Arkhip Mikhailovich Lyulka

Infobox_Scientist
name = Arkhip Mikhailovich Lyulka
Архип Михайлович Люлька

Arkhip Mikhailovich Lyulka ("Russian": Архи́п Миха́йлович Лю́лька) (1908-1984), was a Soviet scientist and designer of jet engines, head of the OKB Lyulka, member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Biography

Arkhip Lyulka was born on March 23, 1908 in Savarka village in Kiev Oblast of Ukraine. He was educated in the Savarka village school and graduated from the Kiev Polytechnic Institute (KPI) in 1931 (Mykhailo Krawtchouk was his teacher and mentor in both institutions). He then worked for two years in the Kharkov turbogen factory.

From 1933 to 1939 Lyulka was a scholar of the Kharkov Aviation Institute, where he worked on designing a Gas turbine with a centrifuge compressor.

In 1939-1941 Arkhip Lyulka elaborated the design for the World's first double jet turbofan engine, and acquired a patent for this new invention on april 22, 1941. Although several prototypes were built and ready for state tests, Lyulka was forced to abandon his research and evacuate to the Ural mountains as the Great Patriotic War began with the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.

In 1941-42, Lyulka worked in a tank factory in Chelyabinsk as a Diesel-engine engineer. However, after the disaster of the Soviet rocket engine project of 1942, Joseph Stalin recalled Arkhip Lyulka among other scientists working on jet engines to resume their work in Moscow.

From 1945 onwards, the Soviet jet engine project split into two: the OKB MiG based their development on German trophy aircrafts and Western technology. Lyulka, however, refused any foreign influence and continued his own research. In 1945-47 he designed the first Soviet jet engine, TR-1, which passed the whole cycle of state tests with success. Pavel Sukhoy (head of the OKB Sukhoy) immediately proposed to install the new engine on his Su-11 jets, starting a long collaborative work with Lyulka. He later designed the AL-5, AL-7, AL-21 turbojet engines which were installed on the Su-7, S-17, Su-20, Su-24, MiG-23 and other Soviet military aircrafts. Lyulka also designed the upper stage engines for the Soviet moon rocket N1.

In the 1970's, Pavel Sukhoy asked Arkhip Lyulka to design a new engine with uncanny characteristics to install it on the projected Su-27. The challenge was taken, and although Pavel Sukhoy died in 1974, his work was carried on by his successors and colleagues, including Lyulka. The primary difficulty in designing this aircraft appeared to be in the engines, which had to be constantly redesigned and upgraded. Finally, the work on the new engine, Al-31F, was accomplished in the early 80's, as a result of the intensive work of Arkhip Lyulka and his team. Unfortunately, Arkhip Mikhailovich Lyulka died on June 2 1984, probably as a result of the exhaustion he had suffered in his commitment to the project.

Overall, the achievements of Arkhip Lyulka have become decisive for Russia and it's allies. To this day, the patent for double jet turbofan engines widely used in all sectors of the World's aviation belongs to him. The Al-31 alone has become the angular stone for various international developments in both civilian and military sectors, now undertaken by NPO Saturn, the heir to Lyulka's OKB.

Awards

* Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (since 1960)
* Hero of Socialist Labor(1957)
* Lenin Award (1976)
* Order of Lenin (on 3 occasions)
* Order of the October Revolution
* Order of the Red Banner of Labour (on 2 occasions)

See also

* NPO Saturn

References

* History of Lyulka jet engines [http://www.historynet.com/air_sea/flight_technology/3038021.html?page=3&c=y]
* Lyulka AL engines [http://eng.archimedes.ru/tm_sv5.php]
* Rubrikon encyclopedia [http://www.rubricon.com/ann/ies/13_l/13_l22536.asp] ru icon
* Biography [http://www.astronautix.com/astros/lyulka.htm]
* Encyclopedia of aviation [http://www.airwar.ru/history/constr/russia/constr/lulka.html] ru icon