Alexander Kartveli - Republic Aviation Company

Republic Aviation Company

In 1939, Seversky was removed as head of his company and the Republic Aviation Company was born. The first major aircraft to merge from the new company was the P-47, using a new innovative design of Kartveli. Two concept works named XP-44 and XP-47 were developed but dropped as they didn't meet the requirements of the air force. According to records, Kartveli was called in from the Experimental Aircraft Division of the USAAC and informed about the prototypes cancelled. During his return to New York in a train, he took a sheet of paper and drew a completely new design. The new aircraft was thought to break the back of the German Luftwaffe. The famous P-47 Thunderbolt with its robust characteristics was born. More than 15,000 P-47s would be constructed. Despite some flaws, the heavily armed and armored aircraft achieved more than Kartveli could hope. At the end of the war Kartveli designed a sleek flying photo lab called the Republic XF-12, initially planned as a four-engine postwar transport; American Airliners canceled its orders and only two prototypes were built for the US Air Force.

Shortly after the end of World War II a new concept of turbojet fighters would emerge. The F-84 Thunderjet which Kartveli developed already in 1944 was going into serial production in 1946. Soon he would also add the swept-wing variant Republic F-84F Thunderstreak. A total of 10,000 of these new generation aircraft would be constructed. Then later on, he would lead the team that developed the F-105 Thunderchief. He was also heavily involved with a 1960s-era Air Force project called "Aerospaceplane", to design and build an orbital logistics vehicle a decade before the NASA attempted a similar concept, known as Space Shuttle. The radical turboramjet-powered XF-103 was another stillborn Kartveli design, a victim of the populsion community not being able to produce a suitable engine to power the Mach 3 interceptor. Kartveli contributed significantly to the science of flight and the readiness of the US Military and was involved in designing and leading of various projects, eventually also that of the A-10 Thunderbolt II.