Biography
Igor Sikorsky - Soviet and American aircraft designer, scientist and inventor, creator of multi-seasy aircraft and hydraulic agents. Thanks to him, at the beginning of the 20th century, four-dimensional aircraft and the bomber, transatlantic hydroplanes and the simultaneous helicopter of the serial release appeared.Childhood and youth
Igor Sikorsky was a Ukrainian by nationality. He was born in Kiev on May 28, 1889 and turned out to be a second child of five, which was brought up in the family. Interest in the inventive activity, which Igor has demonstrated from the young age, helped to develop parents. Father was a psychiatrist and professor at Kiev University. The mother had a medical education, was inclined to scientific work, I was interested in the work of Leonardo da Vinci and his inventions.
In his free time, Igor was engaged in the creation of electrically masters, in which the electric motor was later worked. The scrupulous study of the laws of physics and applied experiments led to the fact that in 12 years the teenager gathered a model of the helicopter. In the role of the drive, he performed an ordinary gum. The product flew, and it was the main achievement for the boy.
In 1903, Igor became a cadet of the Maritime School in St. Petersburg, following the exponential example of Senior Brother Sergey. After 3 years, it turned out that the interest in the profession of a military young man does not experience. In 1906 he left the educational institution to devote the biography of engineering.
The revolutionary movement that covered the state at the beginning of the 20th century did not allow the Sikor to enroll in a suitable university. He chose to get an education in Paris, where he became a student of School Duvignau and Lanno. After half a year it turned out to return to Kiev, where Igor was enrolled in the Kiev Polytechnic Institute. Here it consisted in a mug under the control of mathematics and theorist of the aeronautics of Nicholas Delone.
Personal life
For the first time, Igor Sikorsky married his youth at Olga Simkovich. Wife gave birth to daughter, and after the divorce, the girl remained with his mother. In 1923, during emigration from homeland in the United States, the sisters of the inventor brought a child to his father.In America, Igor has established a personal life, becoming his spouse Elizabeth Semion (Elizabeth Semenova), natives of the Far East, fled to the United States. The wedding took place in New York. The wife gave her husband four children, sons. Two of them, Sergey Sikorsky and Igor Sikorsky, had a relation to aeronautics. The first was the vice president of Sikorsky Aircraft special projects. The second became a businessman, a lawyer and an aviation historian.
Science and aircraft
In 1908, the Sikorsky Father's company went to relax in Berchtesgaden, where he learned about the flights of the Wilber brothers and Orbille Wright, as well as the launch of the airship of the Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. Inspired by he gathered a helicopter model in the hotel room. The product was heavy, so barely broken away from the floor.
At the same time, thanks to the financing received from Olga's sister, Igor acquired the necessary details for assembling a powerful motor and recreated the model. By 1911, two helicopters have already belonged to his authorship. The first, tested in 1909, had a load capacity of 147 kg and became the exhibit of the profile exhibition in Kiev.
In 1910, Sikorsky invented Aerosani. At the same time, the first constructor development aircraft rose into the air. A year later, he had a pilot's diploma in his hands, and since the 19126 he worked as the chief designer of the St. Petersburg Russian-Baltic Wagon Plant. During this period, Igor Sikorsky developed projects of Ilya Muromets aircraft and "Russian Vityaz", which marked the creation of multi-motor aerial aviations. By 1917, 90 first names were released. They participated in battles in the First World War. The second model of the 24-year-old developer presented by Nicholas II personally.
Sikorski aircraft received major awards on military competitions, demonstrating excellent aerodynamic indicators. The scientist improved them, which allowed the C-6A aircraft in 1912 to become a gold medalist of the aeronautical exhibition in Moscow. After 3 years, the aircraft designer created C-16, the fighter, who was supposed to accompany the "Ilya Muromets" with hostilities, as well as to protect the country's airfields.
Emigration
There are several assumptions about how the aircraft designer emigrated. Some consider, in 1918 he came to Arkhangelsk, where there were no Bolsheviks, and managed to leave from there abroad. Others assure that he preferred Murmansk. According to one version, Sikorsky went to London, and on the other to Liverpool. Anyway, in the final trip, he found himself in Paris.By offering your french skills, he received an order for the manufacture of five bombers. After the conclusion of the World Agreement in November 1918, Igor Sikorsky ceased to be interesting to the government, and the contract was annulled. The scientist decided to try happiness in the United States.
In the spring of 1919, the designer was in New York. At first, he worked as a teacher of mathematics, and by 1923 founded the company called Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation. The business was not easy, but by the 1929th founder managed to establish all processes and return the debts that took the idea to implement.
By 1939, the Sikorsky came up with about 15 aircraft variations and began to create helicopters with a single scheme. Subsequently, the aviation was very common. The first experimental model was raised into the sky in the fall of the 1939th. It was an improved version of the sample, which the scientist developed as early as 1909.
Aircraft created by Sikorski was used in military and civil aviation. The last model was S-58. The scientist retired, left the presidency of his company and accepted the position of consultant.
Death
The aircraft designer died in 1972 in the city of Easton, located in Connecticut. The cause of the death of the helicopter construction was accompanied by the old age of the disease. He was buried on the cemetery of St. John the Baptist.
Living abroad, Igor Sikorsky called himself Russians and supported the development of his native culture in America. After the death of the emigrant, the Orthodox Church, Russian School and the Russian Opera remained. The first photos of the inventor began to appear in the textbooks only 30 years after his leaving.
Memory
The name of Sikorsky remains in the memory of descendants.- Today, his name is the streets and squares, the long-distance bomber Tu-160 and the aerospace lyceum in Ukraine, the Astronomical Union and Crater on the Moon, asteroid and Kiev airport.
- The man became the author of the book "Sky and Heaven".
- In 1979, the premiere of the film "Poem on Wings" was held, and in 2012, the film "Vityaz Sky" was released on the screens, who told about the life of the aircraft designer.
- Ekaterina Nizamova wrote a book about the life and works of Igor Ivanovich, calling the work in honor of the developer.
Inventions
- 1912 - S-6, triple plane
- 1913 - C-21 "Russian Vityaz", fourdavitory biplane
- 1913 - C-22 "Ilya Muromets", four-fed biplane
- 1914-1915 - C-16, escort fighter
- 1916 - C-20, single-engine fighter
- 1924 - S-29, double biplane
- 1934 - S-42 Clipper, Flying Boat
- 1939 - VS-300, experimental prototype of the helicopter
- 1942 - VS-44 Excambian, Flying Boat
- 1942 - R-4, the world's first serial helicopter