[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 5 (Thursday, January 9, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H86]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   CELEBRATING THE 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT COMPANY

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to call attention to the 90th 
anniversary of the Sikorsky Aircraft Company, one of the lynchpins of 
our State's advanced industrial base, a pillar of our national defense, 
and the world's premiere helicopter manufacturer.
  Ninety years ago, Russian-born inventor Igor Sikorsky opened the 
Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation for business on Long Island. 
Since then, the history of this pioneering company has been a string of 
firsts.
  Sikorsky built the first practical helicopter, the VS-300, in 1939. 
Five years later, a Sikorsky vehicle performed the first helicopter 
combat rescue in history, saving soldiers in Burma during World War II. 
In 1945, a Sikorsky helicopter took part in the first-ever civilian 
helicopter rescue, rescuing survivors from a sinking vessel in Long 
Island Sound. And in 1957, Dwight Eisenhower took the first 
Presidential ride in Sikorsky-made Marine One, long one of the defining 
symbols of the American Executive.
  Today, in my State of Connecticut, Sikorsky continues to build the 
best helicopters in the world, including the Black Hawks so critical to 
our national security, and to move the technology of rotor-powered 
aircraft forward.
  To UTC leadership and the almost 16,000 hardworking men and women of 
Sikorsky, congratulations on this anniversary, and here's to many more.

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