born Nov. 10, 1888, Pustomazovo, Russia
died Dec. 23, 1972, Moscow
Russian aircraft designer.
In 1918 he cofounded the U.S.S.R.'s Central Aerohydrodynamics Institute, and in 1922 he became head of its design bureau (see Tupolev ), producing airplanes of all-metal construction. Arrested in 1937 on charges of activities against the state, he was assigned to work on the design of military aircraft. Under confinement, he led a team that produced the Tu-2 twin-engine tactical bomber, which was widely used in World War II. Freed during the war, Tupolev and his reestablished design bureau replicated the U.S. B-29; the resulting Tu-4 became the Soviet Union's principal strategic bomber until the mid-1950s. After adapting jet propulsion to several piston-engine airframes, Tupolev introduced the swept-wing Tu-16 (NATO, "Badger") jet bomber (first flown 1952) and its civilian derivative Tu-104 (1955), one of the first jet transports to provide regular passenger service. Tupolev and his son Alexei headed the effort that produced the Tu-144 supersonic transport, the first passenger jet to exceed Mach 1 (1969).