Alexander Kartveli

Alexander Kartveli (Kartvelishvili. 1896-1974) Georgian engineer and scientist, one of the greatest aircraft engineers of the XX century, and one of the pioneers of American aviation. Born in 1896, in Tbilisi (capital of Georgia). In 1922 he graduated from the High 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 F-84 Thunderjet, the Republic F-105 and the Republic F-84.

Kartveli died in 1974, in New York.