Nikolai Dmitriyevich Kuznetsov

Nikolai Dmitriyevich Kuznetsov was a Chief Designer of the Soviet Design Bureau OKB-276 which deals with the development, manufacture and distribution of equipment, especially aircraft engines, turbines and gearboxes. Biography Kuznetsov started his career as a professional coppersmith and he began working as a mechanic. In 1930 graduated from the school and enrolled at the "Moscow Aviation College" where he studied part-time and worked as a mechanic. In 1933, he joined the Air Technical School in the Motor Branch of "VVIA of Zhukovsky". There he studied under Prof. Nikolai Jegorowitsch Schukowski - then the head of the department for aircraft engines research, and Kuznetsov received a degree with honors in November 1938. The topic of his diploma there was on motors: four-carburettor, 28-cylinder with a 4-star air-cooled power of 1500 hp at 3400 rpm and at an altitude of 6000 meters with two-high-speed driven centrifugal blowers. In April 1939, Kuznetsov became a member of Communist Party organization of the academy and was elected a faculty. On 4 April 1941 he successfully defended his thesis on the structural integrity of aircraft engines while under NKVD interrogation. In the period from July to September 1942 he trained under a senior engineer of 239 fighter division 6th air force who met George Malenkov and praised the ability of Kuznetsov and subsequently sent his deputy to become a Designer at the Ufa Aviation Plant.