Igor Sikorsky On June 27, 1931, Sikorsky filed for a patent for another "direct lift aircraft", and was awarded patent No. 1,994,488 on March 19, 1935. His design plans eventually culminated in the first (tethered) flight of the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 on September 14, 1939, with the first free flight occurring eight months later on May 24, 1940. Sikorsky's success with the VS-300 led to the R-4, which became the world's first mass-produced helicopter, in 1942. Sikorsky's final VS-300 rotor configuration, comprising a single main rotor and a single antitorque tail rotor, has proven to be one of the most popular helicopter configurations,
Sikorsky S-19 Sikorsky S-19 The Sikorsky S-19 was a Russian twin engine experimental prototype aircraft built late in 1916 by the Russian Baltic Railroad Car Works while Igor Sikorsky was chief engineer of the aircraft manufacturing division. The S-19 was a two bay sesquiplane powered by two Sunbeam Crusader water-cooled V-8 engines installed in push-pull configuration. Arranged as a twin-boom aircraft, it had a large rudder located in the center of the empenage. Two crewmembers occupied cockpits in the foreword most section of the booms in front of the lower wing and served as pilot and machine gunner. Flight testing revealed sluggish