verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . march 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message sikorsky aircraft corporation type manufacturer industry aviation founded 1925 founder igor sikorsky headquarters stratford connecticut united states key people dan schultz president 2015 1 number of employees 15 975 2 2014 parent lockheed martin subsidiaries schweizer aircraft closed 2012 pzl mielec website sikorsky.com the sikorsky aircraft corporation is an american aircraft manufacturer based in stratford connecticut . it was established by igor sikorsky in 1925 and was among the first companies to manufacture helicopters for civilian and military use . previously owned by united technologies corporation utc in november 2015 sikorsky was sold to lockheed martin . contents 1 history 2 products 2.1 airplanes 2.2 helicopters 2.3 other aircraft 2.4 other products 3 gallery 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit sikorsky was founded in 1925 by aircraft engineer igor sikorsky an immigrant to america who was born in kiev . 3 the company named sikorsky manufacturing company began aircraft production in roosevelt new york that year . in 1929 the company moved to stratford connecticut . it became a part of united aircraft and transport corporation now united technologies corporation in july of that year . 4 advertisement for sikorsky s 42 clipper flying boat from 1937 in the united states igor sikorsky originally concentrated on the development of multi engined landplanes and then amphibious aircraft . in the late 1930s sales declined and united aircraft merged his division with vought aircraft . 4 he took this opportunity to begin 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 large full scale production in 1942 upon which the majority of subsequent helicopters were based though sikorsky did not invent the helicopter itself . sikorsky aircraft remains one of the leading helicopter manufacturers producing such well known models as the uh 60 black hawk and sh 60 seahawk as well as experimental types like the sikorsky s 72 x wing . it is a leading defense contractor . sikorsky has supplied the presidential helicopter since 1957 . sikorsky s vh 3 and vh 60 currently perform this role . the company acquired helicopter support inc. hsi in 1998 . hsi handles non u.s. government after market support for parts and repair for the sikorsky product lines . 5 united technologies corporation utc acquired schweizer aircraft corp. in 2004 6 which now operates as a subsidiary of sikorsky . the product lines of the two firms are complementary and have little overlap as sikorsky primarily concentrates on medium and large helicopters while schweizer produces small helicopters uavs 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 7 a rapid prototyping and military derivatives completion center rpmdcc 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 . 8 9 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 . 10 the business unit combines the main civil helicopters that were produced by sikorsky aircraft and the helicopter business of schweizer aircraft that sikorsky has acquired in 2004 . 10 it is based at coatesville pennsylvania . 10 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 . 11 the commercial products had already been moved to their coatesville pennsylvania facility . sikorsky s main plant and administrative offices are located in stratford connecticut . other sikorsky facilities are in trumbull shelton and bridgeport connecticut ; fort worth texas ; west palm beach florida ; and huntsville and troy alabama . other sikorsky owned subsidiaries are in coatesville pennsylvania ; and grand prairie texas ; among others around the world . in 2015 utc considered sikorsky to be less profitable than its other subsidiaries and analyzed a possible spin off rather than a tax heavy sale . 12 13 14 on july 20 2015 lockheed martin announced an agreement to purchase sikorsky from utc for 9.0 billion . 15 final approval from the chinese government came in november 2015 . 16 the sale was completed on november 6 2015 . 17 jeffrey pino a former president of the company was killed in a plane crash in february 2016 . 18 products edit sikorsky designates nearly all of its models with s numbers ; numbers s 1 through s 20 were designed by igor sikorsky in the russian empire see igor sikorsky . later models especially helicopters received multiple designations by the military services using them often depending on purpose uh sh and mh for instance even if the physical craft had only minor variations in equipment . in some cases the aircraft were returned to sikorsky or to another manufacturer and additionally modified resulting in still further variants on the same basic model number . airplanes edit sikorsky s 29 a twin engine cargo biplane . first sikorsky built in the u.s. 1924 sikorsky s 30 twin engine never built . 1925 sikorsky s 31 single engine biplane 1925 sikorsky s 32 single engine two passenger biplane 1926 sikorsky s 33 messenger single engine biplane 1925 sikorsky s 34 twin engine flying boat prototype . 