Alexander Evgenievich Raevsky (22 May 1887 – 7 October 1937) was a Russian aviator, one of the founders of flight science in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Life and career

He came from an old noble family. He studied at a classical gymnasium in Yuryev (now,

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). He graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the

Imperial University of Dorpat The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

. In November 1908 he was called up for military service. In 1911 he graduated from the flight school of

Louis Blériot Louis Charles Joseph Blériot ( , also , ; 1 July 1872 – 1 August 1936) was a French aviator, inventor, and engineer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars and established a profitable business manufacturing them, using much of t ...

in France. Since June 1911, he was a pilot leader at the aviation school of the Imperial All-Russian Aero Club. In 1913, he was sent to France for the second time to study at the High School of Aerobatics, from which he graduated in April 1914. Upon returning to Russia, he made many demonstration flights around Russia, including nine «dead loops». One of them, performed at a height of 40 meters, became a world record. He entered the top five «looplists». From August 1914, he supervised the training of pilots at the Sevastopol Military Aviation School (

Kacha, Sevastopol Kacha (; ; ) is an urban-type settlement under the City of Sevastopol's jurisdiction, a territory recognized by a majority of countries as part of Ukraine and incorporated by Russia as part of the Sevastopol federal subject. History Kacha was ...

). With the outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he fought on the Southwestern Front as part of the 32nd Corps Aviation Detachment. For daring reconnaissance flights and bombing of enemy targets, he was awarded the rank of ensign. He participated in the meeting and air escort of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief,

Emperor Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until Abdication of Nicholas II, hi ...

(1915), who made an inspection trip to the Southwestern Front. In May 1916, he was awarded the title of “military pilot”. In August 1917 he enlisted in the 10th aviation detachment. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

of 1917, he was in charge of the aero station at the main airfield in

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. From May 1919 in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

: until the end of the year he was assistant commander of the Moscow Aviation School. From February 1920 on test work in the flight department of the Main Air Force. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of Raevsky's aviation activity, the magazine ''Bulletin of the Air Fleet'' wrote (1921): "Over a 10-year period, the hero of the day flew on 32 different types of aircraft. Trained about two hundred pilots to fly." During this time, Raevsky spent about three thousand hours in the air. In September 1922, he stopped flying for health reasons and returned to the profession of a photographer. Since 1922, he headed the educational photo laboratory at the Air Fleet Academy named after Professor

Nikolay Zhukovsky Nikolay Zhukovsky may refer to: * Nikolay Zhukovsky (revolutionary) (1833–1895), Russian revolutionary *Nikolay Zhukovsky (scientist) (1847–1921), Russian scientist See also * Zhukovsky (disambiguation) __NOTOC__ Zhukovsky (masculine), Zhukovs ...

. From 1924 to 1930 he worked in the editorial office of the magazine ''Airplane'' and until 1932 at

TsAGI The Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (also (Zhukovsky) Central Institute of Aerodynamics, , TsAGI) is a Russian national research centre for aviation. It was founded in Moscow by Russian aviation pioneer Nikolai Yegorovich Zhukovsky on Decemb ...

. He is the author of the book ''The Heroic Age of Aviation''. He was repressed and executed on 7 October 7 1937. He was posthumously rehabilitated.

Awards

* Order of St. Stanislaus, I and III degrees. *

Order of Saint Anna The Imperial Order of Saint Anna (; also "Order of Saint Anne" or "Order of Saint Ann") was a Holstein ducal and then Russian imperial order of chivalry. It was established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, on 14 February 1735, in hono ...

II and III degrees. * Cross of St. George IV degrees.

References

External links

* * * 1887 births 1937 deaths Russian aviation record holders Russian World War I pilots Imperial Russian Air Service personnel Great Purge victims from Russia People executed by the Soviet Union Soviet rehabilitations {{Aviation-bio-stub