Editing Alexander Yakovlev (engineer)

{{short description|Soviet aeronautical engineer}}
{{For|other individuals with the same name|Alexander Yakovlev (disambiguation)}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2012}}
{{Infobox engineer
|name                 = Alexander Yakovlev
|native_name = {{nobold|Александр Яковлев}}
|image                = Александр Сергеевич Яковлев (cropped).jpg
|nationality          = [[Soviet Union]], [[Russia]]
|birth_date           = {{OldStyleDate|1 April|1906|19 March}}
|birth_place          = [[Moscow]], [[Russian Empire]]
|death_date           = {{death date and age|1989|08|22|1906|04|01|df=yes}}
|death_place          = [[Moscow]], [[Soviet Union]]
|education            = 
|spouse               = 
|parents              = Nina Vladimirovna
|children             = 
|discipline           = [[Aeronautical Engineering]]
|institutions         = 
|practice_name        = 
|employer             = [[Yakovlev]] design bureau
|significant_projects = 
|significant_design   = 
|significant_advance  = 
|significant_awards   = 
|signature                 = Sign of Aleksandr Yakovlev.png
|signature_alt             = 
|caption=Yakovlev in 1940}}
'''Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev''' ({{langx|ru|Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Я́ковлев}}; {{OldStyleDate|1 April|1906|19 March}}{{spaced ndash}}22 August 1989) was a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[aerospace engineering|aeronautical engineer]]. He designed the [[Yakovlev]] military aircraft and founded the [[Yakovlev Design Bureau]].<ref>[http://www.monino.ru/ Central Museum of the Military Air Forces of the Russian Federation]</ref> Yakovlev joined the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] in 1938.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/651304/Aleksandr-Sergeyevich-Yakovlev|title = Aleksandr Sergeyevich Yakovlev &#124; Soviet aircraft designer| date=24 January 2024 }}</ref>

==Biography==
Yakovlev was born in [[Moscow]], where his father was an employee of the [[Nobel Brothers]] oil company. From 1919 to 1921, he worked as a part-time courier while still in school, and in 1922 he built his first model aeroplane as part of a school project. In 1924, he built a glider, the AVF-10, which made its first flight on 24 September 1924. The design won an award and secured him a position as a worker at the [[Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovsky|Zhukovsky Air Force Military Engineering Academy]]. However, his repeated attempts to gain admission to the Academy were denied due to his “lack of [[proletariat]] origins”. In 1927, Yakovlev designed the AIR-1 ultralight aircraft. This was the first of ten aircraft he designed between 1927 and 1933.

In 1927, Yakovlev finally gained admittance to the Academy and graduated in 1931. He was then assigned to the Moscow Aviation Plant No. 39, where his first design bureau of lightweight aviation was established in 1932. He became the main designer in 1935, then the chief designer (1956–1984) of aircraft for the [[Yakovlev]] Design Bureau.

The Yakovlev Design Bureau developed many fighter aircraft used by the [[Soviet Air Force]] during [[World War II]].  Particularly well known are the [[Yakovlev Yak-1|Yak-1]], [[Yakovlev Yak-3|Yak-3]], [[Yakovlev Yak-7|Yak-7]] and [[Yakovlev Yak-9|Yak-9]] as well as the [[Yakovlev Yak-6|Yak-6]] transport. In 1945 Yakovlev designed one of the first Soviet aircraft with a jet engine, the [[Yakovlev Yak-15|Yak-15]]. He also designed the first{{citation needed|date=October 2011}} Soviet all-weather interceptor, the [[Yak-25P]], and the first{{citation needed|date=October 2011}} Soviet supersonic bomber, the [[Yakovlev Yak-28|Yak-28]]. In the post-war period, Yakovlev was best known for the civilian airliner, the [[Yakovlev Yak-42|Yak-42]], a three-engine medium-range aircraft, and numerous aerobatic models.

Yakovlev served under [[Joseph Stalin]] as a Vice-Minister of Aviation Industry between 1940 and 1946. Before the start of World War II, he made a number of trips abroad, including Italy, England and Germany, to study aircraft development in those countries. After the start of the war, he helped supervise the evacuation of aircraft factories to the east, and the production organisation, while continuing as head designer of his Bureau. He was also a correspondent member of the [[Russian Academy of Sciences#The USSR Academy of Sciences|USSR Academy of Science]] in 1943. In 1946 he was awarded the title "[[Colonel General|General-Colonel]] of Aviation".

In 1976 Yakovlev became academician of the USSR Academy of Science. He was a deputy of the [[Supreme Soviet of the USSR]] (1946–1989). Yakovlev retired 21 August 1984. He was buried in the [[Novodevichy Cemetery]] in Moscow.

==Awards and honors==
* [[Hero of Socialist Labour]] (1940, 1957)
* [[Lenin Prize]] (1972)
* [[State Stalin Prize|Stalin Prize]] (1941, 1942, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1948)
* [[USSR State Prize]] 1977)
* [[Order of Lenin]] (10 times)
* [[Order of the October Revolution]]
* [[Order of the Red Banner]] (twice)
* [[Order of Suvorov]], 1st and 2nd class,
* [[Order of the Patriotic War]] of the 1st class (twice)
* [[Order of the Red Banner of Labour]]
* [[Order of the Red Star]]
* [[Legion of Honor]], Officer (France)
* Gold medal of the [[Fédération Aéronautique Internationale]]

== Memory ==

* A bronze bust of Yakovlev is installed in the Aviator Park in Moscow.
* Yakovlev's name is:
** [[Yakovlev|Design Bureau 115 (OKB 115)]];
** Moscow Machine-building Plant "Speed";
** Aircraft Designer Yakovlev Street (formerly 2nd Usievich Street) in the Airport area (since 2006) in the CAO of Moscow;
** a street in [[Novorossiysk]];
** street in [[Ulan-Ude]];
** the street in Kopishche (Minsk district).

== See also ==
{{Portal|Russia|Soviet Union|Biography|Aviation}}
* [[List of Russian aerospace engineers]]
* [[Sergey Ilyushin]]
* [[Andrey Tupolev]]
* [[Oleg Antonov (aircraft designer)|Oleg Antonov]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*Iakovlev, I.A. “Aim of a Lifetime, Story of Alexander Yakovlev, Designer of the YAK Fighter Plane”, Central Publishers, 1972, {{ISBN|0-7147-0474-1}}

{{Commons category|Aleksandr Yakovlev}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yakovlev, Alexander}}
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