Sikorsky Aircraft

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

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation)

Jump to: navigation, search

The Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation is an American aircraft manufacturer.

[edit] 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. Until recently, Sikorsky has supplied the helicopter of the President of the United States, Marine One since 1957. In January 2005, the U.S. government selected Lockheed Martin's AgustaWestland AW101-based entry (VH-71 Kestrel) over a S-92 variant as the replacement to the current Marine One aircraft. 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.^{[citation needed]}

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, 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,^[3] a Rapid Prototyping and Military Derivatives Completion Center (RPMDCC) located west of the Elmira-Corning Regional Airport in Big Flats, New York.

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.^[4] 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.^[4] It is based at Coatesville, Pennsylvania.^[4]

[edit] Aircraft products

Sikorsky designates nearly all of its models with S-numbers; numbers S-1 through S-20 were designed by Igor Sikorsky in Russia (see Igor Sikorsky). 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 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-55: Ten passenger utility helicopter (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-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 S-300C
Sikorsky S-333
Sikorsky S-434
Sikorsky X2: concept demonstrator with twin, contra-rotating rotors and a pusher prop.