Viktor Fedorovich Bolkhovitinov

Viktor Fedorovich Bolkhovitinov (Виктор Фёдорович Болховитинов) (4 February 1899 - 29 January 1970) was a Soviet engineer, team-leader of the developers of the Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1 aircraft.

Bolkhovitinov was one of the first graduates of the Zhukovsky Academy. In 1934, he designed a modernized version of the Tupulov TB-3 bomber called the DB-A (long-range bomber of the academy). On August 12 of 1937, a DB-A attempted to fly over the North Pole to the USA, but he crew perished.

In 1937, he designed the "S" or "Spartak", a small sleek high-speed bomber with a long greenhouse canope. Two counter-rotating props were driven by a pair of V-12 engines. R&D was discontinued when the war began.

In 1940, Bolkhovitinov became head of his own experimental design bureau OKB-293. Based on a plane design by Bereznyak and Bolkovitinov a few years earlier, and inspired by the attempt of NII-3 to build a ramjet powered plane, Bolkhovitinov decided to build a rocket-powered short-range interceptor. This was the BI-1.

In 1944, A.G. Kostakov (head of the jet propulsion instititute NII-3) was arrested. NII-3 and Bolkhovitinov's OKB-293 were merged into NII-1, a new jet propulsion research institute. Bokhovitinov was head of research in NII-1. In 1946, his division was turned over to Matus Bisnovat, forming Zavad 293.

Bolkhovitinov received a doctorate in 1947 and became a full time professor at the Zhikovsky Academy in 1949.