AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2016 - 80

IGOR SIKORSKY III sits on the dock at Bradford Camps on
Munsungan Lake in northern Maine. That's his 1968 Cessna 172
on floats behind him (right). Visitors relax on Adirondack chairs
overlooking the lake (below).

eep in the woods of Maine, the grandson of one of the most
influential aircraft designers hosts "Sikorsky Weekend"
each year, telling tales of his grandfather, Russia before the
Bolshevik revolution, and the early days of helicopter design-and
taking visitors seaplane flying and fishing. Meet Igor Sikorsky III.
Sikorsky and his wife, Karen, run the 100-year-old Bradford
Camps on the shores of Munsungan Lake, a four-mile-long body of
pristine water that is home to trout, salmon, and perch. Bradford is
a traditional sporting camp, with eight waterfront log cabins-the
only inhabited structures in this area of the North Maine Woods.
Bradford Camps is located at the center of this 3.5-million-acre
natural wonderland, where moose, bears, deer, beavers, eagles, and
ospreys are the citizenry.
To get here, one can travel across rugged logging roads for
several hours or, more intelligently, by seaplane. Sikorsky will pick
you up in his Cessna 172 on floats in Bangor-or veteran Maine seaplane pilot Jim Strang, who operates Katahdin Air Service, can fly
you in his 206.
The leisurely Sikorsky Weekend is highlighted by Sikorsky's talks
about his grandfather. Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky made the helicopter
viable, and the younger Sikorsky knew his grandfather as a gentle,

If you go
Sikorsky Weekend will be held July 15, 16,
and 17, 2016. Plan to arrive midafternoon on
Friday and depart midmorning on Sunday,
although the Sikorskys will welcome you
at other times-just not after dark. In fact,
the Sikorskys' driving directions include
dire warnings about driving after dark, carrying spare tires, and not relying on your
GPS. Bradford Camps is located in the Allagash
region of
northwestern Maine, north of Baxter State Park
in Township T8
R10. The nearest town is Ashland, Maine, two hours south by commercial logging roads. "Your cellphone will not work beyond Ashland,"
Sikorsky warns. There is a road-use fee of $40. Katahdin Air Service
flies out of Millinocket and charges between $200 and $350 per person (www.katahdinairservice.com). Use frequency 122.85 MHz for
Bradford Camps Seaplane Base (ME3) . Cost of the weekend is $449
per person, double occupancy. This includes meals, lodging, and the
full use of all facilities. Throughout Sikorsky Weekend, the aviation
library in the lodge is open for all, and photos, videos, books, and
artifacts are on display. Lectures and slideshows are presented after
dinner for approximately two hours depending on questions. Igor
Sikorsky III is the main presenter, although his father has attended on
previous weekends. For more information, visit the website (www.
bradfordcamps.com) or email (maine@bradfordcamps.com).-JSW

80 | AOPA PILOT March 2016

loving man who led a charmed life. During his fireside talks in the
sporting camp lodge, with a massive moose head and equally massive
deer head overlooking the room, the entertaining younger Sikorsky
shares his grandfather's years in Russia, the construction of the fourengine Le Grand for the czar, his early years in the United States as a
nearly penniless immigrant with big ideas, the Pan Am flying boats,
and life as a test pilot building helicopters for United Aircraft (later
United Technologies). Rich with original photographs, drawings,
and correspondence, the experience is truly a taste of history.
GETTING THERE. Bradford Camps shares history with the early
fishing camps frequented by gentlemen travelers of the late eighteenth century. That was an era when men of means would pack
trunks full of clothing and life essentials and travel by train, boat,
and eventually horse-drawn carriages into the woods to hunt, fish,
and commune with nature-a Hemingwayesque version of life.
Yet the life that the younger Sikorsky has made here belies that
vision. These are family cabins in an area that Sikorsky hopes to
keep pristine and as close to nature as possible. There's no Wi-Fi
in the cabins; certainly no TV, phone lines, or even electric lights.
You get your illumination from gaslights you strike yourself-there
are matches at each light-or you go to sleep and wait for the sun.
And what a sleep it is. Quiet as only a place so removed from civilization can be; the woods crack with sounds of (hopefully) small
critters, waves lap the shore of the lake, and wind rustles the leaves in
the trees. Birdsong heralds the start of day. And the bell for breakfast.
Guests at Bradford Camps eagerly await that breakfast bell.
There is a private chef for the camps: Tiffany Craig, who loves to
use native foods. So there are blueberry pancakes (this is Maine,
after all) and real maple syrup. If everyone is lucky, one of the other
campers has caught perch or salmon in the lake-or flown out to
other, more remote lakes and brought back the catch-and Craig will
fry the fish for breakfast. Sikorsky and his wife greet everyone with
a hearty good morning and suggestions on how to spend the day.
Many of the guests have flown in by seaplane, so they will spend
the day taking off and exploring the other remote lakes and deep

http://www.katahdinairservice.com http://www.bradfordcamps.com http://www.bradfordcamps.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2016