Les Morris at the controls of the Vought-Sikorsky VS-316A (XR-4, serial number 41-18874) on its first flight at Stratford, Connecticut, 14 January 1942. (Sikorsky Historical Archives)
14 January 1942: Chief Test Pilot Charles Lester (“Les”) Morris (1908–1991) made the first flight of the Vought-Sikorsky VS-316A at Stratford, Connecticut. The first flight lasted approximately 3 minutes, and by the end of the day, Morris had made 6 flights totaling 25 minutes duration.
“One-half left front close-up head-and-shoulders view of test pilot Charles L. “Les” Morris posed seated in the cockpit of the Sikorsky VS-300 helicopter (r/n NX28996), March 29, 1943.” (Hans Groenhoff Photographic Collection, Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum NASM-HGC-1408)
The VS-316A (which was designated XR-4 by the U.S. Army Air Corps and assigned serial number 41-18874), established the single main rotor/anti-torque tail rotor configuration. It was a two-place helicopter with side-by-side seating and dual flight controls.
The fabric-covered three-blade main rotor was 38 feet (11.582 meters) in diameter and turned counter-clockwise as seen from above. (The advancing blade is on the helicopter’s right.) The tail rotor was mounted to the aft end of the tail boom in a tractor configuration, and rotated counter-clockwise when seen from the helicopter’s right side.
The VS-316A was 33 feet, 11.5 inches (10.351 meters) long and 12 feet, 5 inches (3.785 meters) high. It weighed 2,010 pounds (911.7 kilograms) empty and the maximum gross weight was 2,540 pounds (1,152.1 kilograms).
The original engine installed in the VS-316A was an air-cooled, normally-aspirated, 499.805-cubic-inch-displacement (8.190 liter) Warner Aircraft Corporation Scarab SS-50 seven-cylinder radial engine with a compression ratio of 5.55:1. The SS-50 was a direct-drive engine, with a maximum continuous power rating of 109 horsepower at 1,865 r.p.m., and 145 horsepower at 2,050 r.p.m. at Sea Level for takeoff. 73-octane gasoline was required. The SS50 was 2 feet, 5 inches (0.737 meters) long, 3 feet, 0-9/16 inches (0.929 meters) in diameter and weighed 306 pounds (139 kilograms).
Orville Wright and Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky with the XR-4 at Wright Field, Ohio, May 1942. (Sikorsky Historical Archives)
Numerous modifications were made, including lengthening the main rotor blades, covering them with metal, and upgrading the engine to a 200 horsepower Warner R-550-1 Super Scarab. The XR-4 was redesignated XR-4C. This would be the world’s first production helicopter. It is at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Sikorsky XR-4C 41-18874 at the National Air and Space Museum. (NASM)
Sikorsky YH-19 49-2012 first flight, Bloomfield, Connecticut, 10 November 1949. (Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company)
10 November 1949: At Bloomfield, Connecticut, Dimitry D. (“Jimmy”) Viner, a nephew of Igor Sikorsky and chief test pilot for the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, made the first flight of the prototype Sikorsky S-55 helicopter, serial number 55-001, which the U.S. Air Force had designated YH-19 and assigned serial number 49-2012.
Five YH-19 service test aircraft were built. Two were sent to Korea for evaluation in combat. As a result, the United States Air Force placed an initial order for 50 H-19A Chickasaw helicopters. (It is customary for U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army helicopters to be named after Native American individuals or tribes, though there are exceptions.) This was quickly followed by orders for 264 H-19B helicopters.
Sikorsky YH-19 49-2014 in Korea, circa 1951. (U.S. Air Force)
The United States Navy ordered 118 S-55s which were designated HO4S-1 and HO4S-3. The U.S. Coast Guard bought 30 HO4S-1G and HO4S-3Gs configured for rescue operations. The U.S. Marine Corps purchased 244 HRS-1, HRS-2 and HRS-3 helicopters. The U.S. Army ordered 353 H-19C and H-19D Chickasaw utility transports. The remaining 216 Sikorsky-built helicopters were S-55, S-55C and S-55D commercial models.
Cutaway illustration of the Sikorsky S-55/H-19/HO4S/HRS. Note the rearward-facing, angled placement of the radial engine. (Sikorsky Historical Archives)
The S-55 was flown by two pilots in a cockpit placed above the passenger/cargo compartment. The most significant design feature was moving the engine from directly under the main rotor mast to a position at the front of the helicopter. Installed at an angle, the engine turned a drive shaft to the main transmission. The engine placement provided space for a large passenger/cargo compartment. The aircraft was constructed primarily of aluminum and magnesium, with all-metal main and tail rotor blades.
