Mil, Mikhail Leontevich

Born Nov. 9 (22), 1909, in Irkutsk; died Jan. 31, 1970, in Moscow. Soviet scientist and helicopter designer. Doctor of Technical Sciences (1945); Hero of Socialist Labor (1966). Became a member of the CPSU in 1943.

Upon graduating from the Novocherkassk Aviation Institute in 1931, Mil’ worked at the N. E. Zhukovskii Central Aerohydrodynamics Institute. From 1936 to 1943 he was an engineer and deputy chief designer of the design bureau for rotary-wing aircraft; from 1943 to 1947 he was a researcher and then laboratory head at the aerohydrodynamics institute. In 1947 he became the chief designer and in 1964 the general designer in the design bureau for helicopter production. The first Soviet series-produced three-seat helicopter, the Mi-1, was designed in 1951 under his supervision. Subsequently a group directed by Mil’ developed a number of helicopters (the Mi-2, Mi-4, Mi-6, Mi-8, Mi-10, Mi-1 OK, and V-12), which set 60 official world records. Mil’ received the Lenin Prize in 1958 and the State Prize of the USSR in 1968. He was awarded three Orders of Lenin, three other orders, and medals.