Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky, born in 1889 in Kiev, became one of the earliest and most accomplished pioneers of aviation. Within just a few years of the Wright Brothers’ historic flight, he was developing innovative fixed-wing aircraft. But from the outset he was driven by the idea of vertical flight, a goal he finally achieved in 1939 with a helicopter design that remains the standard to this day. By then, he had already emigrated to the United States and established the Sikorsky Manufacturing Company — a major aircraft manufacturer, which made Stratford Connecticut its home, and is now part of United Technologies Corp.