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Alexander Kartveli 1896-1974 Following text from rustaveli.tripod.com Alexander Kartveli was one of the greatest aircraft engineers, who contributed to the Allied war efforts during World War II. Born in Tbilisi, Georgia. In 1919, He had been sent to Paris by his government to perfect his knowledge of artillery. When two years later, the Red Army invaded his native land and proclaimed Socialistic Republic. Kartveli remained in France and entered the "Ecole Supérieure d'Aéronautique" in Paris. To support himself, he gave private lessons in mathematics, and performed as a trapeze artist in a circus during the evening. After graduation, Kartveli worked for a while at the Blériot Company and designed aircrafts "Bernard" and "Ferbois." In 1924, one of his aircrafts established new world record of speed. He then began working on a gigantic passenger aircraft and shared his plans with american millioner Charles Levine, a wealthy and eccentric American who dreamed to build a transatlantic transport plane. In 1927, Levine invited himto New York.  However, Levine's projects having failed, Kartveli joined the Fokker American Company in 1928. Three years later, while this company was going bankrupt, Alexander Kartveli met Alexander de Seversky, who was also from Tbilisi, and became chief engineer at Seversky Aircraft Corp. Two talented engineers created a series of aircrafts and during teh WWII they designed one of the greatest airplanes, P-47 Thunderbolt. After the war, Kartveli continued his work on designing airplanes, creating several jet-engine planes, including F-84 "Thunderjet" and Republic F-105 Thunderchief. Kartveli lived with his wife in New York for most of his life. He worked at Seversky Aircraft Corp and Republic  for almost 35 years and temporarily resigned in 1962. However, he returned in 1964 and continued his work at "Fairchild Hiller" as consultant on aircraft design. He died in 1974. Read more about Alexander Kartveli at Wikiverse.org.