Mikhail Leontyevich Mil (; 22 November 1909 – 31 January 1970) was a Soviet and Russian
aerospace engineer
Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...
and
scientist
A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences.
In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...
. He was the founder and general designer of the
Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant
Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant () is a Russian designer and producer of helicopters headquartered in Tomilino. It is a subsidiary of Russian Helicopters.
The Moscow Mil Helicopter Plant includes a design bureau and an experimental production plant. ...
.
Central Museum of the Military Air Forces of the Russian Federation
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Biography
Mil was born to a Russian Jewish
The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest po ...
family in Irkutsk
Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...
. His father was an employee of the Trans-Siberian Railway
The Trans-Siberian Railway, historically known as the Great Siberian Route and often shortened to Transsib, is a large railway system that connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway ...
, and his mother was a dentist. His grandfather was a cantonist
Cantonists (; more properly: , "military cantonists") were underage sons of conscripts in the Russian Empire. From 1721 on they were educated in special "cantonist schools" () for future military service (the schools were called garrison school ...
who had been drafted from Libava (today Liepāja
Liepāja () (formerly: Libau) is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Courland region and the third-largest in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an ...
), Latvia
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
, and who settled in Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
after 25 years in the Imperial Russian Navy
The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until being dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution and the declaration of ...
.
At age 12 Mil won the first prize in a model glider competition. In 1926 he entered the Siberian Technological Institute in Tomsk
Tomsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, on the Tom (river), Tom River. Population:
Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. It has six univers ...
; however, since there was no curriculum for aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...
, he decided to transfer in 1928 to the Don Polytechnical Institute in Novocherkassk
Novocherkassk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located near the confluence of the Tuzlov and Aksay Rivers, the latter a distributary of the Don (river), Don River. Novocherkassk is best known as the ...
, where he was able to specialise in aviation. He married a fellow student, P.G. Rudenko, in 1932 and 4 daughters and a son followed.
After graduating from the institute in 1931, Mil began his career 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 ...
, too late to work under its original founder, Nikolay Zhukovsky. He specialised in the design of autogyro
An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), gyroscope, gyrocopter or gyroplane, is a class of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. A gyroplane "means a rotorcraft whose rotors are not engine-d ...
s, and was an assistant to his future rival, Nikolai Kamov. With the start of World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Mil was drafted into 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 ...
and fought on the Eastern Front in 1941 near Yelnya. In 1943 he was called back to continue research and development
Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...
in improving the stability and control of combat aircraft. He completed his dissertations ("Candidate", 1943, PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
, 1945) and in 1947 headed the Helicopter Lab at TsAGI, which was later turned into the Moscow Helicopter Plant.
Mil's creations won many domestic and international awards and set 69 world records. Most notably, the Mil Mi-4 won a gold medal in the Brussels International Exposition in 1958. In 1971, after his death, his Mil Mi-12 (production name of V-12 prototype) won the Sikorsky Prize as the most powerful helicopter in the world. Unlike his Soviet counterpart, Nikolai Kamov, Mil enjoyed great prestige due to his single-rotor helicopters, as Kamov used the co-axial rotor layout, which was more controversial.
He died in 1970 in Moscow and was buried in Yudinskoe Cemetery in the outskirts of Moscow.
Awards and honors
*Hero of Socialist Labour
The Hero of Socialist Labour () was an Title of honor, honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It represented the highest degree of distinction in the USSR and was awarded for exceptional achievem ...
(1966)
*Three Orders of Lenin
The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...
(1957, 1966, 1969)
*Order of the Patriotic War
The Order of the Patriotic War () is a Soviet Union, Soviet military Order (decoration), decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to Partisan (military), partisans for heroic deeds in the Easte ...
, 2nd class (1945)
*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 ...
(1959)
*Order of the Red Star
The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...
(1944)
*Lenin Prize
The Lenin Prize (, ) was one of the most prestigious awards of the Soviet Union for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was originally created on June 23, 1925, and awarded until 1934. During ...
(1958)
*USSR State Prize
The USSR State Prize () was one of the Soviet Union’s highest civilian honours, awarded from its establishment in September 1966 until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. It recognised outstanding contributions in the fields of science, mathem ...
(1968)
*Order of Polonia Restituta
The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...
Memory
* On July 5, 2023, a monument to aircraft designers M. L. Mil and N. I. Kamov was unveiled in Irkutsk (architect Sergey Demkov).
* The National Helicopter Building Center is named in memory of Mikhail Mile and Nikolai Kamov ("NCV Miles and Kamov"). It was established in 2019 on the basis of JSC "Moscow Helicopter Plant named after M.L. Mil" and JSC "Kamov". The company is part of the Russian Helicopters
JSC Russian Helicopters () is a helicopter design and manufacturing company headquartered in Moscow, Russia. The company designs and manufactures civilian and military helicopters. The company's principal shareholder is Rostec. It is the world's ...
holding company.
* State budgetary educational institution of the city of Moscow "School No. 1359 named after aircraft designer M.L. Mil" Date of establishment of the educational organization on September 1, 1993.
References
*Pederson, Jay. ''International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 24'', St James Press (1998)
*Bull, Stephan. ''Encyclopedia of Military Technology and Innovation'', Greenwood (2004)
*Gordon, Yefim. ''Soviet Air Power in World War II''. Midland Publishing (2008)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mil, Mikhail
1909 births
1970 deaths
People from Irkutsk
People from Irkutsk Governorate
Tomsk Polytechnic University alumni
Members of the Central Committee of the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Heroes of Socialist Labour
Recipients of the Lenin Prize
Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Recipients of the Order of the Red Star
Recipients of the USSR State Prize
Russian people of Latvian descent
Russian aerospace engineers
Russian mechanical engineers
Soviet aerospace engineers
Soviet mechanical engineers
Russian scientists