I was fortunately provided with an opportunity to attend a ceremonial 100th birthday celebration for Mr. Igor Sikorsky in Connecticut on May 25 1989. It was billed as a gathering of pioneers. Most living helicopter pioneers attended from around the world. Among those attending were Frank Piasecki , Alan Bristow, and Marot Treschenko (sp?), the head of the MIL helicopter design bureau. We all toasted our founder with some great vodka, straight from Russia. As Sergei explained, “It was truly a magical evening”. The reason I bring this up is, at the celebration, Sikorsky displayed color movies from the Sikorsky archives, of Igor’s many
unsuccessful attempts at flying the VS-300 during development. What most of us are use to seeing is videos of the near final product. It was truly a trial and error process. To develop a flying machine and to teach oneself to fly it is truly a chapter from the Right Stuff. I would recommend a pay as you go system, unless you have plenty of disposal cash on hand.
