Alexander Kartveli

Alexander Kartveli ( _ka. ალექსანდრე ქართველიშვილი) 1896-1974, born Kartvelishvili) was an aircraft engineer and a pioneer of American aviation.

Kartveli was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, then in Russian Empire. He graduated from the Gymnasium in Tbilisi in 1914.

Kartveli graduated in 1922 from the Highest School of Aviation in Paris. In 1922-1927, he worked for a while at the Louis Bleriot Company and designed the "Bernard" and "Ferbois" aircraft . In 1924, one of his aircraft established a world speed record.

In 1927, American millionaire Charles Levine invited Kartveli to New York. In 1928 he joined the Fokker American Company. In 1931 Kartveli met well-known engineer Alexander de Seversky, who was also from Georgia, and became Chief Engineer at the Seversky Aircraft Corporation. In 1939 this Company changed its name to the "Republic Aviation Company".

Kartveli and Seversky created a series of aircraft and during World War II they designed one of its greatest planes, the Republic P-47.

After World War II, Kartveli designed well-known aircraft such as the Republic F-84 Thunderjet and the Republic F-105 Thunderchief.

Kartveli died in 1974, in New York.

ee also

* List of Georgians
* History of Georgia

External links

* [http://www.aviationboom.com/pioneers/alex_kartveli.shtml Aviation Pioneers - Alexander Kartveli]
* [http://www.hill.af.mil/museum/history/kartveli.htm Alexander Kartveli]
* [http://www.alexanderkartveli.com Alexander Kartveli The Man Behind Legends]