Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky Reference Files

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of approximately 2.5 cubic feet of material gathered by former National Air and Space Museum (NASM) curator Von Hardesty and former NASM Museum Specialist Carl Bobrow as a set of reference files on the life and achievements of Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky. Much of the material seems to have been sent to Hardesty by Igor Sikorsky, Jr. The collection contains many types of materials including correspondence, photographic material, writings by Sikorsky, news clippings, copies of official documents such as Sikorsky's baptismal certificate, motion picture film, and audio recordings. The collection also contains an oral history interview (on two cassette tapes) with Dimitry D. "Jimmy" Viner, and three copies of Igor Sikorsky at the 20th Annual Wright Brothers Memorial Dinner (recorded December 14, 1967, reissued 1982). Two of the copies are on vinyl LP disc and the third copy is a cassette tape. Additional audio formats include metal and shellac on metal transcription discs.

Arrangement

The bulk of this collection is unprocessed and remains in the order in which it was received when the material was transferred to the Archives. The last series, Miscellaneous 35mm Film Cut Strips and Frames, has been rehoused, scanned, and described in this finding aid and the photographic materials placed in cold storage.

Biographical / Historical

Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (1889--1972) was born in Kiev and graduated from the Naval War College in St. Petersburg. While in Russia, he experimented with rotary-wing craft and designed the first multi-engined fixed-wing aircraft, the S-21 Grand and Il'ya Muromets. He immigrated to the United States in 1919 and a few years later formed the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Company (later a subsidiary of United Aircraft and, eventually, United Technologies Corporation). The Sikorsky S-29-A and S-38 arrived to acclaim and use in air transport. In 1939, the Sikorsky VS-300, the world's first successful helicopter, was flown for the first time and by 1943, Sikorsky's company was producing the Sikorsky R-4, the world's first production helicopter. After many more years of achievement and a multitude of honors for his highly significant contributions to aviation, Igor Sikorsky died at the age of 83.