Viktor Petrovich
Makeev
1924-1985
Viktor Petrovich Makeev was the Chief Designer of SKB-385 of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR for Defence Technology, the Chief Designer of the Engineering Design Bureau of the Ministry of General Engineering of the USSR (Miass city of Chelyabinsk region), the Hero of Socialist Labor, an author of 32 fundamental inventions, more than 200 printed works, including monographs. Viktor Petrovich Makeev conducted extensive teaching work, supervised postgraduate studies. He was born on October 25, 1924. in the village of Protopopovo (now the Kirov settlement of the Kolomna district of the Moscow region) in the family of a worker of the Kolomna Machine–building Plant. He worked since 1939 at the aviation plant No. 22 in Moscow (since 1941 – in evacuation in Kazan) as a draftsman and designer. He showed the ability to solve design problems skillfully in the conditions of intense serial production of Pe-2 aircraft. He studied at the evening department of Kazan Aviation Institute (1942), then was transferred to the full-time department of Sergo Ordzhonikidze Moscow Aviation Institute (1944), from which he graduated in 1948. In 1950 he completed the Higher Engineering Courses at Bauman Moscow Higher Technical School. Since 1947 (in parallel with his studies) he worked at OKB-1 Research Institute-88 as a leading designer. He was a participant in the creation of the operational-tactical missile R-11 and the first naval ballistic missile R-11FM. In 1950-1952 he was at the hardware work, he was an instructor of the Department of working youth of the Komsomol Central Committee. Since 1952 he was the leading designer at OKB-1 again. In 1955, at the suggestion of S.P. Korolev, he was appointed as the chief designer of SKB-385 (later – KB of Mechanical Engineering). Since 1963 he was the Head of the enterprise and chief designer, since 1977 – Head of the Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau and General designer. Under his leadership, the Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau became the leading scientific and design organization of the country, an extensive cooperation of research institutes, design bureaus, manufacturing plants, test sites were formed, which solved the tasks of developing, manufacturing and testing missile systems for the Navy. By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated June 17, 1961 for outstanding achievements in creating samples of rocket technology and ensuring a successful human flight into outer space, Viktor Petrovich Makeev was awarded the title of the Hero of Socialist Labor with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal. The result of the activities of the Design Bureau led by V.P. Makeev and the extensive cooperation of enterprises is three generations of naval missile systems put into service by the country’s Navy. Among them are complexes with missiles: R-21 – the first missile with an underwater launch (1963); R-27 – the first factory-fueled rocket (1968), which became the most popular domestic SLBM; R–29 – the first naval intercontinental missile (1974); R–29R – the first naval intercontinental missile with a separable head (1977); R–39 – the first domestic solid-fuel SLBM of intercontinental firing range with a splitting head (1983); R-29RM – a SLBM of the world’s highest energy-mass perfection. The Russian School of Naval Rocket Engineering, the creator and head of which was V.P. Makeev, has achieved world priority in a number of tactical and technical characteristics and design and layout solutions for missiles, control systems, launch systems. The main priority solutions are the placement of engines inside fuel or oxidizer tanks, the almost complete exclusion of rocket volumes that are not used for fuel, the use of astroradiocorrection on combat missiles, the use of belt cushioning made of elastomeric materials, factory refueling of the rocket with ampullization of tanks. Under his leadership, a unique laboratory and experimental base has been created, providing comprehensive ground testing of missiles. By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated October 24, 1974, Viktor Petrovich Makeev was awarded the Order of Lenin and the second Hammer and Sickle gold medal for the creation of the complex with the RSM-40 missile.
Address: Moscow, Volokolamsk highway, 4, building 7
