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Alexander Kartveli, born Aleksandre Kartvelishvili, ( ka, ალექსანდრე ქართველიშვილი) (September 9, 1896 – July 20, 1974) was a Georgian aeronautical engineer and an aviation pioneer in the United States. Kartveli achieved important breakthroughs in military aviation in the time of turbojet fighters. (June 30, 2002). Retrieved on October 17, 2011.


Education and early career

Alexander Kartvelishvili was born in
Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...
, Georgia, which was part of Russian Empire at that time; into a noble Georgian family. (Georgians call themselves "kartvelebi", and his surname derives from "Kartveli", or Georgian). He graduated from the grammar school in Tbilisi in 1914. Later on, he decided to move to France, as one of several aviation engineer aspirants of Georgian origin, such as Michael Gregor. Kartvelishvili graduated in 1922 from the Institut supérieur de l'aéronautique et de l'espace in Paris.. He began working as a test pilot but was seriously injured during a test flight which ended the short-lived career. In 1922–1927, he worked for a while at the
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 th ...
company and designed the Bernard and Ferbois aircraft. In 1924, one of his aircraft established a world speed record. In 1927, the American millionaire Charles Levine invited Kartvelishvili to New York, to join the
Atlantic Aircraft Corporation Atlantic Aircraft Corporation, also known as Fokker-America and Atlantic-Fokker, was a US subsidiary of the Dutch Fokker company, responsible for sales and information about Fokker imports, and eventually constructing various Fokker designs."The ...
in 1928 and in 1931 Kartvelishvili met the prominent engineer
Alexander de Seversky Alexander Nikolaievich Prokofiev de Seversky (russian: link=no, Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Проко́фьев-Се́верский) (June 7, 1894 – August 24, 1974) was a Russian-American aviation pioneer, inventor, and in ...
, who was born in
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
but was of Russian descent. In Seversky's company, which later was renamed
Seversky Aircraft Corporation The Republic Aviation Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer based in Farmingdale, New York, on Long Island. Originally known as the Seversky Aircraft Company, the company was responsible for the design and production of many important ...
, Kartvelishvili worked as chief engineer. In 1939 the company again changed its name to " Republic Aviation Company".


Seversky Corporation

Kartvelishvili and Seversky worked on a series of new designs. During World War II the first projects resulted in the P-35 and one of the most effective US fighter aircraft of WW2, the Republic P-47. The new fighter aircraft was a clear improvement over the comparatively lightly armed Seversky P-35.Fairchild Aircraft, Inc. – Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Fairchild Aircraft, Inc
Referenceforbusiness.com. Retrieved on October 17, 2011.
After Kartvelishvili immigrated to the United States, Seversky almost immediately hired his fellow immigrant as chief engineer, and Kartveli quickly proceeded to design a number of very advanced aircraft, including the SEV-1XP, which outperformed the
Curtiss P-36 Hawk The Curtiss P-36 Hawk, also known as the Curtiss Hawk Model 75, is an American-designed and built fighter aircraft of the 1930s and 40s. A contemporary of the Hawker Hurricane and Messerschmitt Bf 109, it was one of the first of a new generation ...
during a 1936 Army Air Corps competition and served as a necessary step in developing all-metal aircraft. Known by the military designation Seversky P-35, it was the first modern US Army fighter, incorporating a metal fuselage, low-set wings, retractable landing gear and a radial engine. A different concept called
Seversky SEV-3 The Seversky SEV-3 was an American three-seat amphibian monoplane, the first aircraft designed and built by the Seversky Aircraft Corporation. Design and development The SEV-3 was an all-metal cantilever low-wing monoplane powered by a nose-mo ...
, a floatplane fitted with retractable wheels, failed to win a volume order, but the Seversky Corporation succeeded with selling a subsequent trainer model, the BT-8


