Petro Vasylovych Balabuyev (, 23 March 1931 in Valuisk,

Luhansk Oblast Luhansk Oblast (; ), also referred to as Luhanshchyna (), is the easternmost Administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Luhansk. The oblast was established in 1938 and bore the n ...

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

– 17 May 2007) was a Ukrainian aircraft designer, engineer,

Doctor of Engineering The Doctor of Engineering (DEng or EngD) or Doctor of Engineering Sciences is a research doctorate in engineering and applied science. An EngD is a terminal degree similar to a PhD in engineering but applicable more in industry rather than in ac ...

(1988), professor, chief designer of the Antonov Design Bureau (1984 – May 2005),

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 ...

and a

Hero of Ukraine A Hero of Ukraine (HOU; ) is the highest national decoration that can be conferred upon an individual citizen by the president of Ukraine. The decoration was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma. As of 6 June 2025, the total number of re ...

, head of

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

-based

Antonov Aircraft Antonov (Trade name, d/b/a Antonov Company, formerly the Aeronautical Scientific-Technical Complex named after Antonov or Antonov ASTC, and earlier the Antonov Design Bureau, for its chief designer, Oleg Antonov (aircraft designer), Oleg Antono ...

for 20 years.

Biography

Petro Balabuyev was born on 23 May 1931, on a Valuysk farm in the Luhansk region. He graduated from the Kharkov Aviation Institute in 1954 with qualifications of an aircraft mechanical engineer. In April 1954, after graduating from Kharkiv Aviation Institute, he started working at the Kharkov aircraft company: * at first as a structural engineer * since 1956 - Head of the workshop * since 1959 - Head of the assembly line * since 1960 - lead designer, acting head of production dept. * since 1961 - deputy chief engineer, main representative of Antonov Design Bureau at

Tashkent Aviation Production Association Tashkent Mechanical Plant (TMZ) (), formerly Tashkent Aviation Production Association named after Valery Chkalov, V. P. Chkalov (TAPO or TAPOiCh) () is a leading high-technology company of Uzbekistan, which was originally moved from Russia to ...

* since 1965 - Head of the Research Bureau of

Antonov Antonov (d/b/a Antonov Company, formerly the Aeronautical Scientific-Technical Complex named after Antonov or Antonov ASTC, and earlier the Antonov Design Bureau, for its chief designer, Oleg Antonov) is a Ukrainian aircraft manufacturing and ...

* since 1968 - deputy chief designer * since 1971 - chief designer, First Deputy General Designer * since 1984 - chief designer of

Aircraft

Under his guidance the following aircraft were developed: Antonov An-22, Antonov An-72, An-74, Antonov An-32, Antonov An-28,

Antonov An-124 The Antonov An-124 Ruslan (; ; NATO reporting name: Condor) is a large, strategic airlift, four-engined aircraft that was designed in the 1980s by the Antonov design bureau in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union (USSR). The An-124 is the ...

(the world's second largest serially manufactured cargo aircraft),

Antonov An-225 Mriya The Antonov An-225 Mriya (; NATO reporting name: Cossack) was a large strategic airlift cargo aircraft designed and produced by the Antonov Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. It was originally developed during the 1980s as an enlarged deriva ...

(eng. - ''Dream'') (the largest operational aircraft in the world - destroyed after Russian attack). Among recent developments are the

Antonov An-140 The Antonov An-140 is a turboprop regional airliner, designed by the Ukraine, Ukrainian Antonov ASTC bureau as a successor to the Antonov An-24, with extended cargo capacity and the ability to use unprepared airstrips. Design and development Fi ...

and Antonov An-148, Antonov An-38 and Antonov An-70. Other positions taken by Petro Balabuyev: * Chairman of the board of the International Consortium "Medium Transport Aircraft" * Program manager for the implementation of the contract with the Islamic Republic of Iran * Member of Exporter council at the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (since February 1999) Balabuyev was the author of over 100 scientific papers. He developed scientific bases of design and practical implementation of supercritical wing profiles into the design of heavy transport aircraft. Petro Balabuyev died on May 17, 2007, in Kyiv.

Awards and honours

Soviet and Russian

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 ...

(1966) *

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 ...

(1973) *

(awarded with

Order 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 ...

and the Gold Medal "Hammer and Sickle", 1975) *

Order of Friendship The Order of Friendship (, ') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds and efforts have been aimed at ...

(1998)

External links

Ukrainian

Shevchenko National Prize Shevchenko National Prize (; also ''Shevchenko Award'') is the highest state prize of Ukraine for works of culture and arts awarded since 1961. It is named after the inspirer of Ukrainian national revival Taras Shevchenko. It is one of the five ...

(1979) * Honoured master of sciences and engineering (1991) *

Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...

, II grade (1997) and 1 grade (1998) * Honorary citizen of Kyiv (May 1998) *

* Diploma of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (2001) *

Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise The Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise () is a Ukrainian award. It is awarded for distinguished services to the state and people of the Ukrainian nation in the field of state building, strengthening the international prestige of Ukraine, develop ...

, V grade (2001) In 2001, he was awarded the Edward Warner Award.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balabuyev, Petro 1931 births 2007 deaths People from Stanytsia-Luhanska Raion National Aerospace University – Kharkiv Aviation Institute alumni Heroes of Socialist Labour Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 1st class Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 2nd class Recipients of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 5th class Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of State Recipients of the USSR State Prize Eleventh convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Aircraft designers 20th-century Ukrainian engineers Soviet engineers Recipients of the Honorary Diploma of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine