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 Russky Vityaz was crushed by an engine that fell off a single-seat Morane aircraft during a landing. Sikorsky decided not to repair the seriously damaged Russky Vityaz and began working on his next brainchild — the Ilya Muromets. Sikorsky Russky Vityaz The Sikorsky Russky Vityaz (), or Russian Knight, previously known as the Bolshoi Baltisky () "(The Great Baltic)" in its first four-engined version, was the first four-engine aircraft in the world, designed by Igor Sikorsky and built at the Russian Baltic Railroad Car Works ("Russo-Baltiiskyi Vagonnyi Zavod" or "R-BVZ") in Saint Petersburg in early 1913. Sikorsky conceived the S-21 design in