Vladimir Iakovlevich Klimov

Born July 11 (23), 1892, in Moscow; died there Sept. 9, 1962. Soviet aircraft-engine researcher and designer. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1953; corresponding member, 1943); twice Hero of Socialist Labor (1940, 1957); major general of the technical engineering service.

In 1918, after graduating from Moscow Higher Technical School, Klimov became head of the aircraft-engine department of the Supreme Council on the National Economy. He subsequently occupied a variety of directorial positions in research institutes and aircraft plants. He also taught at the Moscow Higher Technical School, the N. E. Zhukovski Air Force Academy, and the Moscow Aviation Institute. In 1935 he became the country’s chief designer of aircraft engines. Powerful fighter and bomber engines were developed under Klimov’s leadership and later played an important role during the Great Patriotic War (1941–45). A number of air-jet engines were developed under his leadership after the war.

Klimov was a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR at its second convocation. He received the State Prize of the USSR in 1941, 1943, 1946, and 1948. He was awarded five Orders of Lenin, four other orders, and several medals.