Mikhail Mil

2025-04-01T12:13:30Z

2003:DF:1741:8000:8417:CD7F:3376:4399: Undid revision 1283284412 by 213.172.241.121 (talk) Disruptive editing, somebody needs to ban this person again...

{{Short description|Soviet helicopter designer (1909–1970)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox engineer
|name = Mikhail Mil
|image = Rus Stamp-Mil-1.jpg
|caption = Mil on a 1990 Russian commemorative postage stamp
|birth_name = Mikhail Leontyevich Mil
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1909|11|22}}
|birth_place = [[Irkutsk]], [[Russian Empire]]
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1970|01|31|1909|11|22}}
|death_place = [[Moscow]], [[Soviet Union]]
|education =
|parents =
|discipline = [[Aerospace engineering]]
|employer = [[Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant]]
|signature = Sign of M. L. Mil.png
|native_name={{nobold|Михаил Миль}}}}

'''Mikhail Leontyevich Mil''' ({{langx|ru|Михаил Леонтьевич Миль}}; 22 November 1909 – 31 January 1970) was a Soviet and Russian [[Aerospace engineering|aerospace engineer]] and [[scientist]]. He was the founder and general designer of the [[Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant]].<ref>[http://www.monino.ru/ Central Museum of the Military Air Forces of the Russian Federation]</ref>

==Biography==
Mil was born to a [[History of the Jews in Russia|Russian Jewish]] family in [[Irkutsk]]. His father was an employee of the [[Trans-Siberian Railway]], and his mother was a dentist. His grandfather was a [[cantonist]] who had been drafted from Libava (today [[Liepāja]]), [[Latvia]], and who settled in [[Siberia]] after 25 years in the [[Imperial Russian Navy]].

At age 12 Mil won the first prize in a model glider competition. In 1926 he entered the [[Tomsk Polytechnic University|Siberian Technological Institute]] in [[Tomsk]]; however, since there was no curriculum for [[aerospace engineering]], he decided to transfer in 1928 to the [[Don Polytechnical Institute]] in [[Novocherkassk]], where he was able to specialise in aviation. He married a fellow student, P.G. Rudenko, in 1932 and 4 daughters and a son followed.

After graduating from the institute in 1931, Mil began his career at [[Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute|TsAGI]], too late to work under its original founder, [[Nikolay Zhukovsky (scientist)|Nikolay Zhukovsky]]. He specialised in the design of [[autogyro]]s, and was an assistant to his future rival, [[Nikolai Kamov (engineer)|Nikolai Kamov]]. With the start of [[World War II]], Mil was drafted into the [[Red Army]] and fought on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] in 1941 near [[Yelnya]]. In 1943 he was called back to continue [[research and development]] in improving the stability and control of combat aircraft. He completed his [[Thesis|dissertations]] ("Candidate", 1943, [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]], 1945) and in 1947 headed the Helicopter Lab at TsAGI, which was later turned into the Moscow Helicopter Plant.

[[File:Mil Mi-12 aug 2008 2.jpg|thumb|right|
Mil V-12 at the [[Central Air Force Museum]]]]
[[File:1961 CPA 2651.jpg|thumb|224x224px|Mi-4 helicopter on the USSR stamp]]
Mil's creations won many domestic and international awards and set 69 world records. Most notably, the [[Mil Mi-4]] won a gold medal in the [[Brussels International Exposition (1897)|Brussels International Exposition]] in 1958. In 1971, after his death, his [[Mil V-12|Mil Mi-12]] (production name of V-12 prototype) won the [[Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition|Sikorsky Prize]] as the most powerful helicopter in the world. Unlike his Soviet counterpart, Nikolai Kamov, Mil enjoyed great prestige due to his single-rotor helicopters, as Kamov used the co-axial rotor layout, which was more controversial.

He died in 1970 in Moscow and was buried in Yudinskoe Cemetery in the outskirts of Moscow.

==Awards and honors==
*[[Hero of Socialist Labour]] (1966)<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=М.Л. Миль - создатель грозной силы |url=http://www.coldwar.ru/rvo/112009/mil-sozdatel-groznoy-sili.php |access-date=2024-09-07 |website=www.coldwar.ru}}</ref>
*Three [[Order of Lenin|Orders of Lenin]] (1957, 1966, 1969)<ref name=":0" />
*[[Order of the Patriotic War]], 2nd class (1945)<ref name=":0" />
*[[Order of the Red Banner of Labour]] (1959)<ref name=":0" />
*[[Order of the Red Star]] (1944)<ref name=":0" />
*[[Lenin Prize]] (1958)<ref name=":0" />
*[[USSR State Prize]] (1968)<ref name=":0" />
*[[Order of Polonia Restituta]]<ref name=":0" />

== Memory ==
[[File:Mi3UdKl.jpg|thumb|287x287px|The grave of M. L. Mil at the Yudinsky cemetery]]

* On July 5, 2023, a monument to aircraft designers M. L. Mil and [[Nikolai Kamov (engineer)|N. I. Kamov]] was unveiled in Irkutsk (architect Sergey Demkov).<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Ростех открыл памятник авиаконструкторам Милю и Камову в Иркутске |url=https://rostec.ru/news/rostekh-otkryl-pamyatnik-aviakonstruktoram-milyu-i-kamovu-v-irkutske/ |access-date=2024-09-07 |website=rostec.ru}}</ref>
* The National Helicopter Building Center is named in memory of Mikhail Mile and Nikolai Kamov ("NCV Miles and Kamov"). It was established in 2019 on the basis of JSC "Moscow Helicopter Plant named after M.L. Mil" and JSC "Kamov".<ref name=":1" /> The company is part of the [[Russian Helicopters]] holding company.
* State budgetary educational institution of the city of Moscow "School No. 1359 named after aircraft designer M.L. Mil" Date of establishment of the educational organization on September 1, 1993.

==References==
*Pederson, Jay. ''International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 24'', St James Press (1998) {{ISBN|1-55862-365-5}}
*Bull, Stephan. ''Encyclopedia of Military Technology and Innovation'', Greenwood (2004) {{ISBN|1-57356-557-1}}
*Gordon, Yefim. ''Soviet Air Power in World War II''. Midland Publishing (2008) {{ISBN|1-85780-304-3}}
{{reflist}}

{{Portal|Soviet Union|Biography|Aviation}}
{{Commons category|Mikhail Mil}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mil, Mikhail}}
[[Category:1909 births]]
[[Category:1970 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Irkutsk]]
[[Category:People from Irkutsk Governorate]]
[[Category:Tomsk Polytechnic University alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Heroes of Socialist Labour]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Lenin Prize]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Star]]
[[Category:Recipients of the USSR State Prize]]
[[Category:Russian people of Latvian descent]]
[[Category:Russian aerospace engineers]]
[[Category:Russian mechanical engineers]]
[[Category:Soviet aerospace engineers]]
[[Category:Soviet mechanical engineers]]
[[Category:Russian scientists]]

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Mikhail Mil