Memories of the outstanding aircraft designer Oleg Antonov

On the eve of the 115th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding aircraft designer Oleg Antonov, Igor
Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute was visited by his daughter Anna Olegivna and employees of the
State Enterprise "Antonov".
The guests arrived at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute on February 5 after laying flowers at
the grave of Oleg Antonov at the Baykovo cemetery. They were met by the rector of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv
Polytechnic Institute Academician of the NAS of Ukraine Michael Zgurovsky, Vice-Rectors of the
University Corresponding Member of the NAS of Ukraine Serhiy Sydorenko and Vadym Kondratyuk,
MMI Director Corresponding Member of the NAS of Ukraine Mykola Bobyr and other staff.
The topic of conversation was the legendary personality of Oleg Antonov, his huge contribution to the
aircraft industry, and, of course, long-term cooperation between Kyiv Polytechnic and “Antonov”.
The guests visited the Alley of Outstanding Designers and Scientists, whose life and activity were
connected with Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, got acquainted with the expositions of the State
Polytechnic Museum and its Department of Aviation and Astronautics. Meaningful, informal and full of
details was the story of Michael Zgurovsky, who made a guided tour for them personally. They stopped
separately at the exposition of the State Enterprise "Antonov", where the acting General Director of the
"Antonov” State Enterprise Serhiy Bychkov presented Michael Zakharovych with a model of the AN-124
aircraft (pictured), which will be installed in the museum.
Serhiy Bychkov and Anna Olegivna Antonova spoke about the close ties between Igor Sikorsky Kyiv
Polytechnic Institute and SE “Antonov”, emphasizing that the contribution of our graduates to the
creation of aircraft is extremely significant. "On each aircraft under the brand name of the AN you can
write an abbreviation - KPI!” - emotionally expressed the head of the company, which is named after a
great aircraft designer.
Another interesting moment of the meeting - a well-known philanthropist Anatoliy Shumskyi told
journalists about the preparations for the transfer of the legendary AN-2 aircraft to the State Polytechnic
Museum (the Kyiv Polytechnic newspaper has already written about this). He noted that this aircraft,
created in the first years of work of the design bureau in Kyiv, was, according to Oleg Antonov, one of its
best creations. Anatoliy Shumskyi bought it at auction, now it is being reconstructed at the Antonov State
Enterprise, and will soon be transferred to the State Polytechnic Museum. The pedestal for it is already
prepared…
By the way…
According to the press service of the Office of the President of Ukraine on its Facebook page on
February 7, President Volodymyr Zelensky instructed “Ukroboronprom”, which includes “Antonov”,
together with the Ministry of Education and Science and the National Technical University of Ukraine
"Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute" create and within three months launch a special training
program for design engineers named after O.K. Antonov, and instructed the Cabinet of Ministers - to
develop incentives so that talented young engineers can continue to glorify Ukraine around the world.
Volodymyr Shkolnyi