Igor Ivan Sikorsky pioneered early Russian aviation while barely out of his teens and had the longest continuous aeronautical career in history—more than 60 years. Among his early achievements was the world's first four-engined airplane in 1913, the precursor to the most successful bomber of World War I. Immigrating to the United States in 1919, he founded the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation, the forerunner of the present helicopter manufacturing giant, the Sikorsky Division of United Technologies. In the 1930s, Sikorsky designed and manufactured a series of successful large passenger-carrying flying boats which pioneered the trans-ocean commercial air routes in the Caribbean and the Pacific. In 1909, while still in Russia, he unsuccessfully experimented with rotary-wing aircraft, and his first models failed only for want of a lightweight engine of sufficient power. He nurtured this dream, however, and on September 14, 1939, produced his first practical helicopter, the VS-300. A later model, the R-4, designed in 1943, became the world's first production rotary-wing aircraft. This led to production of highly successful helicopters widely used by all U.S. military services, over 50 foreign countries, and most of the world's scheduled helicopter airlines. The recipient of a great many honors in his lifetime, he has received the National Medal for Science and the Wright Brothers Memorial trophy. Few advancements in aeronautical science have had as much impact on mankind as his invention of the helicopter.
Inducted in 1966.
Portrait Location: Hall of Fame Hallway