Alexander Sergeyevich
Yakovlev
1906-1989
Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev – Soviet aircraft designer, Full Member (Academician) of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1976), Colonel General of Aviation (from 1984; previously Colonel General of the Aviation Engineering Service, Colonel General of the Technical Engineering Service, and Colonel General-Engineer). Twice Hero of Socialist Labour (1940, 1957), General Designer of the Yakovlev Design Bureau (OKB) (1956-1984), laureate of the Lenin Prize (1972), the State Prize (1977), and six Stalin Prizes (1940-1948), deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. From 1916 he studied at a gymnasium; in 1919-1922 he worked as a courier while continuing school. From 1922 he engaged in aircraft modelling; in 1924 he built the AVF‑10 glider, which was singled out at all-Union competitions. In 1924-1927 he was a worker and then a mechanic in the flying unit of the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy; he was not admitted to the Academy because of his “non‑proletarian origin”. In 1927 he built the light aircraft AIR‑1 (12 May is regarded as the birthday of the Yakovlev OKB) and was enrolled in the Academy, graduating in 1931. From 1931 he worked as an engineer at Aircraft Factory No. 39, and from August 1932 he headed the light‑aircraft group. On 15 January 1934 he became head of the Production Design Bureau of the Special Aviation Trust; in 1935-1956 he served as Chief Designer. Concurrently, from 11 January 1940 to 1964, he was Deputy People’s Commissar (later Deputy Minister) of the Aviation Industry for new technology (he left that post in July 1946 at his own request). Under Yakovlev’s leadership, the OKB created over 200 types and modifications of aircraft, more than 100 of which were serial‑production models: sports and multi‑purpose aircraft, fighters of the Great Patriotic War (accounting for two‑thirds of all Soviet fighters), the first Soviet jet fighters and interceptors, assault gliders, the Yak‑24 helicopter (the world’s largest in the 1950s), a family of supersonic bombers, reconnaissance aircraft and interceptors, the first Soviet short/vertical take‑off and landing aircraft (including a supersonic model with no world equivalent), jet passenger airliners, and UAVs. Since 1934, Yakovlev aircraft have been in continuous large‑scale production; over 70,000 Yak aircraft have been built in total, including more than 40,000 during the war years. They saw wide use in the USSR and abroad. In memory of the great designer, a street in Moscow bears his name.
Address: Moscow, Aviakonstruktora Yakovleva St.
