Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 The Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 (or S-46) is a single-engine helicopter designed by Igor Sikorsky. It had a single three-blade rotor originally powered by a 75 horsepower (56 kW) engine. The first "free" flight of the VS-300 was on 13 May 1940. The VS-300 was the first successful single lifting rotor helicopter in the United States and the first successful helicopter to use a single vertical-plane tail rotor configuration for antitorque. With floats attached, it became the first practical amphibious helicopter. Igor Sikorsky's quest for a practical helicopter began in 1938, when as the Engineering Manager of the Vought-Sikorsky Division
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