The
Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation
is an American aircraft manufacturer
based in Stratford, Connecticut. Its
parent company is United
Technologies Corporation (UTC).
Sikorsky was founded in 1925 by
aircraft engineer Igor Sikorsky, a
Kiev-born American immigrant. The
company, named "Sikorsky
Manufacturing Company", began
aircraft production in Roosevelt,
New York that year. In 1929 the
company moved to Stratford,
Connecticut. It became a part of
United Aircraft and Transport
Corporation (now United Technologies
Corporation) in July of that year.
In the
United States, Igor Sikorsky
originally concentrated on the
development of multi-engined
landplanes and then amphibious
aircraft. In the late 1930s, sales
declined and United Aircraft merged
his division with Vought Aircraft.
He took this opportunity to begin
work on developing a practical
helicopter. After first flying the
VS-300 he developed the Sikorsky
R-4, 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 Sikorsky did not invent the
helicopter itself).
Sikorsky
Aircraft 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 S-72 X-Wing. It is a
leading defense contractor. Sikorsky
has supplied the helicopter for the
President of the United States since
1957. Sikorsky's VH-3 and VH-60
currently perform this role.
The company
acquired Helicopter Support Inc.
(HSI) in 1998. HSI handles non-U.S.
government after-market support for
parts and repair for the Sikorsky
product lines.
UTC acquired
Schweizer Aircraft Corp. in 2004,
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 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,
Pennsylvania. Keystone had been
maintaining and completing Sikorsky
S-76 and S-92 helicopters prior to
the sale.
In 2007,
Sikorsky opened the Hawk Works, a
Rapid Prototyping and Military
Derivatives Completion Center
(RPMDCC) located west of the
Elmira-Corning Regional Airport in
Big Flats, New York. That same year
Sikorsky purchased the PZL Mielec
plant in Poland. The plant is
assembling the S-70i for
international customers.
Sikorsky's
main plant and administrative
offices are located in Stratford,
Connecticut. Other Sikorsky
facilities are in Shelton, and
Bridgeport, Connecticut; Fort Worth,
Texas; West Palm Beach, Florida; and
Troy, Alabama. Other Sikorsky-owned
subsidiaries are in Trumbull,
Connecticut; Coatesville,
Pennsylvania; and Grand Prairie,
Texas; among others around the
world.
In
February 2009,
Sikorsky
Global Helicopters
was created as a business unit of
Sikorsky Aircraft to focus on the
construction and marketing of
commercial helicopters. The business
unit combines the main civil
helicopters that were produced by
Sikorsky Aircraft and the helicopter
business of Schweizer Aircraft that
Sikorsky has acquired in 2004. It is
based at Coatesville, Pennsylvania.
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Aircraft Produced
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. (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) (USN RS-1)
-
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: "Excalibur"
four-engine flying boat (1937)
-
Sikorsky S-45: six-engine flying
boat (for Pan Am). Never built
(1938)
Helicopters
-
VS-300/S-46 (1939)
-
Sikorsky S-47:
R-4/HNS
Hoverfly, world's first
production helicopter. (1940)
-
Sikorsky S-48: R-5/H-5/HO3S
helicopter designed with higher
load, endurance, speed, and
service ceiling than the R-4
(1943)
-
Sikorsky S-49: R-6/HOS
Hoverfly; improved R-4 with new
fuselage
-
Sikorsky S-51: larger, civil
H-5. World's second certified
commercial helicopter (1946)
-
Sikorsky S-52 (H-18/HO5S):
helicopter with all-metal rotors
(1947)
-
Sikorsky S-53 (XHJS-1) naval
utility helicopter (1947)
-
Sikorsky S-55: ten passenger
utility helicopter,
H-19 Chickasaw (1949)
-
Sikorsky S-56: twin-engined
helicopter,
H-37A Mojave (1953)
-
Sikorsky S-58: eighteen
passenger utility helicopter,
larger more advanced than the
S-55. Also available in ASW, VIP
versions (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-66 AAFSS competitor,
S-67 predecessor
-
Sikorsky S-67 Blackhawk:
prototype attack helicopter
(1970)
-
Sikorsky S-68: entry for the US
Army Armored Aerial
Reconnaissance Vehicle program.
-
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-71: entry for the US
Army Advanced Attack Helicopter
program. Designed using dynamic
components from the S-70.
-
Sikorsky S-72: rotor systems
research for NASA (1975)
-
Sikorsky S-73: entry for the US
Army HLH program.
-
Sikorsky S-74: original
designation of the Sikorsky
S-76.
-
Sikorsky S-75: advanced
Composite Airframe Program
(ACAP) all-composite proof of
concept helicopter (1984)
-
Sikorsky S-76: 14-seat
commercial (1977)
-
Sikorsky S-80: export version of
the CH-53E/MH-53E Super Stallion
heavy lift helicopter (1974)
-
Sikorsky S-92 and military H-92
Superhawk and CH-148 Cyclone
(1995)
-
Sikorsky S-97: proposed design
for the United States Army Armed
Aerial Scout program. (2010)
-
Sikorsky S-300C (1964)
-
Sikorsky S-333 (1992)
-
Sikorsky S-434 (2008)
-
Sikorsky X2: concept
demonstrator with twin,
contra-rotating rotors and a
pusher prop. (2008)
Other aircraft
-
Sikorsky S-57/XV-2: Supersonic
convertiplane with single blade
retractable rotor. Never built.
-
Sikorsky Cypher: Doughnut-shaped
UAV (1992)
-
Sikorsky Cypher II: development
of the Cypher (2001)
Source:
Wikipedia
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