Tupolev, Andrei Nikolayevich

SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace, Weapons and armour

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b. 10 November 1888 Pastomazovo, Russia

d. 23 December 1972 Moscow, Russia

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Russian aircraft designer.

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In 1909 he entered the Moscow Higher Technical School and became a pupil of Nikolai Zhukovsky, who was known as "the father of Russian aviation". Graduating in 1918, he helped Zhukovsky to set up the Zhukovsky Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute and was made Assistant Director. He was appointed Head of the Institute's Design Department in 1922: his work was concentrated on wind tunnels and gliders, but later included aerodynamic calculations and the construction of all-metal aircraft. His first significant design project was the twin-engined Ant-29 fighter prototype, which appeared in the early 1930s and eventually entered service as the SB-2. However, Tupolev and his wife fell victim to Stalin's purges in 1937: she was sent to a labour camp and he was imprisoned, but in 1943 both were rehabilitated and Tupolev was able to resume his design work. He devoted his attention to long-range strategic bombers, the first of these being the Tu-4, a copy of the US B-29, followed by the Tu-70 bomber. He also designed the Tu-104 airliner, and in 1967 he produced the world's first supersonic airliner, the Tu-144. Tupolev also became interested in fast-attack naval craft and designed a number of torpedo launches, and he rose to the rank of Lieutenant-General in the Soviet air force's Engineering and Technical Service.

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Principal Honours and Distinctions

Honoured Scientist and Technologist RSFSR 1933. Hero of Socialist Labour 1945. Member of the Supreme Soviet 1950–58. Member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences 1953. Lenin Prize 1957. Stalin Prize.

CM