Sukhoi, Pavel

Born July 10 (22), 1895, in the village of Glubokoe, in what is now Vitebsk Oblast; died Sept. 15, 1975, in Moscow. Soviet aircraft designer. Twice Hero of Socialist Labor (1957 and 1965). Doctor of technology (1940); principal designer (1956).

After graduating from the Moscow Higher Technical School in 1925, Sukhoi worked as a design engineer at the N. E. Zhukovskii Central Aerodynamic and Hydrodynamic Institute under the general direction of A. N. Tupolev. He designed the fighters 1–4 (1926–27) and 1–14 (1932–34), the ANT-25 reconnaissance patrol airplane, and the ANT-37 Rodina airplane. In the period 1937–39, Sukhoi participated in the Ivanov project design competition, which ended with the creation of the SU-2 multipurpose combat airplane. In 1939 he became chief designer at an experimental design bureau, and in the period 1942–43 he designed the SU-6 armored assault plane.

Sukhoi was one of the founders of jet and supersonic aviation. He designed the Su-9, Su-15, and other airplanes with turbojet engines and supersonic fighters with swept and delta wings. The T-431 and T-405 airplanes, designed by Sukhoi, established two world altitude records (1959 and 1962) and two world closed-course speed records (1960 and 1962).

Sukhoi was a deputy to the fifth through eighth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He was awarded two State Prizes of the USSR, the Lenin Prize, three Orders of Lenin, four other orders, and various medals.