AERONAUTICAL ENGINEER I. I. SIKORSKY'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH E. A. VECHORIN IN THE COLLECTIONS OF THE BAKHMETEFF ARCHIVE AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY (NEW YORK, USA)
- Authors: Uliankina T.I1
-
Affiliations:
- S. I. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Russian Academy of Sciences
- Issue: Vol 46, No 4 (2025)
- Pages: 790-805
- Section: Sources for the History of Science and Technology
- URL: https://journal-vniispk.ru/0205-9606/article/view/361635
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.7868/S2713041X25060105
- ID: 361635
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Abstract
A collection of documents of Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Vechorin (1884–1969), engineer at the Russo-Baltic Wagon Works (RBVZ), ensign-mechanic of the squadron of Ilya Muromets heavy bombers, and a Russian first-wave émigré, is deposited in the Bakhmeteff Archive of Russian and East European History and Culture (Rare Books and Manuscripts Department of the Butler Library, Columbia University, NY). In France, he was known as a chairman of the Paris Association of Former Professors and Students of the Emperor Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. In the Bakhmeteff Archive, the author of this article discovered the previously unpublished correspondence between Vechorin and Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (1889–1972), the legendary aircraft engineer, inventor and founder of the world’s helicopter industry, scientist, entrepreneur, philosopher and public figure, one of the “spiritual leaders of Russian emigration, the pride of Russia in exile”. The content of some letters deserves particular attention, as it supplements Sikorsky’s biography with personal recollections, little-known details of his life, in particular, those concerned with his friendship with General Major Mikhail Vladimirovich Shidlovsky (1856–1921), Chairman of the RBVZ Board, who was arrested in 1919 and shot in 1921.
About the authors
T. I Uliankina
S. I. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Russian Academy of Sciences
Email: tatparis70@gmail.com
Moscow, Russia
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