Rafaelyants, Aram Nazarovich

Childhood

Aram Nazarovich Rafaeliants was born on April 10, 1897 in Tiflis in a family of refugees from Turkey , in which there were three sons. They lived very poorly. Education could provide only the youngest - Aram. He studied at the Society for the Care of Children, at the One-Class City School, then in 1915 he graduated from the Tiflis Nikolayevsk 3rd Higher Primary School , the education of which was equivalent to 4 classes of the male gymnasium of the Ministry of Public Education . In the evenings, he began working as an assistant driver for private owners, and then in the garage of the Red Cross . In 1918, during the epidemic of typhus , father died, and after him a month later, his mother.

Beginning

A.N. Rafaelyants from his youth was fond of airplanes. Despite the fact that the Civil War broke out in Georgia , even in Tiflis he went to work several times in factories related to aviation (4th Caucasian squadron, Aviapark plant), but because of ethnic conflicts that had begun, he was twice fired from his job on ethnic grounds, and he was forced to leave Georgia in 1919, to leave for Armenia . He enlisted as an engineer in the 1st Air Squad of Armenia in the Kars fortress. But there was also a civil war in Armenia . After the Kars fortress was transferred to Turkey , the squadron leaves it and relocates to that part of Armenia , which became the Soviet Socialist Republic as part of the RSFSR . In Yerevan , Aram unexpectedly meets with his childhood friend Sophia, who largely influenced his beliefs. Sofya Grigorievna Agayan, who was also forced to leave Tiflis , was already a member of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) by the time of the meeting and was a member of the Women's Council under the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Armenia . Aram Rafaelianz also becomes a member of the Communist Party (b) and a fighter of the Red Army . Aram and Sophia deeply believed that they were participating in the construction of a happy communist society.

As a military commissar, Aram Rafaelianz participated in the return of the values ​​of Etchmiadzin from Russia to Armenia. After the successful completion of special tasks of the command in 1922, he was sent to the Air Force Academy of the Red Army. N.E. Zhukovsky . In Moscow , he again met S.G. Agayan, who was sent to the All-Russian meeting of the heads of the departments of workers and peasants. This time their meeting ended in marriage.

Specialty Activities

At the Air Force Academy, A. N. Rafaelians immediately enters into the work of the voluntary Military Scientific Society and, with his help, realizes his old dream - designs and builds an aircraft — RAF-1 ^[1] . It was one of the lightest aircraft, the mass of an empty aircraft was only 175 kg. In 1925, the plane was tested by the pilot P. A. Verzhbitsky, who took part in its construction. The RAF-1 aircraft participated in the III All - Union Glider Competition in Koktebel , where it demonstrated good qualities in stability and controllability. By the 5th course, the Rafaelans creates a second aircraft, a two - seater RAF-2 ^[2] , pilot Ya. M. Sadovsky takes it into the air.

In 1927 , having received the title of Military Engineer-Mechanical Engineer of the Air Fleet after graduating from the Academy , A.N. Rafaelyants works at factories No. 1, No. 25, No. 39 as a design engineer, assistant chief of the Central Design Bureau, deputy. Director of Arms, becomes chairman of OSOAVIAHIM Plant number 39.

In addition to performing official duties, he develops aircraft designs of original schemes: a car-plane, a flying tank, a twin-engine passenger plane with a flat fuselage; publishes the results of his research on rolling steel "Enerzhav-6". In 1931, according to the sketches of A. N. Rafaelianets and pilot B. L. Buchholz , a modification of one of the best aircraft N. N. Polikarpov , the R-5 reconnaissance aircraft, was made. The plane had two open cockpits - one for the pilot, the other for the shooter. The arrow cabin was turned into a passenger cabin for two people with a table in the middle and luggage compartment. Both cabins were closed with one celluloid lamp. It was the first limousine aircraft in the country. The pilot tested the aircraft B. L. Buchholz .

In 1933, A.N. Rafaelianets was transferred as deputy head of the Civil Air Fleet Research Institute for Experimental Aircraft Engineering and chief designer of the Aircraft Engineering Design Bureau. Here he significantly modifies the R-5 aircraft into a passenger car for 4 people - PR-5 ^[3] , which is able to provide comfortable conditions for passengers and a pilot in the Far North . The aerodynamics of the aircraft were improved: the bulky fuselage of rectangular cross-section was replaced by an oval one with a supporting working skin and a well-streamlined surface. The upper wing was shifted 100 mm back to improve stability characteristics. Lifts were installed between the lower wing and the fuselage, fairings on the wheels. The pilot and passenger cockpits began to heat up, ventilation and lighting appeared in them, more advanced radio equipment was installed. Test flight was carried out on November 18, 1934 by pilot Yu. I. Piontkovsky . The PR-5 was the first civilian aircraft adapted to arctic conditions.

Already in February 1935, at the direction of O. Yu. Schmidt, the PR-5 , led by Hero of the Soviet Union V.S. Molokov , with four passengers on board, went to Dikson Island for testing in the Arctic . The flight took place in difficult weather conditions, and in March the plane landed safely on the island.

Despite the known inclination of A.N. Rafaelianets to design work, the head of the civil air fleet department I.F. Tkachev sends him as the chief engineer to the Bykovsky aircraft repair workshops of the civil air fleet. At the request of the Raphaelian, I. Ya. Yelkin becomes the head. Having introduced new technological processes into this backward artisanal production, in two years they turned the workshops into a modern Plant No. 241. These were the years when the People’s Commissariat of the Aviation Industry (NKAP) was not able to pay enough attention to civilian products, and the plant was not only repairing, but he also built aircraft for the civilian air fleet: U-2 in various versions, R-5 "limousine", PR-5 . In 1936, the first PR-5 aircraft built at the plant was tested, which was flown into the air by pilot A. S. Shvedovsky . The plant built almost 200 PR-5 aircraft, which have been operated on Aeroflot lines for many years, including the foreign airline Ulan-Ude - Ulan Bator.

