The Hartford (CT) Courant is running monthly articles in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers’ flight. This month’s offering is a look at the history of Sikorsky, a helicopter manufacturer based in Connecticut. Igor I. Sikorsky’s first dabblings with helicopter design were unsuccessful enough that he instead designed a few fixed-wing planes before traveling to Berlin with Charles Lindbergh and witnessing a demonstration of Focke’s twin-rotor helicopter. He was granted permission to design a helicopter for the U.S. Army and found success when granted a contract in 1942. The original vision of the helicopter as a personal transportation device has not come to fruition, but their roles are important nonetheless.