Alexander Kartveli - Seversky Corporation

Seversky Corporation

Kartvelishvili and Seversky worked on a series of new designs. During World War II the first projects resulted in the P-35 and P-47 one of the most effective US fighter aircraft, the Republic P-47. The new fighter aircraft was a clear improvement over the comparatively lightly armed Seversky P-35.

After Kartvelishvili immigrated to the United States, Seversky almost immediately hired his fellow immigrant as chief engineer, and Kartveli quickly proceeded to design a number of very advanced aircraft, including the SEV-1XP, which outperformed the Curtiss P-36 Hawk during a 1936 Army Air Corps competition and served as a necessary step in developing all metal aircraft. Known by the military designation Seversky P-35, it was the first modern US Army fighter, incorporating a metal fuselage, low-set wings, retractable landing gear and a radial engine. A different concept called Seversky SEV-3, a floatplane fitted with retractable wheels failed to win a volume order, but the Seversky coorporation succeeded with selling a subsequent trainer model, the BT-8