[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 303-304]
[From the U.S. 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

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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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