Alexander Sergejewitsch Jakowlew

Yakovlev's tomb in the Moscow Cemetery of the New Maiden Convent

Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev ( Russian Александр Сергеевич Яковлев ., Scientific transliteration Aleksandr Sergeevič Yakovlev , born March 19 ^{. Jul} / 1. April  1906 ^greg. In Moscow ; † 22. August 1989 in Moscow) was a Soviet aircraft designer and chief engineer of the eponymous OKB ( Experimental Design Office ) Jakowlew .

Life

From 1914 to 1923 he attended school and then wanted to study aircraft construction at the Zhukovsky Military Academy of the Air Force in Moscow , but was not accepted as a civilian - Yakovlev had not done military service. His first contact with aircraft construction came a little later when, in 1923, as an assistant to Nikolai Anostschenko, a pilot and flight engineer, he manufactured the Makaka glider for the first Soviet glider competition held in the Crimea . Although the aircraft broke on the first flight, Yakovlev finally decided to embark on a career as a designer. After doing a few unskilled jobs, he finally found a job as an engine manager at the Schukowski Academy. During this activity, in his spare time, with the help of Sergei Ilyushin, he developed his first two types, the AWF-10 and AWF-20 gliders, which successfully flew in the Crimean competitions. He also got to know Julian Piontkowski, who was also employed by the academy's ground crew and was to test all early Yakovlev types as a pilot until he was killed while testing the Yak-1 . As an award for the construction of the Ja-1 , Jakowlew was finally able to start studying from 1927. During this time he designed a number of aircraft, of which the Ja-6 was the first Yakovlev design to be approved for series production. In April 1931 he received his engineering degree. He then worked under Nikolai Polikarpow and Dmitri Grigorowitsch at the Menschinsky aircraft factory 39 and on January 15, 1934, he was in charge of an independent production and design office in a former bed factory. In 1935 he was appointed chief designer of the OKB , which has now developed .

In this position he became general engineer in 1937. In 1948 he became Minister of the Aviation Industry of the USSR , after having worked as Deputy People's Commissar for Aviation Industry in the field of experimental construction since 1940. Before the Second World War he made a number of trips abroad in this capacity, including a. to Italy , England and Germany and made himself familiar with aircraft development in these countries. After the German attack on the Soviet Union , he worked alongside his commissioner work, which made him a. a. dealt with the evacuation of aircraft factories inland and the organization of production in late 1941 and early 1942, continued as head of his design office. In his memoirs, Yakovlev reports on regular conversations with Stalin, who exerted a great influence on all aspects of industrial development down to the smallest detail, in particular on the aviation industry and the development of fighter aircraft.

The Yakovlev design office developed a number of fighter planes during World War II, which were used in large numbers in the Soviet air force . In particular, the Jak-1 , Jak-3 and Jak-9 fighters , but also transport aircraft such as the Jak-6, are known . In 1945 he designed one of the first Soviet jet aircraft , the Jak-15 , which was mass-produced alongside the MiG-9 . The best-known civilian type from Yakovlev today is the Yak-42 , a three-engine medium-range aircraft, as well as numerous models for aerobatics. In total, the design office named after A. S. Jakowlew developed around one hundred types of aircraft.

In 1956 Yakovlev was appointed general designer.

Yakovlev was honored with many awards for his life's work. He received the Lenin Prize , six times the Stalin Prize , twice the Order of the Red Star and ten times the Order of Lenin . He was also awarded the Legion of Honor Cross.

Yakovlev was married to Ekaterina Matveyeva. He had two sons, Sergei and Alexander.

Yakovlev was also active as a book author.

literature

• Alexander Jakowlew: goal of life . 3. Edition. Military Publishing House , Berlin 1986 (Russian: Целъ Жизни . Translated by N. Letnewa, L. Karin and P. Steier).
• Alexander Jakowlew: A chief designer tells . Kinderbuchverlag , Berlin 1961 (Russian: Рассказы Авиаконструктора . Translated by Traute & Günther Stein).
• Wilfried Bergholz: Russia's great aircraft manufacturer. Jakowlew, Mikojan / Gurewitsch, Suchoj. The complete type book . Aviatic, Oberhaching 2002, ISBN 3-925505-73-3 .
• Alexander Jakowlew , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 02/1990 from January 1, 1990, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Web links

• Literature by and about Alexander Sergejewitsch Jakowlew in the catalog of the German National Library
• History of AS Yakovlev Design Bureau. In: fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved May 22, 2018 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alexei Ivanovich Shachurin: Wings of Victory. Military Publishing House of the GDR, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-327-00822-1 , p. 7. (Licensed edition, original title Алексей Иванович Шахурин: Крылья победы. Politisdat, Moscow 1985.)