Alexander Prokofiev de Seversky

Seversky, Alexander Prokofiev de (1894-1974), Russian born, US naturalized aviation designer and air-power theorist. In a career presenting remarkable parallels with that of Igor Sikorsky, the Russian designer of the Ilya Muromets heavy bomber who came to the USA after WW I and designed helicopters, Seversky began as a pilot in the Russian Naval Air Service. He worked as a test pilot and founded the Seversky Air Corporation in 1922, and later headed several aeronautical firms including the Seversky Aircraft Corporation from 1931 to 1939. He invented an automatic bombsight patented by the USA and in 1936 designed an all-metal trainer and high-speed fighter. In 1938 he designed a fighter which was the basis for the P-47 Thunderbolt, the key to air superiority over Germany in WW II. In 1942 he published Victory through Air Power, an influential book on the subject.

— Christopher Bellamy

Born in Tiflis, in Georgian Russia, de Seversky served in the Imperial Russian Naval Air Service during World War I. A combat accident in 1915 claimed his right leg, but he continued flying. The Russian Revolution made de Seversky's temporary assignment to the United States permanent in 1917. Four years later, he sold an new bombsight to the U.S. government. He also met Billy Mitchell, and for the rest of his life would champion Mitchell's doctrine that strategic air power could win wars, rendering armies and navies superfluous.

In 1939, de Seversky began writing full time. Victory Through Air Power, his most influential work, was published in April 1942, following a string of Allied defeats. Readers eager for an antidote to Axis domination bought at least 350,000 hardcover and paperback copies. Reader's Digest released a condensed version and many newspapers carried installments. Walt Disney was inspired to make a film using animation to transfer de Seversky's theories to the screen. In his book, Seversky extended Mitchell's vision of airpower to argue that even if bombing could not achieve quick victory, it could obtain total victory through unconditional surrender. He also openly criticized military leaders for slowing development of very long‐range bomber aircraft in order to promote more conventional weapons such as aircraft carriers and fighter airplanes. Army air force and navy leaders and public relations officers campaigned to discredit de Seversky, his book, and the film. They were largely unsuccessful. By war's end, de Seversky had stimulated popular awareness and driven the national debate on strategic airpower further than any previous writer.

[See also Douhet, Giulio; World War II, U.S. Air Operations in.]

Bibliography

• Russell E. Lee, Impact of Victory Through Air Power—Part I: The Army Air Forces Reaction, Air Power History (Summer 1993), pp. 3–33

Seversky, Alexander de (1894-1974) aerospace engineer, born in Georgia, then part of imperial Russia, de Seversky received a military education and served in World War I, losing a leg in combat. He became chief of naval fighter aviation in the Baltic Sea and the most famous Russian naval pilot of the war. After the Russian Revolution, the provisional government sent him to Washington, D.C., as an assistant naval attaché for air; when the Bolsheviks took over the government in 1918 he defected and became a consulting engineer and test pilot for the U.S. Department of War. In his work for the government, de Seversky developed several technological innovations, including in-flight refueling and the first fully automatic synchronous bombsight (which led the way to automatic pilot). He became a U.S. citizen in 1927 and was commissioned a major in the Air Corps Specialists Reserve. De Seversky founded his own company, Seversky Aircraft Corporation, in 1931, where he developed the world's fastest amphibious airplane and the first all-metal skin-stressed single-seat fighter, whose design became an industry standard. Rebellion against some of his designs within the company led the board of directors to oust him as president in 1939 and to change the name of the company to Republic Aviation Company. De Seversky went on to lobby Congress and to argue forcefully for the role of aviation in warfare, particularly in his book Victory through Air Power; his views had great impact. After the war, he warned against Soviet aggression, supported the concept of deterrence through threat of massive retaliation, and researched ways to defend against nuclear attack.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Dictionary: de Se·ver·sky  (də sə-vĕr'skē) , Alexander Procofieff 1894–1974.

Russian-born American aeronautical engineer who invented various airplane devices, including a bombsight used by the U.S. military.

For other uses, see Seversky.

