Soko S-55
The first helicopter in the Yugoslav Air Force was the Sikorsky S-55. The aircraft was made in the United States and it is named after its Russian-born designer Igor Sikorsky. Engineer Sikorsky, who worked on the largest bomber of the First World War that was called “Ilya Muromets”, moved to the United States after the October Revolution, where he continued his work.
The Yugoslav Air Force bought the first copy of the S-55 for testing from a British factory Westland. Licensed production in the factory “Soko” in Mostar, which began in 1961, proved to be a great challenge for the domestic industry, and it was especially difficult to adopt the production of the transmission in the factory “21. maj” in Rakovica.
The exhibited helicopter was put into service in December 1965 and it was used in units in Batajnica, Niš and Split. In September 1974, it flew over to the Aeronautical Museum.
