Nikolai Dmitriyevich Kuznetsov - Biography

Biography

Kuznetsov started his career as a professional coppersmith and he began working as a mechanic. In 1930 graduated from the school and enrolled at the "Moscow Aviation College" where he studied part time and worked as a mechanic. In 1933, he joined the Air Technical School in the Motor Branch of "VVIA of Zhukovsky". There he studied under Prof. Nikolai Jegorowitsch Schukowski - then the head of the department for aircraft engines research, and Kuznetsov received a degree with honors in November 1938.

The topic of his diploma there was on motors: four carburettor, 28-cylinder with a 4star aircooled power of 1500 hp at 3400 rpm and at an altitude of 6000 meters with two-high-speed driven centrifugal blowers.

In April 1939, Kuznetsov became a member of Communist Party organization of the academy and was elected a faculty. On 4th of April 1941 he successfully defended his thesis on the structural integrity of aircraft engines. In the period from July to September 1942 he trained under a senior engineer of 239 fighter division 6th air force who met George Malenkov and praised the ability of Kuznetsov and subsequently sent his deputy to become a Designer at the Ufa Aviation Plant.

Here Kuznetsov worked from 1943 to 1949 first under the leadership of Klimov then as chief designer. In 1949 he was transferred to Kuybyshev (currently the City of Samara) which is headed by the State union pilot plant number 2 on the development and manufacture of advanced jet engines now known as "N. D. Kuznetsova Samara Scientific and Technical Complex". There he worked with Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, the famous Soviet rocket designer.