Kyiv-born Igor I. Sikorsky was one of the most talented and versatile aeronautical pioneers and U.S. businessmen in history. Sikorsky’s aviation career spanned over 60 years and was highlighted by four major achievements:
(1) The creation of the world’s first four-engine airliner;
(2) the record-breaking Clipper Ships, with which Pan American Airways explored transpacific and transatlantic airline service;
(3) the development of the helicopter, which many historians consider to be his crowning achievement; and
(4) founder and president of the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in the USA.
Sikorsky began experimenting with rotary-wing aircraft in the courtyard of his family’s home in Kyiv, in 1909, at the age of 20, when he produced two experimental helicopters. He knew that the state of technology at the time, such as engines and materials, would not produce a successful helicopter. In 1909-1913, Sikorsky successfully constructed several aircraft, including the first four-engine heavy bomber, before the Bolsheviks took control of power in Russia, only 10 years after the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903.
Sikorsky was forced to flee Russia and arrived in America on March 30, 1919, without any resources but with plans for the future. After several difficult years, he started his own aeronautical enterprise.
March 5, 1923, saw the creation of the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation in the United States (Stratford, Connecticut) as one of America’s pioneering aerospace companies. The corporation had an amazing and successful history in aircraft design and construction. He designed the first workable American helicopter, Vought-Sikorsky VS-300. The Sikorsky R-4 became the world’s first mass-produced helicopter in 1942.
Home of aviation legend Ihor Sikorsky in Kyiv decays
The Kyiv Post published a major article by Mark Rachkevych on April 1, 2021, about the horrible condition of the Sikorsky family home in Kyiv. The article said, “The three-story, brick and yellow-colored building enjoys landmark status at 10-B Yaroslaviv Val near the Golden Gate metro station and is in an “emergency state and requires immediate priority emergency work with subsequent restoration,” the Kyiv City Department of Communal Property told the Kyiv Post by email…the 1,692-square-meter (18,212 square foot) building’s structural is in demise.
“Sikorsky’s father, Ivan Sikorsky, bought the home in 1885 as a single-story wooden structure before having it upgraded to three floors with an outbuilding…..In 1904, the family moved into the first floor of the building while Ivan Sikorsky, a trained psychologist who taught at the Saint Vladimir University (currently Taras Shevchenko University), used the upper two floors as a medical and pedagogical institute for children who were mentally challenged and suffered from nervous system problems. In the courtyard, Sikorsky built his first prototype aircraft that resembled air sleds.”
Time for action by Zelensky is now
The Sikorsky family home in Kyiv is under the control of the government of Ukraine. It is time now for the president of Ukraine, through the appropriate government agency, to take total control of the Sikorsky family home and announce plans to create and build a world-class aerospace museum in Kyiv in honor of Kyiv born, Igor I. Sikorsky, one of the most talented and versatile aeronautical pioneers and U.S. businessmen in the world.
This would be a great project for Ukraine and the United States to work together through a public-private partnership. There is considerable support for such a museum but no one can take charge and make it happen except the President of Ukraine The idea to build such a museum is like a no-brainer:
(1) Igor Sikorsky is a world-renowned and famous person tied directly to both to Ukraine and the United States.
(2) The Sikorsky family home is still standing in Kyiv, which is an amazing, unique and historic place for the museum.
(3) The museum could be built through a joint Ukraine and U.S. public/private partnership under the leadership of the President of Ukraine.
(4) A Sikorsky museum would immediately be a major attraction in Kyiv and could attract the most visitors of any such place in Kyiv.
(5) Ukraine needs to tell the world about one of it’s most famous and outstanding persons, born and raised in Kyiv.
(6) The Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation is owned by Lockheed Martin, a major aerospace, defense, technology company. Lockheed Martin is a member of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council.
(7) The building of the Sikorsky museum would move the Ukraine and U.S. historical, cultural and business connections forward.
The U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC) is working with several organizations to promote and support the creation of a museum in honor of Sikorsky. USUBC has created, during the past four years, a large collection of original photographs and other historical material related to life and career of Ihor Sikorsky. The USUBC archival collection contains around 100 historical pieces. The USUBC Sikorsky archival photo and document collection can be seen at the following link on the USUBC website: https://www.usubc.org/site/gallery/Igor-Sikorsky-Gallery.
Morgan Williams is president and CEO of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council.
