Viktor Belyayev

Viktor Nikolayevich Belyaev (28 March 1896 — 25 July 1953) was a Soviet aircraft designer, former head of the OKB-4, and the founder of the science of the strength of aircraft structures in the Soviet Union.

Biography Viktor Belyaev was born in the family of Nikolai Vasilievich Belyaev, an engineer and founder of the Upper Volga Railway. Before the Russian Revolution, he studied mathematics at the Moscow State University. After the revolution, he was able to continue his studies for short periods of time at the Moscow Polytechnic Institute (1920-1922) and then at the 1st Moscow State University (1922-1923).

He began his career in 1918. For some time, he worked at a number of enterprises, including the railway and teaching, but in 1925, he began to work in the aviation industry BP-3 Record glider of a tailless scheme with a backward swept wing with a central part in the form of a “seagull”. The first flight was made on July 18, 1935. According to unconfirmed data, several BP-3s were built in the workshops of the school of sea pilots in the town of Yeisk. BP-3 characteristics: • Crew — 2 people. • Wingspan — 20 m. • Empty weight — 400 kg. • Aerodynamic quality — 33:1.

UK-1А Experimental aircraft with "flex wing". EON Experimental single fighter. DB-LK Long-range bomber - flying wing. The Beljajew DB-LK was built and flew satisfactorily in 1939 and in 1940 it was presented to the public during the Moscow parade over the Red Square. Only one was built, and it was destroyed by the Soviet authorities due to the WWII.

Family His father, Nikolai Vasilievich Belyaev was the founder and chairman of the Society of the Upper Volga Railway. His mother, Alexandra Alexandrovna,, came from the Alekseev, which was a family of merchants. She ended up emigrating to Nice. His older brothers and sister also emigrated after the revolution: Alexander (1891-1977) to Berlin, Nikolay (1892-1969) to Paris, and Ksenia (1894-1985) to Nice. Other family members (brothers Alexey (1897 -?), Lev (1899 -?), David (1901-?) remained in the USSR.