Viktor Bolkhovitinov

Born Jan. 23 (Feb. 4), 1899, in Saratov; died Jan. 18, 1970, in Moscow. Soviet designer and scholar in the field of aircraft construction; doctor of engineering sciences (1947); professor at the N. E. Zhukovskii Air Force Engineering Academy (1949); major general in the aviation engineer service. Member of the CPSU since 1937.

Bolkhovitinov graduated from the N. E. Zhukovskii Air Force Academy in 1926. He designed the heavy bomber DB-A in 1936, a fighter plane with coaxial propellers in 1938, and other aircraft. Under the supervision of Bolkhovitinov, in 1941 design engineers A. Ia. Berezniak and A. M. Isaev designed the BI-1, the Soviet Union’s first jet fighter plane, which had a liquidfuel jet engine; pilot G. Ia. Bakhchivandzhi conducted the test flight for this plane on May 15, 1942. Bolkhovitinov wrote a series of works on aviation engineering. He was awarded two Orders of Lenin, four other orders, and various medals.