Kārlis Irbītis
Kārlis Irbītis (born October 14, 1904 in Lāde near Valmiera in Latvia , † October 13, 1997 in Saint-Laurent , Québec , Canada ) was a Latvian aircraft designer.
Life
From 1921 to 1925 he studied at the State Technical College in Riga . While still a student in 1925, he designed his first airplane. In 1930 he went to Valsts elektrotehniskā fabrika (VEF) as an aircraft developer . His most successful developments for the VEF were the sport aircraft VEF I-12 from 1935 and the fighter aircraft VEF I-16 from 1939, which were successively tested by the Soviet and German air forces . From 1942 to 1948 he worked for Messerschmitt . From 1950 to 1971 he worked for the Canadian company Canadair , where he played a key role in the development of the vertical take-off aircraft Canadair CL-84 .
In 1986 he published his memoirs under the title "Of Struggle and Flight". In 1992 he received an honorary doctorate from the Latvian Academy of Sciences . Kārlis Irbītis died the day before his 94th birthday in Saint-Laurent, Québec.
Fonts
- Kārlis Irbītis: Of Struggle and Flight . Canada's Wings Inc., Stittsville, Ontario 1986, ISBN 0-920002-36-6 (English).
Web links
- Latvian Academy of Sciences: Latvian Inventors - Karlis Irbitis (English and Latvian)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Irbītis, Kārlis |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Latvian aircraft designer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 14, 1904 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lāde near Valmiera , Latvia |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 13, 1997 |
| Place of death | Saint-Laurent , Quebec , Canada |