Liulka, Arkhip Mikhailovich

Liul’ka, Arkhip Mikhailovich 

Born Mar. 10 (23), 1908, in the village of Savarka, present-day Boguslav Raion, Kiev Oblast. Soviet designer of aircraft engines; academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1968; corresponding member, 1960). Hero of Socialist Labor (1957). Member of the CPSU since 1947.

Liul’ka graduated from the Kiev Polytechnic Institute in 1931 and subsequently worked in the aviation industry in Kharkov, Leningrad, and Moscow. From 1933 to 1937 he worked on the problem of the use of gas turbines as aircraft engines and gave scientific proof of the feasibility of producing turbojet engines for high-speed aircraft. From 1939 to 1941 he developed a design for a bypass turbojet engine, which was the prototype for current designs; he also defined the analytical relationships of the “degeneracy zone” for turbojet engines. Since 1946 he has been a chief aircraft engine designer.

The first turbojet engine made in the USSR was built under Liul’ka’s guidance and with his direct participation; it passed the government tests in 1948. He later designed a number of powerful turbojet engines. He developed and made practicable proposals for the use of new fuels. He received the State Prize of the USSR (1948 and 1951) and was awarded three Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and medals.