successful tests"Russian Knight" a 24-year-old engineer becomes a world celebrity and national hero. Until 1917, Sikorsky designed more than two dozen flying machines, two helicopters, three snowmobiles and one aircraft engine. At the age of 25, Sikorsky became a holder of the Order of St. Vladimir, IV degree. Revolutionary unrest stopped factories, there were strikes everywhere, Sikorsky’s planes also “did not leave the stocks.” Plus, he famous aircraft designer, was known for his loyalty to the court. It was unsafe to remain in Russia and Sikorsky emigrated, first to France, then to the USA.

Self-made

The fate of Sikorsky is the story of a self-made man. In America, Sikorsky, after working for some time school teacher, gathered a team of like-minded people from among emigrants and eventually created his own company, which still exists today. Many of our emigrants provided assistance to the “Russian company”. Rachmaninov at one time was even listed as vice president of the corporation. The Sikorsky company became a real Mecca for white emigration. Suffice it to say that Admiral B.A. Blokhin was a simple worker here. Famous historiographer white movement, Cossack General S.V. Denisov was preparing his historical research, working at Sikorsky Corporation as a night watchman. In America, Sikorsky had the opportunity not only to work hard and fruitfully, developing amphibious aircraft and other machines, but also to return to his childhood dream - creating helicopters. Needless to say, Sikorsky succeeded in this; he became the creator of the first helicopters; some models of that time are still in operation.

Merits and prizes

Sikorsky was a man of strong will and tireless hard work. He actively contributed to the development of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA and even wrote a number of books and brochures (in particular, “The Invisible Meeting”, “Evolution of the Soul” and “In Search of Higher Realities”), considered by experts to be among the most original works of Russian foreign theological thought. During his life, Sikorsky received over 80 various honorary awards, prizes and diplomas; in memory of the great inventor, the “Sikorsky Prize” was established in 1980 for the creation of a helicopter-type muscle aircraft. On June 13, 2013, the prize went to a team of students and graduates of the University of Toronto.