IGOR SIKORSKY - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 09/12/1960 - HFSID 253362

IGOR SIKORSKY. Rare ALS: "I. Sikorsky" on verso of 5½x3¼ postal card. Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1960 September 12. Addressed by typewriter on front to an employee, Mrs. Catherine Simokat, Sikorsky Aircraft, Stratford, Connecticut. In full: "Please accept my sincere thanks for your interesting and informative letter of Sept 6 which I received here in Colorado Springs and for all enclosures. I hope to return around Sept 30. With kindest personal regards in which Mrs Sikorsky joins me I am very sincerely yours". Sikorsky Aircraft receipt stamp at lower right corner. In the year of this letter, there were a number of "firsts" for Sikorsky helicopters: the S-55 was the first helicopter used in the aerial recovery of a parachute; the S-58 was the first helicopter to fire a radio-controlled missile (the following year, it would be the first helicopter to retrieve a U.S. astronaut - Alan B. Shepard); the S-61-L was the first the first helicopter designed specifically for airline use; and, the S-62 made Los Angeles Airways the first carrier to use a turbine engine helicopter. Russian-born Igor Ivan Sikorsky (1889-1972), a pioneer in the advancement of the helicopter and naval aircraft, constructed and flew the first multi-motored airplane in 1913.He built the first amphibian American Clipper, which pioneered transoceanic commercial flights. With the success of its amphibious craft, Sikorsky's company was renamed Sikorsky Aviation Company in 1928 and land was purchased in Stratford, Connecticut for its production facilities in 1929. That year, the company was purchased by and became a subsidiary of United Aircraft, today a part of United Technologies Corporation. In 1939, Sikorsky developed the first practical American helicopter. He is enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Slightly creased, lightly soiled. Staple holes and light paper clip impression at upper blank margin on letter side. Postal markings touch salutation and 1 line of writing. Overall, fine condition.