The main rotor consisted of three fully-articulated blades built of hollow aluminum spars, with aluminum ribs. Spaces within the blade were filled with an aluminum honeycomb. The blades were covered with aluminum sheet. The hollow spars were filled with nitrogen pressurized to 10 p.s.i. An indicator at the blade root would change color if nitrogen was released, giving pilots and mechanics an indication that the spar had developed a crack or was otherwise compromised. The main rotor turned counter-clockwise as seen from above. (The advancing blade is on the helicopter’s right.) Flapping hinges were offset from the main rotor axis, giving greater control response and effectiveness. The tail rotor was mounted on the helicopter’s left side in a pusher configuration. It turned clockwise as seen from the helicopter’s left.
The helicopter’s fuselage was 42 feet, 2 inches (12.852 meters). The main rotor had a diameter of 53 feet, 0 inches (16.154 meters) and tail rotor diameter was 8 feet, 8 inches (2.642 meters), giving the helicopter an overall length with all blades turning of 62 feet, 2 inches (18.948 meters). It was 13 feet, 4 inches (4.064 meters) high. The landing gear tread was 11 feet (3.353 meters). The S-55 had an empty weight of 4,785 pounds (2,173 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight of 7,200 pounds (3,271 kilograms). Fuel capacity was 185 gallons (698 liters).
The YH-19 was powered by an air-cooled, supercharged 1,343.804-cubic-inch-displacement (22.021 liter) Pratt & Whitney R-1340-57 (Wasp S1H2) 9-cylinder radial engine mounted at a 35° angle in the fuselage forward of the crew compartment. This was a direct-drive engine which had a Normal Power rating of 550 horsepower at 2,200 r.p.m. to 8,000 feet (2,438 meters), and 600 horsepower at 2,250 r.p.m. for Take Off.
Later production S-55 commercial and H-19/HO4S and HRS military helicopters used an air-cooled, supercharged 1,301.868-cubic-inch (21.334 liter) Wright Aeronautical Division 871C7BA1 Cyclone 7 (R-1300-3) 7-cylinder radial engine with a compression ratio of 6.2:1. The R-1300-3 was also a direct-drive engine, but was rated at 700 horsepower at 2,400 r.p.m., Normal Power, and 800 horsepower at 2,600 r.p.m. for Take-Off. Both engines incorporated a large cooling fan to circulate air around the cylinders. The R-1300-3 was 49.68 inches (1.261 meters) long, 50.45 inches (1.281 meters) in diameter, and weighed 1,080 pounds (490 kilograms).
Sikorsky Aircraft Corps. YH-19 49-2012 (c/n 55-001) shown with engine “clam shell” doors open. This allowed excellent access to the engine for maintenance. (Sikorsky Historical Archives)
The S-55 had a maximum speed of 95 knots (109 miles per hour, 176 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level. The helicopter’s hover ceiling in ground effect (HIGE) was 7,875 feet (2,400 meters) and out of ground effect (HOGE) is 4,430 feet (1,350 meters). The service ceiling was 11,400 feet (3,475 meters) and range was 405 miles (652 kilometers).
Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation built 1,281 S-55-series helicopters. Another 477 were built under license by Westland Aircraft Ltd., Société Nationale des Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud-Est (SNCASE) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
49-1012 is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum.
The first of five YH-19 service test helicopters, 49-2012, is on display at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum. (NASM)Dimitry D. Viner, circa 1931
Дмитро Дмитрович Вінер (Dimitry Dimitry Viner) was born in Kiev, Ukraine, Imperial Russia, 2 October 1908. He was the son of Dimitry Nicholas Weiner and Helen Ivan Sikorsky Weiner, a teacher, and the sister of Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky.
At the age of 15 years, Viner, along with his mother and younger sister, Galina, sailed from Libau, Latvia, aboard the Baltic-American Line passenger steamer S.S. Latvia, arriving at New York City, 23 February 1923.
“Jimmy” Viner quickly went to work for the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Company, founded by his uncle, Igor Sikorsky.
Dimitry Viner became a naturalized United States citizen on 27 March 1931.
Viner married Miss Irene Regina Burnett. The had a son, Nicholas A. Viner.
