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,
Igor Sikorsky war-torn Europe, and particularly Russia, ravaged by the October Revolution and Civil War, he immigrated to the United States, arriving in New York on March 30, 1919. In the U.S., Sikorsky first worked as a school teacher and a lecturer, while looking for an opportunity to work in the aviation industry. In 1932, he joined the faculty of the University of Rhode Island to form an aeronautical engineering program and remained with the university until 1948. He also lectured at the University of Bridgeport. In 1923, Sikorsky formed the Sikorsky Manufacturing Company in Roosevelt, New York. He was helped by