Aircraft designer Antonov Oleg Konstantinovich: biography

It's no secret that Soviet industry at all times was famous for the presence of highly qualified personnel, which even the development of Western capitalist countries wanted in their ranks. Many engineers then did not work for the sake of money, but only because the activities that they dedicated themselves to were the meaning of their lives and immense love. One of these historical characters, who managed in his time to make a huge breakthrough in aircraft construction, is Antonov Oleg. About this man with an amazing fate and will be discussed in this article.

Biography

The future "father" of many aircraft was born on February 7, 1906 in the Moscow province (the village of Trinity). His great-grandfather spent his life in the Urals and held a high post - he ran local metallurgical enterprises. The grandfather of the future aircraft designer by education was an engineer. He dedicated all his working life to the erection of various bridges. It was he who moved to the village of Trinity and married the daughter of retired general Bolotnikov. The spouse was called Anna Alexandrovna. In their family three sons were born: Sasha, Dima and Kostya. The latter eventually became the father of our hero. Konstantin Konstantinovich married Bikoryukina Anna Efimovna, who gave birth to his daughter Irina and her son, whose name the whole world knows today. Of course, this is Antonov Oleg.

I will fly!

It was such thoughts were in the head of six-year-old Oleg, when in the evenings he listened to the stories of his cousin Vladislav about aviation. At that time, the cousin studied in Moscow. According to Antonov himself, it was then that he decided that he would connect his life with airplanes.

But his parents did not share his hobbies. Mother believed that people should not fly at all, because this is unnatural. And the father claimed that a man in life should engage in a more serious matter than dreaming about the sky. The only member of the family who supported the guy was a grandmother. It was she who gave him the model of an airplane equipped with a rubber motor. After such a presentation Antonov Oleg began to collect everything that only had to do with aviation: photographs, various drawings, newspaper clippings, literature, small models. It was this approach to the matter that subsequently helped him to study the history of aircraft construction well.

Family Tragedy

To study the exact sciences, Antonov entered the Saratov Real School. However, he was far from being the first student. But he managed to master French perfectly, which in a few years brought fruit, because the knowledge gained helped him to communicate without problems with his foreign colleagues. Soon the First World War broke out, and his mother, as befits representatives of the Russian intelligentsia, went to work as a nurse of mercy. Unfortunately, her work ended tragically. While performing wound dressings at the hospital, she received an infection through a scratch on her arm and died of blood poisoning in the prime of her life. It happened in 1915. From that moment on, Oleg began to be raised by her grandmother.

The first independent work

At the age of thirteen, Antonov Oleg Konstantinovich together with friends founded the "Aviation Club". After a while, the circle began to produce its own magazine, the editor-in-chief, the artist, journalist and publisher of which became Antonov. This edition had all the necessary information for people interested in airplanes. Even poems about the pilots were published.

At the age of 14, the young man found himself outside the school. His school closed. Since they took children to a single school only at the age of 16, the road there was closed to him. But he found a way out. His sister Irina had already studied at this university. Therefore, he began to go with her to class, sitting at the back of the desk and absorbing all the information given to the students. So he spent two years. And in the end received a certificate. The young man tried to enter the flight school, but did not go for health. However, this did not confuse the guy. Further, he submits documents to Saratov University, but after a while again remains with nothing, as his faculty was disbanded. At the construction department Antonov refused categorically.

Work in the Society of Friends of the Air Fleet

Beginning in 1923 Antonov Oleg Konstantinovich fully devotes himself to this club. The leader of the society was Comrade Golubev, who very warmly welcomed young enthusiasts. Even helped them with supplies and a room, having allocated for employment a small hall in an industrial technical school. It was in his walls that Antonov created his first brainchild - the Oka-1 glider "Dove". Such an optimistic start together with a wonderful memory and knowledge helped Oleg (at that time a student at the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute) to create gliders OKA-3, Standard-1, Standard-2, Oka-7, OKA-8.

First fall

Tests "Dove" in the Crimea did not bring Antonov the desired result - the car never took off. But the pilot, who was appointed to manage it, instilled optimism into the young designer. And he did not let me fall into despair. Although Oleg did not solve the task, he still received what he could not buy for any money: acquaintance with the guys present at the meeting with the names Pyshnov, Ilyushin, Tikhonravov, who today are already historical figures of modern aviation.