A Sikorsky YR-5A flown by Jimmy Viner with Captain Jack Beighle, hoists a crewman from Texaco Barge No. 397, aground on Penfield Reef, 29 November 1945. (Sikorsky Historical Archive)
On 29 November 1945, Jimmy Viner and Captain Jackson E. Beighle, U.S. Army, flew a Sikorsky YR-5A to rescue two seamen from an oil barge which was breaking up in a storm off of Fairfield, Connecticut. This was the first time that a hoist had been used in an actual rescue at sea.
Jimmy Viner made the first flight of the Sikorsky S-51 prototype on 16 February 1946, and in 1947, he became the first pilot to log more than 1,000 flight hours in helicopters.
Dimitry Dimitry Viner died at Stratford, Connecticut, 14 June 1998, at the age of 89 years.
Dimitry D. (“Jimmy”) Viner with a Sikorsky S-51, the civil version of the R-5. (Sikorsky Historical Archive)
The prototype VS-300 helicopter clears the ground for the first time, 14 September 1939. Igor Sikorsky is at the controls. His right foot rests on the anti-torque pedal. (Sikorsky Historical Archives)
14 September 1939: At Stratford, Connecticut, Igor Sikorsky made the first tethered flight of the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 prototype helicopter. The duration of the flight was just 10 seconds but demonstrated that the helicopter could be controlled.
The Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 was the first successful single main rotor, single tail rotor helicopter.
The three-bladed main rotor had a diameter of 28 feet (8.534 meters) and turned approximately 255 r.p.m. The rotor turned clockwise as seen from above (the advancing blade is on the left). This would later be reversed. A counter-weighted single blade anti-torque rotor with a length of 3 feet, 4 inches (1.016 meters) is mounted on the left side of the monocoque beam tail boom in a pusher configuration and turns counter-clockwise as seen from the helicopter’s left (the advancing blade is above the axis of rotation).
Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 under construction, 8 September 1939. (Sikorsky Historical Archives)
In the initial configuration, the VS-300 was powered by an air-cooled, normally-aspirated, 144.489-cubic-inch-displacement (2.368 liter) Lycoming O-145-C3 horizontally-opposed, four-cylinder, direct-drive engine with a compression ratio of 6.5:1. It was rated at 75 horsepower at 3,100 r.p.m., using 73-octane gasoline. It was equipped with a single Stromberg carburetor and dual Scintilla magnetos. The dry weight of the O-145-C3 was 167 pounds (75.75 kilograms). Later in the VS-300’s development, the Lycoming was replaced by a 90-horsepower Franklin 4AC-199 engine.
On 19 December 1939, the VS-300 was rolled over by a gust of wind and damaged. It was rebuilt, however, and developed through a series of configurations. It made its first free (untethered) flight 13 May 1940.
Test flights continued for several years. After 102 hours, 32 minutes, 26 seconds of flight, the VS-300 was donated to the Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan.
Igor Sikorsky adjusts his fedora while at the controls of the VS-300. (Sikorsky Historical Archives)
Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky, 1914. (Karl Karlovich Bulla)
23 June 1913: While parked at St. Petersberg, Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky’s S-21, Русский Витязь (Russky Vityaz or “Russian Knight”), the world’s first four-engine airplane, and, at the time, the world’s largest airplane, was crushed by an engine that had fallen off of a single-engine Morane-Saulnier airplane that was flying overhead.
Russky Vityaz, the Sikorsky S-21. (Bain News Service/Library of Congress LC-B2-3222-11)
Igor Sikorsky began work on the S-21 in 1911, while chief engineer for Russko-Baltiisky Vagonny Zavod at St. Petersburg, and it first flew 10 May 1913. It was a four-engine biplane operated by a crew of three and could carry up to seven passengers in two enclosed cabins. These cabins were large enough that the passengers could stand and move around.
The S-21 was 20 meters (65.6 feet) long. The upper wing had a span of 27 meters (88.6 feet) and the lower wing, 20 meters (65.6 feet). Overall height of the airplane was 4 meters (13.1 feet). Its empty weight was 3,400 kilograms (7,496 pounds) and the gross weight was 4,000 kilograms (8,818 pounds).
Ígor’ Ivánovič Sikórskij; with His Imperial Majesty Tsearevich Nikoláj II Aleksándrovič Románov aboard the S-21. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives, Catalog #: 12_00087512)
Russky Vityaz was powered by four water-cooled Argus Motoren G.m.b.H. As 1 inline four-cylinder engines in a tractor configuration. These produced 100 horsepower, each, and turned two-bladed fixed-pitch propellers. The biplane had a maximum speed of 90 kilometers per hour (56 miles per hour), service ceiling of just 600 meters (1,969 feet) and range of 170 kilometers (106 miles).
