Fedir Fedorovych Tereshchenko

Fedir Fedorovych Tereshchenko (also transliterated as Fyodor Fyodorovich Tereshchenko; ; 11 November 1888 - 30 January 1950) was a Ukrainian aircraft designer and industralist. A member of the prominent Tereshchenko family of sugar magnates, he became one of the leading figures of the Kyiv's early aviation movement, serving as a founding member and major sponsor of the Kyiv Society of Aeronautics (KTP). At his estate in Chervone, he also established one of the first aviation workshops on the territory of modern-day Ukraine.

Tereshchenko initially studied within the mechanical department of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, where he became active within the early aeronautical circles of the institute and helped established the KTP in 1909. That same year, he purchased a Blériot XI and began to fly independently, which led him to construct his first monoplane, which he presented at the 12th All‑Russian Congress of Aeronauts and Physicians. In 1910, he developed his Chervone estate into an aviation workshop that produced several early designs of monoplanes and supplied aircraft to the Imperial Russian Army. During the First World War, he expanded his workshop into a small factory, and later headed a mobile aviation workshop in Moscow. After the Russian Revolution, Tereshchenko's property was nationalized and his aviation enterprise collapsed, which led him to emigrate to France. For the rest of his life, he lived in relative obscurity until his death on 30 January 1950.

Early life Tereshchenko was born on 11 November 1888 in Kyiv, which at the time of his birth was part of the Kyiv Governorate in the Russian Empire. He was the son of Fedir Tereshchenko Sr. and his second wife, Nadezhda Volodymyrivna, and was thus born into the Tereshchenko family who grew famous for their work in commerce and the sugar industry and became well-known philanthropists in Ukraine. In 1907, he graduated from the 1st Kyiv Gymnasium as an external student. After graduating, he entered the mechanical department of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, straying away from his family's tradition of commerce.

Early aviation work Soon after entering the school, he became active in the newly-formed Student Aeronautical Circle, which was experiencing its most productive year as the circle held 22 meetings between March and December 1909. He became one of the student presenters for the general assemblies of the circle, and in one titled "Exhibition in Paris", he discussed the First International Aviation Exhibition that had opened at the Grand Palais in Paris. Some have called it the first aviation enterprise in Ukraine. In July 1910, Tereschenko performed his first independent flights on his Blériot-type airplane (which is what it was called by the press, even though it was a monoplane of his own design), in the nearby village of Krasovka, located 13 km from Chervone, where he flew 6 times a distance of 2 versts in a straight line, and made turns in the air at a height of 12 m. On 31 January 1914, the Ministry of Trade and Industry issued a certificate, No. 61829, to him that granted privileges for a flexible wing design for aeroplanes.

Move to France and death After the Russian Revolution, and the nobility lost their power, Tereshchenko's assets and property were nationalized.

Legacy On 19 February 2016, the Mayor of Zhytomyr, Serhii Sukhomlyn, signed an order that renamed "Koshevoy lane" into "Fedir Tereshchenko Lane" in accordance with the law on decommunization.