[[ProductID] AVIATION LINDBERGH MAIL SIKORSKY COMPANY BRIDGEPORT PLANE AD 31154

Previously owned by  United Technologies Corporation, in November 2015 Sikorsky was sold to  Lockheed Martin.

On 5 March 1923, the  Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation   was founded near  Roosevelt Field, New York, by  Igor Sikorsky, an immigrant to the United States who was born in  Kyiv.  In 1925, the company name was changed to  Sikorsky Manufacturing Company .  After the success of the  S-38, the company was reorganized as the  Sikorsky Aviation Corporation   with capital of $5,000,000, allowing the purchase of land and the building of a modern aircraft factory in Stratford. In 1929, the company moved to  Stratford, Connecticut, and it became a part of  United Aircraft and Transport Corporation  (later  United Technologies Corporation  or UTC) in July of that year.

In the United States, Igor Sikorsky originally concentrated on the development of multiengine landplanes and then amphibious aircraft. In the late 1930s, sales declined and United Aircraft merged his division with  Vought Aircraft.  He then began work on developing a practical helicopter. After first flying the  VS-300  he developed the  Sikorsky R-4, the first stable, single-rotor, fully controllable  helicopter  to enter full-scale production in 1942, upon which most subsequent helicopters were based.

Sikorsky Aircraft remains a leading helicopter manufacturer, producing such well-known models as the  UH-60 Black Hawk  and  SH-60 Seahawk, and experimental types such as the  Sikorsky S-72. Sikorsky has supplied the  Presidential helicopter  since 1957. Sikorsky's  VH-3  and  VH-60  perform this role now.

The company acquired Helicopter Support Inc. (HSI) in 1998. HSI handles non-U.S. government aftermarket support for parts and repair for the Sikorsky product lines.

UTC acquired  Schweizer Aircraft Corp.  in 2004,  after which it operated as a subsidiary of Sikorsky. The product lines of the two firms were complementary, and had little overlap, as Sikorsky primarily concentrates on medium and large helicopters, while Schweizer produces small helicopters,  unmanned aerial vehicles  (UAV),  gliders, and light planes. The Schweizer deal was signed on August 26, 2004, exactly one week after the death of  Paul Schweizer, the company's founder and majority owner. In late 2005, Sikorsky completed the purchase of Keystone Helicopter Corporation, located in  Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Keystone had been maintaining and completing Sikorsky S-76 and S-92 helicopters prior to the sale.

In 2007, Sikorsky opened the Hawk Works,  a Rapid Prototyping and Military Derivatives Completion Center located west of the  Elmira-Corning Regional Airport  in  Big Flats, New York. That same year Sikorsky purchased the  PZL Mielec  plant in  Poland. The plant is assembling the S-70i for international customers.

In February 2009, Sikorsky Global Helicopters was created as a business unit of Sikorsky Aircraft to focus on the construction and marketing of commercial helicopters.  The business unit combined the main civil helicopters that were produced by Sikorsky Aircraft and the helicopter business of Schweizer Aircraft that Sikorsky had acquired in 2004.  It was based at  Coatesville, Pennsylvania  until 2022.

In 2011, Sikorsky laid off 400 workers at the Hawk Works plant, and later in 2012 the remaining 570 workers and closed all Sikorsky facilities in Chemung County; moving the military completion work to their West Palm Beach, Florida, facility.  The commercial products had already been moved to their Coatesville, Pennsylvania facility.

Sikorsky's main plant and administrative offices are located in Stratford, Connecticut, as is a large company-owned private heliport (ICAO:  KJSD ,  FAA  LID:  JSD ).  Other Sikorsky facilities are in  Trumbull,  Shelton, and  Bridgeport, Connecticut  (with small company heliport (FAA  LID:  CT37 ));  Fort Worth, Texas;  West Palm Beach, Florida; and  Huntsville  and  Troy, Alabama. Sikorsky-owned subsidiaries are in  Grand Prairie, Texas, and elsewhere around the world.