Igor Sikorsky accompanied his father to Germany and through conversations with his father, became interested in natural sciences. After returning home, Sikorsky began to experiment with model flying machines, and by age 12, he had made a small rubber band-powered helicopter. Sikorsky began studying at the Saint Petersburg Maritime Cadet Corps, in 1903, at the age of 14. In 1906, he determined that his future lay in engineering, so he resigned from the academy, despite his satisfactory standing, and left the Russian Empire to study in Paris. He returned to the Russian Empire in 1907, enrolling at the Mechanical College of the
Sikorsky S-34 Sikorsky S-34 The Sikorsky S-34 was a 1920s American six-seat sesquiplane, designed and built by the Sikorsky Manufacturing Corporation. Only one was built but the design led to the successful Sikorsky S-38. The S-34 was a sesquiplane amphibian with a boat hull, being powered by two tractor Wright Whirlwind J-4 engines. It had a boom-mounted twin-rudder tail unit and room inside the hull for five passengers. During a test flight in November 1927 one engine failed and the S-34 crashed and sank. Igor Sikorksy and the others onboard escaped without injury but the S-34 was destroyed. It was the first