Alexander P. de Seversky in a scene from the film Victory Through Air Power

Alexander Nikolaievich Prokofiev de Seversky (also Prokofiev-Seversky or DeSeversky), (June 7, 1894 – August 24, 1974) was a Russian-American aviation pioneer, inventor, and influential advocate of strategic air power.

Of noble Russian parentage, Pokofiev was born in Tiflis. He served as a Russian naval aviator in World War I, lost a leg in combat, and continued to fly, shooting down six German aircraft. In 1917 he was in the U. S. as a member of the naval aviation mission and decided to stay. He worked as a test pilot and became an assistant to air power advocate General Billy Mitchell.

He was awarded the Order of St. George (4th Class); Order of St. Vladimir (4th Class); Order of St. Stanislaus (2nd & 3rd Class); Order of St. Anne (2nd; 3rd; and 4th class).

He applied for and received the first patent for air-to-air refueling in 1921. In 1927, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

He married Evelyn Olliphant (c1895-1967). ^[1]

He founded the Seversky Aircraft Corporation in 1931, but despite landing several government contracts the company was never able to turn a profit under his management; the Board of Directors voted him out and reorganized as the Republic Aviation Company, which was successful and produced many planes, including the famous Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. Republic was acquired by Fairchild in 1965.

Often described as "flamboyant" and a "showman," Seversky was always good at capturing the public eye, and was considered a newsworthy celebrity. In 1942 The New York Times considered it news that "Airplane Designer Rents Apartment: Major Seversky One Of Seven New Tenants in 40 Central Park South."

He was the author of the influential 1942 book, Victory Through Air Power, which Disney adapted into a motion picture. Seversky argued for the immediate development of long-range bombers, specifically intercontinental bombers capable of directly striking Germany and Japan from the U.S. without refueling. He urged the shift of manufacturing resources away from traditional land- and sea-based armaments and air-support aircraft and toward these bombers. He argued that existing U.S. strategy was futile and could not achieve victory, due to the disparity between the long supply lines needed by U.S. forces and the excellent interior communications within Germany and Japan. No matter how many machines and planes the U.S. threw at the Axis powers, they could withstand the assault by shrinking their defensive perimeter and concentrating their power. Seversky argued that direct bomber attacks from U.S.-based aircraft were the only way of administering a knockout blow. He acknowledged that shifting priorities to strategic air would reduce the strength of traditional forces, but argued that this would require only a temporary yielding of ground.

He was one of a number of strategic air advocates whose vision was realized in the 1946 creation of the Strategic Air Command and the development of aircraft such as the Convair B-36 and B-47 Stratojet. Seversky continued to publicize his ideas for innovative aircraft and weaponry, notably the 1964 Ionocraft which was to be a single-man aircraft powered by the ionic wind from a high-voltage discharge. A laboratory demonstration was acknowledged to require 90 watts to lift a two ounce (60 g) model, and no man-carrying version was ever built.

He was a trustee of The New York Institute of Technology, which in 1972 acquired an elegant mansion originally built by Alfred I. du Pont. It was renamed "The DeSeversky Center" in his honor, and is a popular venue for weddings.

His died in 1974, and was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. ^[2]

References

1. ^ "Mrs. Alexander de Seversky, 60, Wife of Plane Designer, Is Dead; A Flier Herself, She Aided Husband in Tests of World War II Craft.", New York Times, July 31, 1967, Monday. Retrieved on 2007-07-21. “Mrs. Evelyn Olliphant de Seversky, wife of Alexander P. de Seversky, the aeronautical engineer and designer, herself well-known as a pilot, died Friday of a heart ailment in her country home at Asharoken Beach, Northport, L.I. She was 60 years old and lived here at 40 Central Park South.” 
2. ^ "Alexander P. de Seversky Dies at 80; Early Strategic Air Power Proponent", New York Times, August 26, 1974, Monday. Retrieved on 2007-07-21. “Alexander P. de Seversky, a zealous proponent of strategic air power, who flew more than 50 World War I combat missions after losing his right leg and whose inventions were major contributions to military and commercial flying, died Saturday at Memorial Hospital.” 

See also

• Seversky P-35
• P-47 Thunderbolt

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)