Andrei Nikolayevich Tupolev Andrei Nikolayevich Tupolev (Russian: Андре́й Никола́евич Туполев; November 10, 1888 – December 23, 1972) was a pioneering Russian aircraft designer.
Tupolev was born in Pustomazovo, Russia. His most famous passenger designs are the Tu-134 and Tu-154. During his career, Tupolev was the creator of more than 100 types of aircraft which were used to set 78 world records. In recognition of his work, he was made an honorary member of Britain's Royal Aeronautical Society and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
He was a leading designer at the Moscow-based Central Aero-Hydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) from 1929 until his death in 1972. This design bureau produced mostly bombers and airliners.
Of the military aircraft he designed, the Tupolev Tu-26 (an intercontinental bomber) is probably the most famous.
Tupolev was arrested in 1937 together with another famous aircraft designer, Vladimir Petlyakov, charged with the creation of "Russian Fascist Party". In 1939 he was moved from a prison into Bolshevo near Moscow, where an NKVD sharashka for aircraft designers was established and where many of his colleagues from TsAGI have already been working. Soon it was moved to Moscow and was known as "Tupolevka". Officially Tupolev was convicted in 1940 fo 10 years, but released in 1944 "for carrying out important defense works". However he was fully rehabilitated only two years after Stalin's death, in 1955.
He is buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow, Russia.
His son Alexei Tupolev (1925–2001) was also a famous aircraft designer. His most famous design was the supersonic airliner Tupolev Tu-144.
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