1927 sikorsky s 35 three engine biplane prototype 1926 sikorsky s 36 eight seat two engine flying boat amphibion 1927 sikorsky s 37 guardian eight seat two engine biplane 1927 sikorsky s 38 eight seat two engine boat flying boat usn ps 1928 1933 sikorsky rs transport flying boat usn rs sikorsky s 39 five seat single engine variant of s 38 1929 1932 sikorsky s 40 flying forest four engine 28 passenger flying boat 1931 sikorsky s 41 twin engine flying boat 1931 usn rs 1 sikorsky s 42 clipper four engine flying boat 1934 1935 sikorsky s 43 baby clipper twin engine amphibious flying boat 1935 1937 army oa 1 usn jrs 1 sikorsky vs 44 excalibur four engine flying boat 1937 sikorsky s 45 six engine flying boat for pan am . never built 1938 helicopters edit vs 300 s 46 1939 sikorsky s 47 r 4 world s first production helicopter . 1940 sikorsky s 48 r 5 h 5 helicopter designed with higher load endurance speed and service ceiling than the r 4 1943 sikorsky s 49 r 6 improved r 4 with new fuselage sikorsky s 51 larger civil h 5 . world s second certified commercial helicopter 1946 sikorsky s 52 h 18 ho5s helicopter with all metal rotors 1947 sikorsky s 53 xhjs 1 naval utility helicopter 1947 sikorsky s 55 ten passenger utility helicopter h 19 chickasaw 1949 sikorsky s 56 twin engined helicopter h 37a mojave 1953 sikorsky s 58 h 34 choctaw eighteen passenger utility helicopter larger more advanced than the s 55 . also available in asw vip versions 1954 sikorsky s 59 xh 39 2 h 18s converted to use one turboshaft engine 1953 sikorsky s 60 prototype flying crane helicopter crashed 1961 1959 sikorsky s 61 medium lift transport airliner helicopter 1959 sikorsky sh 3 sea king asw sar or transport helicopter 1959 sikorsky ch 124 sea king export version of the sh 3 sea king for the canadian armed forces 1963 sikorsky s 61r redesigned s 61 with rear cargo ramp ; ch 3 hh 3 jolly green giant and hh 3f pelican 1963 sikorsky s 62 hh 52 seaguard amphibious helicopter 1958 sikorsky s 64 skycrane flying crane helicopter 1962 sikorsky ch 54 tarhe transport helicopter for the us army 1962 sikorsky s 65 ch 53 sea stallion medium heavy lift transport helicopter 1964 sikorsky ch 53e super stallion 1974 sikorsky ch 53k king stallion sikorsky mh 53 long range search and rescue helicopter 1967 sikorsky s 66 aafss competitor s 67 predecessor sikorsky s 67 blackhawk prototype attack helicopter 1970 sikorsky s 68 entry for the us army armored aerial reconnaissance vehicle program . 19 sikorsky s 69 prototype with contra rotating co axial rotors twin conventional tail 1973 sikorsky s 70 1974 sikorsky hh 60 jayhawk sikorsky hh 60 pave hawk sikorsky sh 60 sea hawk sikorsky uh 60 black hawk list of sikorsky s 70 models sikorsky s 71 entry for the us army advanced attack helicopter program . designed using dynamic components from the s 70 . 19 20 21 sikorsky s 72 rotor systems research for nasa 1975 sikorsky s 73 entry for the us army hlh program . sikorsky s 74 original designation of the sikorsky s 76 . sikorsky s 75 advanced composite airframe program acap all composite proof of concept helicopter 1984 sikorsky s 76 14 seat commercial 1977 sikorsky s 80 export version of the ch 53e mh 53e super stallion heavy lift helicopter 1974 sikorsky s 92 and military h 92 superhawk 1995 ch 148 cyclone sikorsky s 97 raider proposed design for the united states army armed aerial scout program . 2010 sikorsky s 300c 1964 sikorsky firefly sikorsky s 333 1992 sikorsky s 434 2008 sikorsky x2 concept demonstrator with twin contra rotating rotors and a pusher prop. 2008 sikorsky boeing sb 1 defiant other aircraft edit sikorsky xblr 3 bomber aircraft 1935 1936 sikorsky xss naval scout flying boat 1933 boeing sikorsky rah 66 comanche sikorsky s 57 xv 2 supersonic convertiplane with single blade retractable rotor . never built . sikorsky cypher doughnut shaped uav 1992 sikorsky cypher ii development of the cypher 2001 vertical take off and landing experimental aircraft design and development of a hybrid vtol conventional design other products edit uac turbotrain 1968 22 22 sikorsky aspb assault support patrol boat 1969 23 gallery edit h 34 choctaw canadian ch 124 sea king ch 54 tarhe ch 53e super stallion mh 53j pave low iii uh 60 black hawk see also edit aviation portal igor sikorsky references edit daniel c. schultz lockheed martin . lockheedmartin.com . retrieved 2016 03 10 . sikorsky aircraft s big impact on region . connecticut post . retrieved 20 july 2015 . https web.archive.org web 20090702104052 http www.sikorsky.com vgn ext templating sik v index.jsp vgnextoid 2dd9e39d40a78110vgnvcm1000001382000arcrd . archived from the original on july 2 2009 . retrieved june 5 2009 . missing or empty title help a b spenser 1998 1 dead link pdf https web.archive.org web 20080410040550 http www.sacusa.com closing press release.pdf . archived from the original pdf on april 10 2008 . retrieved march 18 2008 . missing or empty title help john pike 2007 10 05 . sikorsky opens hawk works completion center for military helicopters . globalsecurity.org . retrieved 2016 03 10 . https web.archive.org web 20100611091515 http www.flightglobal.com articles 2010 06 08 342785 sikorsky breathes new life into pzl mielec.html . archived from the original on june 11 2010 . retrieved june 29 2010 . missing or empty title help https web.archive.org web 20110110110549 http www.sikorsky.com about sikorsky news press details pressvcmid ec821075c9257210vgnvcm1000004f62529frcrd . archived from the original on january 10 2011 . retrieved june 29 2010 . missing or empty title help a b c sikorsky press release 23 february 2009 sikorsky to close n.y. plant cut 570 jobs .