Appointment to the post

Biography of Oleg Antonov says that in 1930 he graduated from the Institute. And in three years he became the chief designer of the design bureau of a glider plant located in the capital. The leadership set the task for him: to develop various light winged machines and put them into mass production at the plant in Tushino. But while the enterprise was being built, the specialists were quartered in the basement together with a group of reagents, led by Sergey Korolev.

Work during the Great Patriotic War

Oleg Antonov, photo of which is given in this article, received the government's request to launch a multipurpose airborne landing craft A-7, developed by him in 1940, with the onset of hostilities. After a while the factory is evacuated to Siberia. There the designer creates an exclusive model of a glider for transporting light tanks. But its practical application showed that joint work with the bomber TB-3 was inexpedient and unproductive. In 1943, Oleg returned to subordination to Yakovlev and became his deputy. But at the same time Antonov continues to dream of creating an aircraft for the peaceful sky.

Life after the war

In the second half of 1945, engineer Antonov Oleg Konstantinovich becomes head of the Yakovlev Design Bureau branch in Novosibirsk at the Chkalov plant. Here work began on the creation of agricultural aircraft. The state urgently needed machines capable of taking off both from the aerodrome and from the field. For joint work, Antonov took to himself graduates of the local aviation technical school. And they did not disappoint their master. In the summer of 1947, the first An-2 was already in the assembly shop. The machine is well proven. Therefore, it was decided to build it in Ukraine.

Moving to Kiev

The city of chestnuts liked the aircraft designer right away. Antonov Oleg Konstantinovich, whose family by that time was also very tired of the endless crossings across the country, even physically felt better in Kiev. But there were also difficulties: it was necessary to re-form the collective and the material base of the Design Bureau. A year later (in 1953), the bureau receives an order for the creation of a transport aircraft equipped with two turboprop engines. The task was completed in two years. And in 1958 he was put on mass production and was called An-8.

New project

After a visit to the Khrushchev Design Bureau in 1955, the creation of a new machine began. Antonov Oleg Konstantinovich, photo of which then printed all newspaper publications, invited the secretary-general to create a four-engine aircraft. The vessel, according to his idea, could be in two versions: cargo and passenger. As a result, the An-10 was created, capable of flying fast, landing and taking off from the snow-covered strip. In 1962, Antonov defended his thesis at the Moscow Aviation Institute and received the title of Doctor of Technical Sciences. In the same period he became a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

Creating "Bee"

A good specialist was engineer Antonov Oleg. The designer's photos presented in the article demonstrate his enormous achievements in the field of air transportation. As a professional, he always realized that such a huge country as the Soviet Union, badly needs a small airplane that can go up to the sky, provided there is no runway. This idea gave birth in the end to the creation of a machine called "Bee". It subsequently had modifications: An-14 and An-28. The plane had only 11 seats.

A new step in aircraft construction

The next brainchild of Antonov Design Bureau was the well-known An-22 Antey. It was this aircraft that became the first wide-body aircraft in the world at that time. By its dimensions, it was much superior to everything that was created on the planet at that time. Therefore, its creation required the introduction of innovative technological and design solutions, as well as the implementation of a huge number of experiments.

The work of the Soviet team was appreciated at the international exhibition in Paris and was called a sensation in the world aircraft industry. The first flights of the novelty confirmed its exclusivity. The vessel has repeatedly proved its peculiarity, easily delivering to the Far North various equipment for the oil and gas industry. The military was also pleased: they received a powerful airplane that helped solve many of their problems and questions. The last lifetime development of Antonov was An-124 Ruslan. On this machine, more than 30 world records were set. In all, the design bureau beat the world's achievements in aircraft construction more than 500 times.

Personal life

Antonov Oleg Konstantinovich, whose wife was a hope and a support, always liked women. The aircraft designer never allowed himself to look untidy, was emphatically intelligent and courteous with representatives of the opposite sex, led a healthy lifestyle and was young at heart. In many ways, because of this, he had three marriages. All of them were children. Surprisingly, he was able to maintain friendly, warm relations with all his spouses without problems, and his heirs never clarified relations with each other. By the way, remarkable fact: his third wife - Elvira Pavlovna - was younger than him for 31 years.

The legendary engineer died on April 4, 1984. The funeral took place on the 6th. A lot of ordinary people came to the last path of the legendary man. They betrayed Antonov's land at Baikovo Cemetery.