Aleksandr Bereznyak

Aleksandr Yakovlevich Bereznyak (29 December 1912 – 7 July 1974) was a Soviet aircraft and missile designer. He was the chief designer of MKB Raduga, from March 1957.

Biography
Aleksandr Bereznyak was born on 29 December 1912 in Boyarkino, Ozyorsky District, Moscow Oblast.

He was employed in aviation industries since 1931. Bereznyak was a graduate of the Moscow Aviation Institute named after Ordzhonikidze (1938). He was an engineer in the experimental design bureau of V. F. Bolkhovitinov. While working in the bureau, he designed the first soviet jet, the BI-1, which was equipped with liquid fuel to power a rocket engine. The BI-1 was created in 1942 in co-operation with A. M. Isaev). He became Vice-chief designer of OKB-2 in 1946, later to become the chief designer in 1957. Other his developments include: In March 1957 he was assigned to lead the newly established MKB Raduga in the village of Ivankovo near the town of Dubna. This had started in 1951 as Branch 2 of Artem Mikoyan's OKB-155 to produce the KS-1 Kometa missle. Raduga specialized in a range of tactical missiles.
 * BI-1 — an early rocket-powered aircraft rocket fighter developed by Bereznyak and Isaev in 1940-1944. It flew after German's experimental He 176, but still was the first Soviet rocket plane. Eight test planes (usually referred as BI-1 — BI-8) were built.
 * 302P
 * 346 — experimental, trans-sonic speed, 1946.
 * 468 — jet, project, 1948–1949.

Bereznyak was a Doctor in Engineering (1968).

Aleksandr Bereznyak died on 7 July 1974 in Dubna, Moscow Oblast.

Awards

 * Merited engineering scientist of the RSFSR (1973)
 * Lenin Prize
 * USSR State Prize
 * Order of Lenin
 * Order of the October Revolution
 * Order of the Red Banner of Labour and numerous medals

Memorials

 * There is a bronze bust of Bereznyak installed at the MKB Raduga headquarters building where he once worked
 * A street and a high school in Dubna were named after Bereznyak