Andrei Tupolev was born at Pustomazovo on November 10th,
1888. In 1908 he entered the Moscow Higher Technical
School and studied under Nikolai Zhukovsky, the founder
of Russian aviation.
In 1922 he was appointed Chief of the Aircraft Design
Bureau of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute where he
produced a series of original designs for his country's
first all-metal aircraft.
Over the years he produced more than one hundred designs,
including the first metal low-wing, twin-engined bomber in
production; the Maxim Gorky, the world's largest aircraft
in 1934; and the distance record-setting ANT-25, which flew
across the Arctic to America in 1937. During World War II,
his team produced bombers which contributed to the final
Allied victory. In the post-war era he produced the famous
TU-104 and the world's first supersonic transport, the
TU-144. Andrei Tupolev died in 1972.
Tupolev's academic brilliance and aerodynamic innovation led
the Soviet Union and world aviation industry in the
development of long-range, high speed flight.
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