Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation
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Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation
Type	Manufacturer
Founded	1925
Founder	Igor Sikorsky
Headquarters	Stratford, Connecticut, USA
Industry	Aviation
Parent	United Technologies Corporation
Subsidiaries	Schweizer Aircraft PZL Mielec
Website	sikorsky.com

Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation is an American aircraft manufacturer.

History

Sikorsky was founded in 1925 by Kiev-born Russian American aircraft engineer Igor Sikorsky.^[1] He developed the first stable, single-rotor, fully-controllable helicopter to enter large full-scale production in 1942, upon which the majority of subsequent helicopters were based (though he did not invent the helicopter itself). The company became a part of United Aircraft in 1929, now United Technologies Corporation (UTC), and remains one of the leading helicopter manufacturers, producing such well-known models as the UH-60 Black Hawk and SH-60 Seahawk, as well as experimental types like the Sikorsky X-Wing. It is a leading defense contractor. Sikorsky has supplied the helicopter of the President of the United States, Marine One since 1957. (Note that in January 2005 the U.S. Government selected Lockheed Martin's AgustaWestland EH101-based entry as the replacement to the current Marine One aircraft, which caused an outcry from many in Sikorsky Aircraft's home state of Connecticut.) Sikorsky's VH-3 (SH-3 Sea King) and VH-60 (UH-60 Black Hawk) currently perform this role.

The company also acquired Helicopter Support Inc. (H.S.I) in 1998. This company handles all the after-market support for the Sikorsky product. H.S.I is responsible for approximately 40% of the company's EBIT.

UTC acquired Schweizer Aircraft Corp. in 2004,^[2] which now operates as a subsidiary of Sikorsky. The product lines of the two firms are complementary, and have very little overlap, as Sikorsky primarily concentrates on medium and large helicopters, while Schweizer produces small helicopters, UAVs, gliders, and light planes. The Schweizer deal was signed on August 26, 2004, exactly one week to the day after the death of Paul Schweizer, the company's founder and majority owner.

In late 2005, Sikorsky completed the purchase of Keystone Helicopter Corporation, located in Coatesville, PA. Keystone had been maintaining and completing Sikorsky S-76 and S-92 helicopters prior to the sale.

In 2007, Sikorsky opened the Hawk Works,^[3] a Rapid Prototyping and Military Derivatives Completion Center (RPMDCC) located west of the Elmira-Corning Regional Airport in Big Flats, NY.

Sikorsky's main plant and administrative offices are located in Stratford, Connecticut. Other Sikorsky facilities are in Shelton, and Bridgeport, Connecticut; West Palm Beach, Florida and Troy, Alabama. Other Sikorsky-owned subsidiaries are in Trumbull, Connecticut; Coatesville, Pennsylvania and Grand Prairie, Texas; and the company has branches around the world.

Aircraft

Sikorsky designates nearly all of its models with S-numbers; numbers S-1 through S-20 were designed by Igor Sikorsky in Russia. Later models, especially helicopters, received multiple designations by the military services using them, often depending on purpose (UH, SH, and MH for instance), even if the physical craft had only minor variations in equipment. In some cases, the aircraft were returned to Sikorsky or to another manufacturer and additionally modified, resulting in still further variants on the same basic model number.

Airplanes

• Sikorsky S-29-A: twin-engine cargo biplane. First Sikorsky built in the U.S. Appeared in Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels (1924)
• Sikorsky S-30: twin-engine, never built. (1925)
• Sikorsky S-31: single-engine biplane (1925)
• Sikorsky S-32: single-engine two-passenger biplane (1926)
• Sikorsky S-33: "Messenger" single-engine biplane (1925)
• Sikorsky S-34: twin-engine flying boat prototype. (1927)
• Sikorsky S-35: three-engine biplane prototype (1926)
• Sikorsky S-36: eight-seat two-engine flying boat "Amphibion" (1927)
• Sikorsky S-37: "Guardian" eight-seat two-engine biplane (1927)
• Sikorsky S-38: eight-seat two-engine boat flying boat (USN PS) (1928–1933)
• Sikorsky S-39: five-seat single-engine variant of S-38 (1929–1932)
• Sikorsky S-40: "Flying Forest" four-engine 28-passenger flying boat (1931)
• Sikorsky S-41: twin-engine flying boat (1931)
• Sikorsky S-42: "Clipper" four-engine flying boat (1934–1935)
• Sikorsky S-43: "Baby Clipper" twin-engine amphibious flying boat (1935–1937) (Army OA-1, USN JRS-1)
• Sikorsky VS-44: four-engined flying boat (1937)
• Sikorsky S-45: six-engine flying boat (for Pan Am. Never built.)

Helicopters

• VS-300
• Sikorsky S-47 (R-4): world's first production helicopter. (1940)
• Sikorsky S-48 (R-5/H-5): helicopter designed with higher load, endurance, speed, and service ceiling than the R-4 (1943)
• Sikorsky S-49 (R-6): improved R-4
• Sikorsky S-51: world's first commercial helicopter (1946)
• Sikorsky S-52 (H-18/HO5S): helicopter with all-metal rotors (1947)
• Sikorsky S-55: utility helicopter (1949)
• Sikorsky S-56: twin-engined helicopter, H-37A Mojave (1953)
• Sikorsky S-58: improved S-55 (1954)
• Sikorsky S-59 (XH-39): 2 H-18s converted to use one turboshaft engine (1953)
• Sikorsky S-60: prototype "flying crane" helicopter, crashed 1961 (1959)
• Sikorsky S-61: SH-3 Sea King; ASW, SAR or transport helicopter (1959)
• Sikorsky S-61R: redesigned S-61 with rear cargo ramp; CH-3, HH-3 "Jolly Green Giant", and HH-3F Pelican (1963)
• Sikorsky S-62: HH-52 Seaguard amphibious helicopter (1958)
• Sikorsky S-64: CH-54 Tarhe "flying crane" (1962)
• Sikorsky S-65: CH-53 Sea Stallion medium/heavy lift helicopter (1964)
• Sikorsky S-67 Blackhawk: prototype attack helicopter (1970)
• Sikorsky S-69: prototype with contra-rotating co-axial rotors, twin conventional tail (1973)
• Sikorsky S-70: UH-60 Black Hawk, SH-60 Seahawk (1974)
• Sikorsky S-72: rotor systems research for NASA (1975)
• Sikorsky S-75: Advanced Composite Airframe Program (ACAP) all-composite proof of concept helicopter (1984)
• Sikorsky S-76 Spirit: 14-seat commercial (1977)
• Sikorsky S-80: CH-53E Super Stallion heavy lift helicopter (1974)
• Sikorsky S-92 and military H-92 Superhawk and CH-148 Cyclone (1995)
• Sikorsky X2: concept demonstrator with twin, contra-rotating rotors and a pusher prop.

Other Aircraft

• Sikorsky Cypher: Doughnut-shaped UAV (1992)
• Sikorsky Cypher II: development of above (2001)

Gallery

H-34 Choctaw	CH-124 Sea King	CH-54 Tarhe	CH-53E Super Stallion
MH-53J Pave Low III	MH-53J/M Pave Low	UH-60 Black Hawk	S-92

See also

• Igor Sikorsky
• Helicopter
• Timeline of hydrogen technologies

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation

• Sikorsky homepage
• Sikorsky Timeline at the Helicopter History Site
• Sikorsky entry at Aerofiles
• "Patents owned by Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation". US Patent & Trademark Office. Retrieved on December 6, 2005.