Rather than try to repair the wrecked S-21, Sikorsky decided to build something even bigger: the Sikorsky S-22 Ilya Muromets.
Российская Империя. Авиаконструктор Игорь Сикорский сажает свой четырехмоторный самолет “Илья Муромец” на Корпусном аэродроме в Санкт-Петербурге. /Репродукция Фотохроники ТАСС/
Igor Sikorsky emigrated to the United States of America in 1919, where he designed and built large seaplanes for airline use before focusing on the development of the helicopter, beginning with the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300. His company remains in operation today and produces some of the most widely used military and commercial helicopters.
Igor Sikorsky’s S-21 four-engine airplane, Russky Vitaz 1913. (RIA Novosti)
Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky, 1914. Sikorsky is wearing the cross of the Imperial Order of St. Vladimir. (Karl Karlovich Bulla)
25 May 1889: Ігор Іванович Сікорський (Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky) was born at Kiev, Ukraine, Russian Empire, the fifth of five children of Professor Ivan Alexeevich Sikorsky and Doctor Mariya Stefanovich Sikorskaya.
15 year-old Midshipman Igor Ivanovich Sikorksky, Imperial Naval Academy, at lower right, with his sisters Olga, Lydia and Elena, and brother Sergei, 1904. (Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company)
He studied at the Imperial Naval Academy, St. Petersburg, from 1903 until 1906, when he left to study engineering, first in Paris, and then at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute.
Pilot Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky with a passenger, circa 1914. (RIA Novosti)
Flying an airplane of his own design, the S-5, on 18 April 1911, he received a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale pilot’s license from L’Aéro-Club Imperial de Russie (Imperial Russian Aero Club).
Igor I. Sikorsky’s FAI pilot’s license. (Sikorsky Historical Archives)
He was chief aircraft engineer for Russko-Baltiisky Vagonny Zavod at St. Petersburg and continued to develop airplanes. In 1913, he flew the twin engine S-21 Le Grand, to which he added two more engines, and it became the Russky Vityaz.
Igor Sikorsky with one of his early biplanes.Sikorsky’s S-21 in flight, 1913
Igor Sikorsky married Olga Fyodorovna Simkovich. They had a daughter, Tania. The couple soon divorced, however.
Compagnie Générale Transatlantique liner, S.S. La Lorraine, 11,146 gross tons.
Following the October Revolution, Sikorsky emigrated to the United States. Departing Le Havre, France, aboard S.S. La Lorraine, he arrived at New York on 31 March 1919. With financial backing from composer and conductor Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff, he founded the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Company at Long Island, New York, in 1924, and continued designing and building airplanes.
In 1924, Sikorsky married Elisabeth Semion, who was also born in Russia, in 1903. They would have four children. In 1928, he became a citizen of the United States of America.
Sikorsky S-39 amphibian NC54V (Civil Air Patrol)
Beginning in 1934, Sikorsky Aircraft produced the S-42 flying boat for Pan American Airways at a new plant at Stratford, Connecticut.
U.S. Navy RS-1 (Sikorsky S-41) (National Museum of Naval Aviation)Pan American Airways Sikorsky S-42, NC16734, moored at Honolulu, Territory of the Hawaiian Islands. (hawaii.gov/hawaiiaviation)
Interested in helicopters since the age of 9, he directed his creative effort toward the development of a practical “direct-lift” aircraft. The first successful design was the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300. Using a single main rotor, the VS-300 went through a series of configurations before arriving at the single anti-torque tail rotor design, the VS-316A. This was put into production for the U.S. military as the Sikorsky R-4.
The prototype VS-300 helicopter clears the ground for the first time, 14 September 1939. Igor Sikorsky is at the controls. His right foot rests on the anti-torque pedal. (Sikorsky Historical Archives)Igor Sikorsky hovers the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300A. (Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company)On behalf of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the National Aeronautic Association of the United States issued Helicopter Pilot Certificate No. 1 to Igor I. Sikorsky, 10 December 1940. (Sikorsky Historical Archives)Igor Sikorsky hovers the VS-300 before presenting it to The Henry Ford, 7 October 1943. (Photograph courtesy of Tom Fisher, The Henry Ford. Object ID: 84.1.1660.P.B.27654)Igor Sikorsky in the cockpit of a Sikorsky S-48 (R-5) helicopter. (Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum)
The company which Igor Sikorsky founded has continued as one of the world’s biggest helicopter manufacturers. Recently acquired by Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky continues to produce the UH-60-series of Blackhawk medium helicopters, the large CH-53K King Stallion, and the civil S-76D and S-92. A variant of the S-92 has been selected as the next helicopter for the U.S. presidential air fleet, the VH-92A. This helicopter is planned to be operational by 2020.
Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky died at Easton, Connecticut, 26 October 1972 at the age of 83 years.
Igor Sikorsky piloting his pontoon-equipped VS-300, 17 April 1941. (Sikorsky Historical Archives)Les Morris at the controls of the Vought-Sikorsky XR-4, 41-18874 (VS-316A), on its first flight at Stratford, Connecticut, 14 January 1942. (Sikorsky Historical Archives)Lt. Carter Harman hovering in ground effect with Sikorsky YR-4B Hoverfly 43-28247 at Lalaghat, India, March 1944. This is the helicopter with which he made the first combat rescue, 21-25 April 1944. (U.S. Air Force)U.S. Army R-5 (Sikorsky S-48) flown by Jimmy Viner with Captain Jack Beighle, lifts a crewman from Texaco Barge No. 397, aground on Penfield Reef, 29 November 1945. (Sikorsky Historical Archive)U.S. Air Force H-5 (Sikorsky S-51) lifts off during the Korean War. (U.S. Air Force)U.S. Coast Guard HOS-1 (Sikorsky S-49), with Igor Sikorsky as a passenger, over the Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, 17 December 1947—the 44th annivesary of the Wright Brothers first controlled, powered airplane flight. (Sikorsky Historical Archives)U.S. Army YH-18A 49-2889 (Sikorsky S-52-2) (Ed Coates Collection)U.S. Air Force SH-19A Chickasaw 51-3850 (Sikorsky S-55), Air Rescue Service. (U.S. Air Force)U.S. Army H-34A-SI Choctaw (Sikorsky S-58) 57-1743 hovers in ground effect. Later registered as a civilian aircraft, N47246). (U.S. Army)U.S. Marine Corps CH-37 Mojave (Sikorsky S-56) heavy-lift helicopterU.S. Navy SH-3A Sea King (Sikorsky S-61), Bu. No. 149867, near Oahu, Hawaiian Islands, 5 April 1976. (PH2 (AC) Westhusing, U.S. Navy)A U.S. Coast Guard HH-52A Seaguard (Sikorsky Model 62). (United States Coast Guard)U.S. Air Force HH-3E Jolly Green Giant (Sikorsky S-61R), 66-13290, of the 37th ARRS, hovering in ground effect at Da Nang, 1968. (U.S. Air Force)A U.S. Air Force Sikorsky HH-53C Super Jolly Green Giant hovers to hoist a pararescueman with one downed pilot, while a second waits on the ground, 16 June 1967. The blade tip vortices are visible because of the high humidity. (National Archives at College Park)U.S. Army CH-54A Tarhe 68-18448 (Sikorsky S-64) heavy-lift helicopter, Nevada National Guard, 16 November 1989. (Mike Freer/Wikipedia)U.S. Air Force MH-53M Pave Low IV 68-8424 (Sikorsky S-65), prepares for its last combat mission, Iraq, 27 September 2008. (A1C Jason Epley, U.S. Air Force)U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers dismount a Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk, Zabul Province, Afghanistan, 21 January 2010. (Detail from photograph by Staff Sergeant Aubree Clute, U.S. Army)U.S. Air Force HH-60G Pave Hawk (Sikorsky S-70) 89-26212, Kunar Province, Afghanistan. (Captain Erick Saks, U.S. Air Force)British Airways’ Sikorsky S-61N Sea King G-BEON, 1982.An Erickson Air-Crane, Inc., Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane drops water on a forest fire. (Sikorsky Archives)A Los Angeles County Fire Department Sikorsky S-70A Firehawk, N160LA, during a rescue near Palmdale, California, 27 March 2004. (Alan Radecki/Wikipedia)A Queen’s Helicopter Flight Sikorsky S-76C, s/n 760753, G-XXEB (Russell Lee/Wikipedia)Cougar Helicopters’ Sikorsky S-92A C-GKKN landing at Ilulissat Airport, Greenland, 5 August 2010. (Algkalv/Wikipedia)The prototype Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion (Sikorsky, A Lockheed Martin Company)
