1930's Science and Technology | The Story of the Winged-S

Autobiography

By: Igor Sikorsky

Date: October 1938

Source: Sikorsky, Igor. The Story of the Winged-S: With New Material on the Latest Development of the Helicopter. 5th ed. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1938, 24–26.

About the Author: Igor Sikorsky (1889–1972) was born in Kiev, Russia. He attended the Naval War College in St. Petersburg, but his interested turned to aviation. Sikorsky designed aircraft in Russia, including the first-ever four-engine plane, until the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. He then emigrated to the United States. In 1923, he and other Russian emigrants formed the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Company. This firm designed a number of fixed-wing aircraft, but it was not until Sikorsky developed the first practical helicopter in 1939 that it enjoyed real success.

Introduction

As early as 400 C.E. the Chinese developed a prototype of...