Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 43

and had the misfortune to crash on one of its test flights after being hit by the engine of the chase plane which had fallen off. A still larger aircraft, the S-22 II’ya Muromets, named after a legendary 10th-century hero, flew in February 1914; it was meant for the civilian market with a heated cabin, aft dinning room and a sleeping area. This time, the promenade deck was located along the top of the fuselage. Looking at photographs of the cabin exterior, one must wonder if the parent company’s railcar drawings were utilized in the fuselage’s construction. With a wing span of 102 feet, once more the 100 hp Argus engines were not up to the challenge; instead two 140 hp engines replaced the inboard Argus’s and two 130 hp ones the outboard units. The giant aircraft then proceeded to set a number of world records; these included five-hour endurance aloft, 16 passengers and a dog on a flight, and a trip time with one stop of 10.5 hours from Kiev to St. Petersburg. These performances impressed the military, which placed an order for 10 bomber versions, just prior to the outbreak of World War I on 4 August 1914.

A Short Potted History of the Start of WWI
Germany and Imperial Russia had been at odds for some years, with Germany looking east toward Asia Minor and Russia, south though Serbia to the Adriatic. Since the occupation of Paris in the Franco-German War of 1871, France had made large loans to Russia and in return got a mutual security agreement in the event France was attacked again. On 28 June 1914, the heir to the Austrian Empire, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, was assassinated during a visit to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, and Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July. Russia mobilized her army in response on 30 July with Germany declaring war against her on 1 August and attacking France on 2 August via a fl anking offensive through Luxembourg and Belgium. In response to the attacks on Belgium villages, Britain declared war upon Germany at 11 p.m. on 4 August. On 11 November 1918, the guns fell silent; by then there had been two revolutions in Russia in 1917 and throughout the areas of conflict more than 33 million people had died of various causes.

IM Series
The S-22 military IM series was the equivalent of the World War II B-17 Flying Fortress; it had a crew between four and seven and seven machine guns covering all directions, including the tail. Of the 80 produced, only one was lost to enemy action after shooting down three of the attackers; two were lost in accidents at the front and 30 were burnt to prevent capture by the Germans after the Russian collapse in 1917. All told the IM series flew some 400 combat missions against German targets. It could carry a 450 kg to 700 kg of bombs for five hours. The production rate varied from three to four a mon th depending on the availability of engines, and in December 1916 both the British and French made a request to Tsar Nicholas II to manufacture them under license; he gave his approval but the allies never followed up. Sikorsky also

designed a S-16 two-seat reconnaissance aircraft and the S-20 single-seat fighter. In the subsequent civil war between the western-backed White Russians and the Red Bolsheviks, both sides flew the II’ya Muromets civil version, with the Bolsheviks establishing passenger service on two routes. Sikorsky left Russia in 1917 and settled in France; however, after the armistice, work was scarce and although having been forced to abandon his fortune in Russia, he managed to find enough money to get to the United States in March 1919. He survived by teaching and giving lectures, during which he convinced some of his students and friends to invest in a company that would be located on a chicken farm in Westbury, Long Island. It was named Sikorsky Aero Engineering Company. There he built a 14-passenger, twin-engine biplane, the S-29A. The A stood for America. Interestingly, it was used by Howard Hughes in the movie “Hell’s Angels.” Another one-off model was the 14-seat passenger aircraft S-35, which in 1926 French WWI ace René Fonck decided to use to fly non-stop from New York to Paris. A third engine and extra fuel tank was fitted between the landing gear, which collapsed on take-off. Fonck managed to get out, but his two crew men died in the subsequent fire. The upgraded S-37 was still in development when Charles Lindbergh did the crossing nonstop in 1927. The S-36 was an amphibian eight-seat flying boat which Sikorsky leased to Pan American for its initial survey flights to South America; the only problem was Pan Am’s chief engineer, Andre Priester, considered it underpowered for the task at hand; it was a more powerful version with nine seats which Pan Am ordered and employed to open up the Caribbean and South America. For Sikorsky it was a new beginning; still a few years in the future was the product which is forever attached to his name—the helicopter.

References:
National Aviation Museum Photo Essay Collection – Igor Sikorsky 1961 edition of H. G. Wells 1921 book: The Outline of History: Doubleday & Company 1980 An American Saga; Juan Trippe and His Pan AM Empire: Robert Daley; Random House Jetrader 43



Jetrader - March/April 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Jetrader - March/April 2011

Jetrader - March/April 2011
A Message from the President
Table of Contents
Calendar/News
Q&A: David Neeleman
Aircraft Financing 2011: Expanding Liquidity Meets More Deliveries
Mind the Generation Gap
Breaking Up is Hard(er) to Do
State of the Regions: North America
‘You’re Late on the Payments!’
Relationships Versus Brand Marketing in Aviation
Aircraft Appraisals
Aviation History
Advertiser.com/ Advertiser Index
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - Jetrader - March/April 2011
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - Cover2
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - A Message from the President
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 4
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - Table of Contents
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 6
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - Calendar/News
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - Q&A: David Neeleman
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 9
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 10
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 11
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - Aircraft Financing 2011: Expanding Liquidity Meets More Deliveries
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 13
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 14
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 15
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 16
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - Mind the Generation Gap
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 18
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 19
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 20
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - Breaking Up is Hard(er) to Do
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 22
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 23
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - State of the Regions: North America
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 25
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 26
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 27
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 28
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - ‘You’re Late on the Payments!’
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 30
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 31
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - Relationships Versus Brand Marketing in Aviation
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 33
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 34
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - Aircraft Appraisals
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 36
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 37
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 38
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 39
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 40
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - Aviation History
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 42
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 43
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 44
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - Advertiser.com/ Advertiser Index
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 46
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - Cover3
Jetrader - March/April 2011 - Cover4
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