Republic Aviation Company

In 1939, Seversky was removed as head of his company and the Republic Aviation Company was born. The first major aircraft to emerge from the new company was the P-47, using a new innovative design of Kartveli. Two concept works named XP-44 and XP-47 were developed but dropped as they did not meet the requirements of the Air Corps. According to records, Kartveli was called in from the Experimental Aircraft Division of the
USAAC The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...
and informed about the prototypes being cancelled. During his return to New York on a train, he took a sheet of paper and drew a completely new design. The new aircraft was intended to break the back of the German
Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabt ...
. The famous
P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bomb ...
with its robust characteristics was born. More than 15,000 P-47s would be constructed. Despite some flaws, the heavily armed and extremely sturdy aircraft achieved more than Kartveli could hope. At the end of the war Kartveli designed a sleek flying photo lab called the
Republic XF-12 The Republic XF-12 Rainbow was an American four-engine, all-metal prototype reconnaissance aircraft designed by the Republic Aviation Company in the late 1940s. Like most large aircraft of the era, it used radial engines, specifically the Pr ...
, initially planned as a four-engine postwar transport; American Airlines canceled its orders and only two prototypes were built for the
US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sig ...
. Shortly after the end of World War II a new concept of turbojet fighters would emerge. The F-84 Thunderjet which Kartveli had already developed in 1944, was going into serial production in 1946. Soon he would also add the swept-wing variant Republic F-84F Thunderstreak. A total of 10,000 of these new generation aircraft would be constructed. Then later on, he would lead the team that developed the F-105 Thunderchief. He was also heavily involved with a 1960s-era Air Force project called "Aerospaceplane", to design and build an orbital logistics vehicle a decade before
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
attempted a similar concept, known as the
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program n ...
. The radical turboramjet-powered XF-103 was another stillborn Kartveli design, a victim of the propulsion community not being able to produce a suitable engine to power the Mach 3 interceptor. Kartveli contributed significantly to the science of flight and the readiness of the US military, and was involved in designing and leading of various projects. He was also consultant at
Fairchild Republic Fairchild was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company based at various times in Farmingdale, New York; Hagerstown, Maryland; and San Antonio, Texas. History Early aircraft The company was founded by Sherman Fairchild in 19 ...
and involved in the development of the
A-10 Thunderbolt II The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin-turbofan, straight-wing, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Republic for the United States Air Force (USAF). In service since 1976, it is named for the Republic ...
.


Major projects


P-47 Thunderbolt

The Republic P-47 was Alexander Kartvelis brainchild and the successor to a line of airplanes derived from the Seversky P-35, the XP-41, P-43 Lancer and XP-44 Rocket. The P-47 design team headed by Kartveli originally presented a design that was to be powered by a 1,150 hp
Allison V-1710-39 The Allison V-1710 aircraft engine designed and produced by the Allison Engine Company was the only US-developed V-12 liquid-cooled engine to see service during World War II. Versions with a turbocharger gave excellent performance at high a ...
engine with an armament of only two 0.50 inch machine guns. A contract was awarded by the USAAC in November 1939, and for an even lighter XP-47A, but as intelligence was coming back from the war in Europe, it was becoming apparent that the performance goals of the XP-47 program were already inadequate. The USAAC issued new requirements which included: 1. Airspeed of 400 mph at 25,000 feet. 2. Armament of six .50 caliber machine guns, preferably eight. 3. Armor plating to protect the pilot. 4.
Self-sealing fuel tanks A self-sealing fuel tank is a type of fuel tank, typically used in aircraft fuel tanks or fuel bladders, that prevents them from leaking fuel and igniting after being damaged. Typical self-sealing tanks have multiple layers of rubber and reinfor ...
. 5. A minimum of 315 gallons of fuel. The USAAC notified Kartveli that the XP-47A and the XP-44 Rocket contracts were canceled, since the P-43/XP-44 airframe was too small to meet the new requirements. (The XP-44 Rocket was based on the P-43 Lancer airframe with an even more powerful radial engine and never made it past the mock-up stage.) Kartveli then took the Seversky AP-4, a daring concept with the exhaust-driven turbocharger in the rear fuselage belly, and quickly prepared a rough sketch of a new XP-47B prototype. He planned to use the new 2,000 hp
Pratt & Whitney Pratt & Whitney is an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies. Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation (especially airlines) and military av ...
Double Wasp XR-2800-21, eighteen cylinder, two-row radial engine, which was the largest and most powerful aircraft engine ever developed in the United States. The new design would incorporate eight 0.50 inch machine guns, additional ammunition, increased fuel capacity, and armor protection for the pilot. (The final fuel load was slightly under the capacity required, but this was overlooked as the aircraft met performance specifications.) Additionally, the airplane would include an efficient super-charging duct system that would offer the least interrupted airflow. Kartveli therefore adopted the unorthodox method of designing this feature first, and then building up the fuselage around it. Despite the fact that the supercharger was in the tail and the engine was in the nose, the arrangement worked quite well, providing a system that was durable and less susceptible to battle damage. One of the most important features of the P-47 was its remarkable acceleration when the aircraft was put into a dive. Any plane that attempted to break off contact by going into a dive would soon be overcome by the remarkable speed of the P-47. Once the P-47 caught up to its prey, one burst from its eight 0.50 machine guns would obliterate anything it got an aim on.


