H.Nowarra, G.Duval Russian Civil and Military Aircraft 1884-1969

In 1908, a young student of the Polytechnic Institute in Kiev, Igor Sikorski, designed and built his S.1 helicopter, powered by a 25 h.p. Anzani engine driving two two-blade co-axial contra-rotating rotors, but the engine proved unequal to its task, and the machine failed to leave the ground.

A.Durkota, T.Darcey, V.Kulikov The Imperial Russian Air Service (Flying Machines)

Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky

  Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky was born in the city of Kiev on May 25, 1889. His father, Ivan A. Sikorsky, was a prominent professor who had pursued an academic career and conducted pioneering research in the field of psychiatry. The elder Sikorsky earned a considerable reputation and wealth as a lecturer and writer in both Russia and Western Europe. Through the father's encouragement, the Sikorsky home was filled with numerous books, lively conversation, and an atmosphere that encouraged intellectual curiosity.
  To a considerable degree, Igor Sikorsky's interest in aviation can be linked to his boyhood fascination with the writings of Jules Verne, the imaginative French novelist of the nineteenth century. Igor Sikorsky's mother would read such novels to him. He would later write how he was especially intrigued with Verne's book Clipper of the Clouds, which described an aircraft capable of vertical flight. This imaginative flying machine stimulated the young Sikorsky to dream about building a helicopter, a dream that would have an lasting place in his long career.
  The same year the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, Igor Sikorsky entered the Imperial Russian Naval Academy at St. Petersburg. He spent three years there and completed his studies in 1906. A naval career was less appealing for him than practical engineering. Consequently, he resigned from the naval academy in 1906, and after a brief stay in Paris, entered the Polytechnic Institute of Kiev to study electrical engineering.
  While Igor Sikorsky was on vacation with his father in Berchtesgarden, Germany, in 1908, the Wright brothers made their historic visit to Europe to demonstrate their flying machine. Sikorsky read the local newspaper accounts of Wilbur Wright's demonstrations in Paris, as well as the achievements of Count von Zeppelin's early airships. Then 19 years old, Igor Sikorsky decided to enter the field of aviation. In December of that year, Igor's sister, Olga, offered him the required money to finance his first helicopter. In January 1909, he went to Paris to obtain the necessary materials to build a flying machine. He visited aerodromes and met famed aviators Ferdinand Ferber and Louis Bleriot.
  Sikorsky returned to Kiev in May 1909, with an Anzani 25-horsepower engine, the type recommended by Bleriot, "The most dependable among the mainly undependable engines." That same engine was used by Bleriot in his epic flight across the English channel in July of that year. Sikorsky was building his first flying machine when he heard the news of Bleriot's historic achievement.
  Following is a brief review of the early aircraft designed and built by Igor Sikorsky while in Russia (1909-1917). Aircraft are listed by Igor Sikorsky's own catalogue numbering system ("S" number). The numerical sequence, however, does not reflect the actual order in which the aircraft were built.


Helicopter No.1

  Sikorsky started construction of his first flying machine, helicopter number one (H-1), in the summer of 1909. The airframe consisted of a rectangular wire-braced wooden cage without landing gear. Power was provided by a 25hp Anzani engine, which was installed at the base of the frame. The transmission (belt-driven wooden pulleys) drove the co-axial shafts made of steel tubing. The shaft held two twin-blade rotors. The upper-most rotor had a diameter of 15.09 feet; the lower rotor's diameter was 16.4 feet. The rotor blades were made of steel tube and covered with linen; they were wire braced to the shaft.
  The H-1 was completed in July 1909, and Sikorsky started testing at that time. The rotor blade angle of attack was made adjustable by wire cables (via turnbuckle adjustments). Igor Sikorsky had planned to add control surfaces directly below the rotors to tilt the helicopter in the direction of flight by rotor down wash acting on the control surface; however, this system was not installed since he was mainly interested in obtaining lift. The helicopter was repeatedly ground-tested and maximum rotor speed eventually stabilized at 160 RPM. After two months of intensive testing and at least one close call (at maximum RPM, the machine nearly turned over on him), Sikorsky discontinued further work. He concluded the machine could generate an estimated 350 pounds of thrust. However, the total weight of the helicopter was over 450 pounds. By October, Sikorsky disassembled the H-1 and concluded, "This machine was a failure to the extent that it could not fly, but in other respects, it was a very important and necessary stepping stone."