Mikulin, Aleksandr

Born Feb. 2 (14), 1895, in Vladimir. Soviet designer of aircraft engines. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1943), major general in the technical service (1943), Hero of Socialist Labor (1940). Member of the CPSU since 1954.

In 1923, Mikulin began working as a designer in the Scientific Vehicle Engine Institute (he became chief designer in 1925). In 1929 he designed the AM-34 engine, which was tested successfully in 1931. The engine was installed in ANT-25 airplanes, with which V. P. Chkalov and M. M. Gromov made long-distance nonstop flights in 1937 over the north pole to the USA. In 1939, under Mikulin’s supervision, the AM-35A engine was built and installed in MiG fighters. During the Great Patriotic War (1941–45) he supervised the development of the powerful AM-38 and AM-38f engines for 11–2 attack airplanes and the GAM-35f for coastal defense vessels. In 1943 he became general designer for aircraft engines.

Mikulin introduced variable-blade control for superchargers, two-speed superchargers, high-pressure supercharging, and air cooling ahead of the carburetors; he developed the first Soviet turbocompressor and a variable-pitch propeller. During the postwar period a group headed by Mikulin created a number of turbojet engines, including the AM-3 which is used in the Tu-104.

Mikulin has received the State Prize of the USSR (1941, 1942, 1943, and 1946) and has been awarded three Orders of Lenin, six other orders, and medals.