Konstantin Alekseevich Kalinin (; born 17 December ( 29) 1889 in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

; died 1938 or 21 April 1940 in

Voronezh Voronezh ( ; , ) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects wes ...

) was a

World War I 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 ...

aviator and Soviet aircraft designer. He was born to a Russian family in Warsaw,

. Kalinin graduated from the Odessa Military School in 1912, the Gatchina Military Aviation School in 1916 and the

Kyiv Polytechnic Institute The Kyiv Polytechnic Institute ( KPI, ; official full title National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute") is a national public technological university in Kyiv, Ukraine. Name In the long period of existenc ...

in 1925. After the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, whi ...

, he became a pilot and commanding officer under Ukrainian Directory Government. He was a member of the

All-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks) The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

since 1927. In 1926, he organized and headed an aviation design bureau in

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

. He designed the

Kalinin K-4 The Kalinin K-4 was an airliner built in the Soviet Union in the late 1920s which was also adapted for use as a photographic survey aircraft and as an air ambulance. A further development of the K-1, it was a conventional high-wing, strut-braced ...

Kalinin K-5 The Kalinin K-5 was an airliner produced in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, built in larger quantities than any other Soviet airliner of its time, with some 260 aircraft constructed. It was a conventional, high-wing, strut-braced monoplane with a ...

Kalinin K-7 The Kalinin K-7 () was a heavy experimental aircraft designed and tested in the Soviet Union in the early 1930s. It was of unusual configuration, with twin booms and large underwing pods housing fixed landing gear and machine gun turrets. In th ...

and

Kalinin K-12 The Kalinin K-12 was a proof-of-concept aircraft developed by the Kalinin Design Bureau in the 1930s. Design and development The K-12 was intended as a tailless bomber aircraft. Also called the Kalinin BS-2 or the ''Zhar-Ptitsa'' ("Firebird Fire ...

aircraft. Kalinin was arrested on 1 April 1938 in Voronezh during the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

. While in prison, he designed the K-15 delta-wing rocket fighter. Seven months after his arrest on 22 October, at a closed court hearing of the

Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union The Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union () was created in 1924 by the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union as a court for the higher military and political personnel of the Red Army and Fleet. In addition it was an immedia ...

, which lasted 10 minutes without defense or witnesses, Kalinin was accused of anti-Soviet activities and espionage and sentenced to death. The same day (according to some sources the next day, 23 October), Kalinin was executed in the basement of the NKVD prison in Voronezh. According to Soviet records, he died in 1940. Kalinin was rehabilitated on 10 August 1955. Kalinin was one of the founders and first teachers of the

Kharkiv Aviation Institute Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

. He was awarded the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

Products

K-1 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993 by karateka Kazuyoshi Ishii. Originally under the ownership of the Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), K-1 was considered to be the largest Kickboxing organization in the worl ...

, three-passenger airliner (1924) * K-2, four-passenger airliner developed from the K-1 (1925) * K-3, air ambulance version of K-2 (1927) * K-4, multipurpose transport (1928) * K-5, eight-passenger airliner (1929). Was the backbone of Aeroflot's fleet in the 1930s. * K-6, prototype mailplane derivative of the K-5 (1930). Only one built. * K-7, experimental large seven-engine bomber/airliner (1933). Only one built. * K-9, liaison/sport aircraft (1930). Only one built. * K-10, trainer/liaison/agricultural aircraft (1932). Only one built. *K-11, twin-engine, twin-boom transport project (1933) * K-12/BS-2, prototype twin-engine tailless bomber (1936). Also known as ''Zhar-Ptitsa'' (Firebird). * K-13, long-range, twin-engine bomber (1933). Cancelled as it was inferior to the

Ilyushin DB-3 The Ilyushin DB-3, where "DB" stands for ''Dalniy Bombardirovshchik'' ( Russian: Дальний бомбардировщик) meaning "long-range bomber", is a Soviet bomber aircraft of World War II. It was a twin-engined, low-wing monoplane tha ...

. * K-14, airliner version of the K-13 (1934) * K-15, delta-wing rocket (or jet) bomber design (early 1930s) *K-16, high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft *K-17, four-engine, long-range tailless bomber

References

{{Authority control 1889 births 1938 deaths 1940 deaths Russian aerospace engineers Ukrainian aerospace engineers