Wonderful Flying Machines

While millions of people readily associate the trilogy of Helicopter-Rescue-Coast Guard, few are aware of the symbiotic relationship between the smallest of the armed services, the genial genius Igor Sikorsky, and the then-emerging helicopter struggling for development in the midst of World War II. Incredible as it now seems, great resis¬tance to developing and utilizing rotary-wing aircraft was entrenched within each of the armed forces, and only the relentless, dogged determination of less than a handful of Coast Guard officers turned the tide and launched a new chapter in aviation history.