Original fabric swatch, 1.25 x 1, excised from Igor Sikorsky’s VS-300A helicopter. The silver swatch is encased in a 3 x 3 x 1 Lucite display produced by United Technologies Sikorsky Aircraft. In fine condition. The VS-300 single-engine helicopter became the first single lifting rotor helicopter in the United States and the first successful helicopter to use a single vertical tail rotor design for antitorque when it made its first ‘free’ flight on May 13, 1940. Less than a year later, the addition of pontoons enabled it become the first practical amphibious helicopter.
