Gleb Evgenevich Kotelnikov
Kotel’nikov, Gleb Evgen’evich
Born Jan. 18 (30), 1872, in St. Petersburg; died Nov. 22, 1944, in Moscow. Soviet inventor, creator of the pack parachute for aviation. He graduated from the Kiev Military School in 1894. In 1911 he developed the RK-1 parachute (the first model of the Russian KotePnikov design), which was employed successfully (1914) in World War I. He later substantially improved the design of the parachute and developed new models, including the RK-2 with a semisoft pack, the RK-3, and a series of cargo parachutes; they were accepted for use by the air force.