Kazakov, Vasilii Aleksandrovich

Born Apr. 23 (May 6), 1916, in the village of Rogachevo, in what is now Bron-nitsy Raion, Moscow Oblast; died Feb. 17, 1981, in Moscow. Soviet state figure. Hero of Socialist Labor (1963). Member of the CPSU from 1941.

The son of a worker, Kazakov graduated from the All-Union Correspondence Machine-building Institute in 1955. Beginning in 1937, he held a series of positions in the aviation industry; he was a production engineer, head of a shop, chief production engineer of a plant, head of a design department, chief engineer of a plant, and head of a scientific research institute. From 1965 to 1974, Kazakov served as deputy minister of the aviation industry of the USSR; he became first deputy minister in 1974 and minister in 1977. He was a deputy to the ninth and tenth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Kazakov received the Lenin Prize in 1976 and the State Prize of the USSR in 1967; he was awarded three Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and various medals.