IGOR SIKORSKY - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 01/16/1968 - HFSID 23469

IGOR SIKORSKY. TLS: "I.I. Sikorsky", 1p, 8½x11. Stratford, Connecticut, 1968 January 16. On letterhead of Sikorsky Aircraft to Mr. Mark E. Brown, Venice, Florida. In full: "Please accept my most sincere thanks for your letter of December 23. It was indeed kind of you to send such a warm message of congratulations and I appreciate your thoughtfulness. Thank you also for the article you enclosed. I have read it with great interest and find, of course, great truths in it. Under separate cover, I am sending you a copy of our company calendar which you might like to have. * I thank you again for writing me and send you my warmest personal regards." At lower margin: "* also copy of American Bible Society brochure which includes one of my articles." In the year of this letter, Sikorsky was awarded the National Medal of Science and one of his helicopters (S-65) was the first large helicopter to roll and loop (it was also the first helicopter with a titanium-spar rotor blade). While we have been unable to find information on Sikorsky's article for the American Bible Society, the inventor had published The Message of the Lord's Prayer in 1942. Ukrainian-born aviation pioneer Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (1889-1972) is best known for designing the first four-engine airplane and the first modern helicopter. His other "firsts" include the first mass-produced bomber (the Ilya Muromets during WWI), the first production helicopters (WWII) and a long list of innovations for both airplanes and helicopters. Sikorsky, who had emigrated to the U.S. in 1919, formed Sikorsky Aero Engineering Company in 1923. In 1925, the company became known as The Sikorsky Manufacturing Company, and later manufactured such "flying boats" as the S-36 and S-42 (used by Pan Am for transatlantic flights). With the success of its amphibious craft in 1928, the company was renamed Sikorsky Aviation Company 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. Today, the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation remains one of the world's leading helicopter manufacturers. Lightly creased. Staple holes at upper and lower left blank margin. Ink note (unknown hand) has been blacked out at lower left margin, stray red ink marks above ink note. Overall, fine condition.