PROVING THE CONCEPT


On Nov. 29, 1945, in a fierce storm, an oil barge with a captain and one crew member ran aground on Penfield Reef in Long Island Sound, not far from the Sikorsky Aircraft plant in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Responding to the call for help, Sikorsky chief pilot Jimmy Viner and US Army Air Corps Capt. Jack Beighle reconnoitered the scene, returned to the hangar, and readied a Sikorsky R-5, newly equipped with a hoist intended—but not yet tested—for rescue missions. Flying back to the barge in the R-5, the Sikorsky team conducted the first


civilian hoist rescue, successfully transporting the two sailors to the beach.A photo of the barge’s captain, Joseph Pawlik, being lowered to safety circulated in newspapers worldwide. Igor Sikorsky regarded the helicopter’s ability to conduct lifesaving missions such as this as his “greatest source of comfort and satisfaction.”


IGOR I. SIKORSKY HISTORICAL ARCHIVES


SPECIAL C


LCOMMEMORATIVE SSUE ROTOR 123 VE IS


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