F-84 Thunderjet/F-84F Thunderstreak

In 1944, Kartveli began working on a turbojet-powered replacement for the P-47 Thunderbolt piston-engined fighter. The initial attempts to redesign the P-47 to accommodate a jet engine proved futile due to the large cross-section of the early centrifugal compressor turbojets. Instead, Kartveli and his team designed a brand-new aircraft with a streamlined fuselage largely occupied by an axial compressor turbojet engine and fuel stored in rather thick unswept wings. On September 11, 1944, the
United States Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War I ...
released General Operational Requirements for a day fighter with a top speed of 600 mph (521 knots, 966 km/h), combat radius of 705 miles (612 nm, 1,135 km), and armament of either six 0.50 inch (12.7 mm) or four 0.60 inch (15.2 mm) machine guns. In addition, the new aircraft had to use the General Electric TG-180 axial turbojet which entered production as the Allison J35. On November 11, 1944, Republic received an order for three prototypes of the new XP-84. Since the design promised superior performance to the P-80 Shooting Star and Republic had extensive experience in building single-seat fighters, no competition was held for the contract. The name Thunderjet was chosen to continue the Republic Aviation tradition started with the P-47 while emphasizing the new method of propulsion. On January 4, 1945, even before the aircraft took to the air, the USAAF expanded its order to 25 service test YP-84A and 75 production P-84B (later modified to 15 YP-84A and 85 P-84B). Meanwhile, wind tunnel testing by the
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its assets ...
revealed longitudinal instability and buckling of stabilizer skin at high speeds. The weight of the aircraft, a great concern given the low thrust of early turbojets, was growing so quickly that the USAAF had to set a gross weight limit of 13,400 pounds (6,078 kg). The results of preliminary testing were incorporated into the third prototype, designated XP-84A, which was also fitted with a more powerful J35-GE-15 engine with 4,000 pound-force (17.80 kN) of thrust. The first prototype XP-84 was transferred to Muroc Army Air Field (present-day
Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is ...
) where it flew for the first time on February 28, 1946, with Major William A. Lien at the controls. It was joined by the second prototype in August, both aircraft flying with J35-GE-7 engines producing 3,745 pound-force (16.66 kN) of thrust. The fifteen YP-84As delivered to Patterson Field (present-day
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wr ...
) for service tests differed from XP-84s in having an upgraded J35-A-15 engine, carrying six 0.50 inch (12.7 mm) Browning M2 machine guns (four in the nose and one in each wing root), and having the provision for wingtip fuel tanks holding 226 US gallons (870 L) each. Due to delays with delivery of jet engines and production of the XP-84A, the Thunderjet had undergone only limited flight testing by the time production P-84Bs began to roll out of the factory in 1947. In particular, the impact of wingtip tanks on aircraft handling was not thoroughly studied, which proved problematic later. After creation of the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...
by the
National Security Act of 1947 The National Security Act of 1947 ( Pub.L.br>80-253 61 Stat.br>495 enacted July 26, 1947) was a law enacting major restructuring of the United States government's military and intelligence agencies following World War II. The majority of the pro ...
, the Pursuit designation was replaced with Fighter, and P-84 became the F-84. In


