OKBs and Designers

Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov. Early designs were gliders. The An-2 biplane has been produced by the thousand and has been used around he world. The largest aircraft in the world is the An-225. Only one was ever built. Antonov died in 1984 at the age of 78.

Georgy Mikhailovich Beriev. Known primarily for his amphibious aircraft such as the Be-12, this Georgian designer died in 1979 at the age of 76.

Sergey Vladimirovich Ilyushin. He designed the famous Il-2 "Shturmovik" used widely during the Great Patriotic War (WWII). His design bureau now focuses mostly on transports such as the well-known Il-76 and the Il-96. He died in 1977 at the age of 83. His son, Viktor, became a famous test pilot.

Nikolay Ilyich Kamov became famous for his helicopter designs using coaxial rotors. He died in 1973 at the age of 71.

Semyon Alekseyevich Lavochkin was involved with the designer Gorbunov until he became head of the design bureau which was renamed Lavochkin after him. His bureau designed fighters that were successfully used during the Great Patriotic War (WWII). Lavochkin died in 1960 at the age of 59.

Boris Pavlovich Lisunov was the engineer the Russians sent to the U.S. when the USSR purchased a license to build the DC-3 in Russia. He was only 48 when he died in 1946.

Artem (Artyom) Ivanovich Mikoyan (left) together with Mikhail Iosifovich Gur'evich (right) designed such successful aircraft as the MiG-3, MiG-15 and the famous, widely produced MiG-21. Though Gur'evich had retired in 1964, Mikoyan continued working, dying at the age of 65 in 1970. Gur'evich passed in 1976 at age 83.

Mikhail Leontyevich Mil was a designer of piston-engine helicopters such as the Mi-4 and the famous Mi-8, still serving around the world in various modifications. The largest helicopter in the world, the heavy Mi-12, came from his bureau. He died in 1970 at the age of only 60.

There were many designers in the early days of the Soviet Union, some of whom had very successful designs that went into full production. Sadly photos of those are few and far between. Since the breakup of the USSR, a number of organizations and designers have produced aircraft of some note.

Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasishchev began his career in the Tupolev Design Bureau, eventually forming his own bureau where he designed bombers and eventually the high-altitude M-17. He died in 1978 at the age of 76.

Vladimir Mikhailovich Petlyakov designed a number of aircraft, the most famous of which was the Pe-2, a dive bomber used during the Great Patriotic War (WWII). He died in an air crash at the age of 50 in 1942.

Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov designed, among other things, the famous I-16 which was used in the Spanish Civil War where it was called the "Rata." He was working on highspeed monoplane fighter designs when one killed Valery Chkalov during a test flight. After Chkalov's death, Polikarpov's work suffered greatly and he never had another good design. He succumbed to cancer at the age of 52 in 1944.

Pavel Osipovich Sukhoi was a famous fighter designer, the Su-27 and Su-35 of today being evolutions of his works, but his Su-2 used during the Great Patriotic War (WWII) actually was a multirole, non-fighter. He died at age 80 in 1975.

Andrei Nikolayevich Tupolev was one of the "grand old men" of Soviet aircraft design, one of the first to turn out acceptable transports and bombers. It was his design, the single-engined ANT-25, that was the first aircraft in history to fly across the North Pole to North America. Tupolev died at age 84 in 1972 and his son replaced him in the bureau.

Aleksandr Sergeyevich Yakovlev designed some of everything: transports, bombers, fighters, aerobatic aircraft and even a helicopter. He wrote several books, including "Aim of a Lifetime," a sort of autobiography. He died in 1989 at the age of 83.