12 Facts About Vladimir Petlyakov

Vladimir Mikhailovich Petlyakov was a Soviet aeronautical engineer and aircraft designer.

Vladimir Petlyakov gained experience as a laboratory assistant on wind tunnels and on calculations for aircraft design.

From 1921 to 1936 Vladimir Petlyakov worked at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute under the guidance of Andrei Tupolev; there he became involved in wing design and in the development of gliders.

Vladimir Petlyakov was directly involved in the organization and development of Soviet metal aircraft construction.

In particular, Vladimir Petlyakov elaborated methods of calculating durability of materials and theory on designing metal wings with multiple spars.

Vladimir Petlyakov assisted in designing the first Soviet heavy bombers TB-1, TB-3, and a long-range high-altitude four-engine bomber, the Pe-8.

Vladimir Petlyakov was given the task of designing a high-altitude fighter, which he successfully accomplished.

Vladimir Petlyakov was released in 1940, and was awarded a Stalin Prize in 1941.

At Kazan, Vladimir Petlyakov faced increasing difficulties, with many of his trained technicians and machinists conscripted into the Soviet military and sent to the front lines, which adversely affected the quality of production aircraft.

Vladimir Petlyakov protested to Soviet senior leadership, and was on his way to Moscow in January 1942, when he died in an air crash near Arzamas.

Vladimir Petlyakov's grave is at the Arskoe Cemetery in Kazan.

Vladimir Petlyakov received the Stalin prize and was awarded two Orders of Lenin and an Order of the Red Star.