Alexander Yakovlev

Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev (1906 to 1989) was a Soviet aeronautical engineer who designed the Yakovlev military aircraft and founded the Yakovlev Design Bureau. Born in Moscow, he built his first glider in 1924 and designed the AIR-1 ultralight aircraft in 1927, graduating from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy in 1931. His design bureau, established in 1932, became the main designer of fighters used by the Soviet Air Force in the Second World War, including the Yak-1, Yak-3, Yak-7 and Yak-9, and later of the Yak-15, the Yak-25P, the Yak-28 and the Yak-42 airliner. He also served as Vice-Minister of Aviation Industry from 1940 to 1946.