F-105 Thunderchief

The design of the F-105 Thunderchief began in the early 1950s as an internal project at Republic and was headed by Alexander Kartveli. Intended to be a replacement for the F-84 Thunderjet, the F-105 was created as a supersonic, low-altitude penetrator capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to a target deep within the Soviet Union. Led by Kartveli, the design team produced an aircraft centered on a large engine and able to achieve high speeds. As the F-105 was meant to be a penetrator, maneuverability was sacrificed for speed and low-altitude performance. Intrigued by Republic's design, the US Air Force placed an initial order for 199 F-105s in September 1952, but with the
Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...
winding down reduced it to 46 six months later. On October 22, 1955, the first YF-105A prototype flew, powered by a Pratt & Whitney J57-P-25 engine. Test flights with the YF-105A soon revealed that the aircraft was underpowered and suffered from problems with transonic drag. To counter these issues Republic replaced the engine with the more powerful Pratt & Whitney J75, altered the arrangement of the air intakes, and redesigned the F-105's fuselage. The redesigned aircraft, dubbed the F-105B, proved able to achieve speeds of Mach 2.15. Also included were improvements to its electronics including the MA-8 fire control system, a K19 gun sight, and an AN/APG-31 ranging radar. With the alterations complete, the YF-105B first took to the sky on May 26, 1956. The largest single-engine fighter built for the US Air Force, the production model F-105B possessed an internal bomb bay and five external weapons pylons. The US Air Force planned to purchase 1,500 F-105s, however this order was reduced to 833 by Secretary of Defense
Robert McNamara Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He remains the ...
.


Total list of projects

* Bernard 191GR * Ferbois aircraft * Seversky P-35 *
Seversky SEV-3 The Seversky SEV-3 was an American three-seat amphibian monoplane, the first aircraft designed and built by the Seversky Aircraft Corporation. Design and development The SEV-3 was an all-metal cantilever low-wing monoplane powered by a nose-mo ...
*
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bomber ...
*
Republic XF-12 The Republic XF-12 Rainbow was an American four-engine, all-metal prototype reconnaissance aircraft designed by the Republic Aviation Company in the late 1940s. Like most large aircraft of the era, it used radial engines, specifically the Pr ...
* Republic XF-91 Thunderceptor * Republic F-84 Thunderjet **F-84G **XP-84 **XP-84A **YP-84A **F-84B **EF-84B **F-84C **F-84D **F-84E **EF-84E **F-84G **F-84KX * Republic F-84F Thunderstreak **YF-84F **RF-84F **RF-84K **YF-84J *
Republic F-105 Thunderchief The Republic F-105 Thunderchief is an American supersonic fighter-bomber that served with the United States Air Force from 1958 to 1984. Capable of Mach 2, it conducted the majority of strike bombing missions during the early years of the Viet ...
* Rockwell X-30 *
Republic XF-103 The Republic XF-103 was an American project to develop a powerful missile-armed interceptor aircraft capable of destroying Soviet bombers while flying at speeds as high as Mach 3. Despite a prolonged development, it never progressed past the mo ...
* Republic RC-3 Seabee * Republic P-43 Lancer * Republic XF-84H *
Republic AP-100 The Republic Aviation AP-100 was a project for a VTOL, six-turbojet engined, nuclear capable, strike fighter concept designed by Alexander Kartveli, It had three ducted fans in the centre of its fuselage and tail and was a possible contender fo ...


Death

Alexander Kartveli died on July 20, 1974, at Huntington (Long Island) Hospital, New York, USA. The announcement by the Fairchild Republic Company, where Mr. Kartveli had been chief engineer emeritus and was still active as a consultant, said he had apparently succumbed to a heart attack at his home in Huntington.


See also

* Aviation history *
Aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of air flight–capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. The British Royal Aeronautical Society identif ...
*
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 ...
*
Avionics Avionics (a blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the hundreds of systems that are fit ...
*
Aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or by using the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in ...
* List of Georgians * History of Georgia


References


External links


Aviation Pioneers – Alexander Kartveli



Alexander Kartveli The Man Behind Legends
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kartveli, Alexander Aircraft designers Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France French emigrants to the United States Aircraft designers from Georgia (country) People of World War II from Georgia (country) American aerospace engineers 1896 births 1974 deaths Engineers from Tbilisi 20th-century American engineers