Sikorsky Helicopters - The Birth of a Legend

The legacy of Igor Sikorsky still leads the helicopter industry, and the Winged-S emblem still signifies the world's most advanced rotorcraft. The Russian-born scientist, engineer, pilot and entrepreneur made fixed and rotary wing aviation history with a mix of genius and determination.

The Sikorsky S-47 was delivered to the U.S. Army Air Corps in May 1942, the prototype for the first helicopter produced in quantity for the U.S. armed forces. In November 1945, an S-51 conducted the first helicopter hoist rescue when it pulled two seamen from a sinking barge off Connecticut. In World War II, the fabric-covered helicopters flew the first combat rescue and Medevac missions. The S-51 and S-55 demonstrated the medevac, search and rescue, and utility missions in the Korean War. The piston-engined S-58 and S-56 gave the U.S. military helicopters big enough to mount air assaults. The turbine engined S-61 spawned a family of submarine hunters, airliners, and rescue helicopters with offspring still serving around the world.

Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation


		Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation, is a world leader in the design and manufacture of advanced helicopters for commercial, industrial and military uses. Sikorsky's products have been saving lives since 1944, when a Sikorsky performed the world's first helicopter rescue mission. The legendary BLACK HAWK is the first choice for military operations worldwide. More than 2,800 S-70 and H-60 variants have accumulated more than five million flight hours for the U.S. military. Currently, BLACK HAWK derivatives serve in 25 governments around the world in a diverse range of missions such as combat assault, peacekeeping, border patrol, drug interdiction, disaster relief and medevac. Sikorsky has developed four generations of maritime helicopters that support the operations of navies across the globe. Naval Hawk helicopters and its derivatives serve the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard as well as navies around the world in an array of seaborne operations such as anti-marine warfare, missile targeting, anti-surface ship warfare, strike warfare, search-and-rescue, and medevac.

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