Mikhail Gurevich | |
|---|---|
| Михаил Гуревич | |
 | |
| Born | 12 January [O.S. 31 December 1892] 1893 Rubanshchina,Kursk Governorate,Russian Empire |
| Died | 12 November 1976(1976-11-12) (aged 83) Leningrad,Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | Aeronautical Engineering |
| Employer | Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau |
| Significant design | MiG-1 MiG-3 MiG-15 MiG-17 MiG-19 MiG-21 MiG-23 MiG-25 |
| Awards | Hero of Socialist Labor |
Mikhail Iosifovich Gurevich (Russian:Михаи́л Ио́сифович Гуре́вич) (12 January 1893 [O.S. 31 December 1892] – 12 November 1976) was aSoviet aircraft designer who co-founded theMikoyan-Gurevich military aviation bureau along withArtem Mikoyan. The bureau is famous for its fighter aircraft, rapid interceptors and multi-role combat aircraft which were staples of the Soviet Air Forces throughout theCold War. The bureau designed 170 projects of which 94 were made in series. In total, 45,000 MiG aircraft have been manufactured domestically, of which 11,000 aircraft were exported. The last plane which Gurevich personally worked on before his retirement was theMiG-25.
Born to aJewish family[1] his father was a winery mechanic in the small township ofRubanshchina (Kursk region inRussia). In 1910 he graduated from gymnasium inOkhtyrka (Kharkiv region) with the silver medal and entered the Mathematics department atKharkiv University. After a year, for participation in revolutionary activities, he was expelled from the university and from the region and continued his education inMontpellier University. He was atSUPAERO in Toulouse in the 1913 class with Marcel Bloch, who later took the nameMarcel Dassault.
In the summer 1914 Gurevich was visiting his home whenWorld War I broke out. This and later theRussian Civil War interrupted his education. In 1925 he graduated from the Aviation faculty ofKharkiv Technological Institute and worked as an engineer of the state company "Heat and Power".
In 1929 Gurevich moved toMoscow to pursue the career of aviation designer. Soviet design was a state-run affair, organised in so-calledOKBs or design bureaus. In 1937 Gurevich headed a designer team in thePolikarpov Design Bureau, where he met his future team partner,Artem Mikoyan. In late 1939 they created theMikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau, with Gurevich in the position of Vice Chief Designer, and after 1957 as its Chief Designer, a post he kept until his retirement in 1964. This is remarkable, considering that he never joined theCommunist Party.[2]
In 1940 Mikoyan and Gurevich designed and built the high-altitudeMiG-1 fighter plane, starting from a project partially developed byPolikarpov's team. The improvedMiG-3 fighter aircraft was widely used duringWorld War II. In the years after the war, the two designed the first Soviet jet fighters, including the first supersonic models. The last model Gurevich worked on was theMiG-25 interceptor, which is among thefastest military aircraft ever to enter service.[2]