In 1937-1940, passenger aircraft were built at Plant No. 241 according to the designs of A. N. Rafaelianets: a four-seat monoplane PR-12 ^[4] , six-seater RAF-11 ^[5] and RAF-11bis. The latter passed state tests and was allowed to operate, but on the eve of World War II, the delivery of MG-31F engines for the aircraft was stopped. All efforts of the plant focused on serial production.

During the war, the plant was evacuated to Tyumen , where on the basis of the covered food market began to produce ten-seater landing gliders. In February 1943, Rafaelian was summoned to Moscow and appointed chief engineer of Plant No. 462, which was engaged in the repair of aircraft damaged in battles. Three months later, in June 1943 , by order of the People’s Commissariat for Aviation Industry, he was sent by the NKAP Commissioner for the repair of equipment to the 2nd Air Army , located in the Kursk region, where a decisive battle was planned. Among all the aircraft were Yak-9 fighters. They had a mixed design - power elements made of duralumin, and the rest made of wood, plywood and canvas. Unforeseen happened, during combat sorties on the wings of fighters, cracking of the skin and breakdowns of the canvas were found. Brigades of repairmen were urgently sent to front-line airfields.

Since January 1944, the Rafaelian was dismissed by the Commissioner of the NKAP in the Air Armies , for several years he held senior engineering positions at the factories of the Ministry of Aviation Industry and the Civil Air Fleet for the restoration and development of the post-war aviation industry.

In 1948, A. N. Rafaelian was sent to the M. M. Gromov Flight Research Institute (LII). It was a first-class enterprise, which was engaged in testing the latest models of equipment, experimental aircraft and models. A special unit was created for design and production, consisting of the Design Bureau and Central Workshops. Rafaelianz worked in this unit from 1948 to 1960 as the head of the workshops, the head of the unit, the head of the design bureau. In 1955, being the head of the design bureau and familiarizing himself with the experimental instruments available in the world for the study of vertical take-off and landing (GDP), he proposed creating his own apparatus for studying this problem. In 1956, the experimental apparatus of the GDP “ Turbolet ” was built in the workshops of the LII . It was a quadrangular metal truss, in the center of which a turbojet engine was vertically located, the pilot's cabin, fuel tanks and instrument platforms adjoined it. Gas rudders were installed in the gas jet of the engine, and jet rudders at the ends of four trusses. Doctor of Technical Sciences V.N. Matveev analyzed the gas-jet turbojet control system and approved it. In 1958, the “ Turbolet ” was demonstrated at the air parade in Tushino by the pilot Yu. A. Garnaev , who also participated in the development of technical requirements for the layout of the cabin. Work on the study of GDP continued. To study the behavior of the aircraft in transition modes, the developers proposed two projects of experimental aircraft of such a design that could be implemented by the production of LII .

A.N. Raphaeliants died on March 3, 1960. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery (8th section) in Moscow. The LII's work on creating aircraft with GDP was continued by the Yakovlev Design Bureau . The aircraft Yak-36 , Yak-38 , Yak-141 were built .

Family

Spouse - S. G. Agayan, aviation engineer, member of the People’s Control of Moscow. Daughter - A. A. Rafaelyants-Agayan, aviation engineer.

• The order of Lenin.
• Order of the Patriotic War of 1 degree.
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
• Order of the Badge of Honor.
• Medal "For the defense of Moscow."
• Medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."
• Medal "For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."
• Medal "800th anniversary of Moscow."

• Scientific and Memorial Museum N.E. Zhukovsky in Moscow. Materials for the history of aviation. TsAGI. Repl. Spanish O. C. Balakhovskaya. Moscow, 1988.
• Air Force Museum in Monino. "Turbolet".
• Scientific and Memorial Museum N.E. Zhukovsky in Moscow. Rafaelian Foundation A. N. inv. 2664-65,4263,4529
• State Museum of Armenia. Act 1117.
• Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow. 16 units of storage.

• Big technical encyclopedia. Volume 1 / Ed. L.K. Martens. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1929. - S. 83.
• Taschenbuch der Luftflotten / H. Bechhold. - Frankfurt am Main: 1927 .-- S. 65.
• Aviation. Encyclopedia / Ed. G.P.Svishchev. - M.: Big Russian Encyclopedia / TsAGI them. N.E. Zhukovsky, 1994 .-- S. 473.
• The history of aircraft designs in the USSR until 1933 / V. B. Shavrov. - M.: Mechanical Engineering, 1985. - S. 465.
• The history of aircraft designs in the USSR until 1938 / V. B. Shavrov. - 3rd ed., Rev. -M.: Engineering, 1985. - S. 739.
• Bykovsky Aircraft Repair / G.M. Goldenberg, Yu.I. Koval, V.F. Bluger, I.P. Shalagin, V.V. Bondarenko, Yu. G. Ksenofontova, A.V. Aleksandrova - M .: 1981. - S. 25.
• It is checked on itself. Documents, diaries, memories of the Hero of the Soviet Union Honored Test Pilot Garnayev Yu. A. / Comp. A. G. Merkulov. - M .: Young Guard, 1986. - S. 68. Photo at the end of the book.

• Air Museum. Rafaelians Aram Nazarovich
• Russian aviators. Rafaelians Aram Nazarovich