Ilya Muromets is the world’s first passenger aircraft, the world’s first four‑engine aircraft, and the world’s first strategic bomber. Ilya Muromets was designed by Ihor Sikorsky, who was born in Kyiv in 1889. He studied at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (1907‑1911). From 1912‑1918, he was the chief designer of the aviation department of the Russian‑Baltic Carriage Works. In 1913, Sikorsky designed the world’s first aircraft to series multi‑engine airplane with a row‑organized layout of engines Russkiy Vityaz a.k.a. Grand. At the end of the same year, under his leadership the Ilya Muromets airplane was built. Its modification, IM‑B Kievsky (1914) became the world’s first passenger aircraft, which flew from St. Petersburg to Kyiv. With the outbreak of World War II, the Ilya Muromets aircraft series became the world’s first long‑range strategic bombers (1915).

Maria Omelchuk