Gleb Kotelnikov

Gleb Kotelnikov Jewgenjewitsch (Russian Глеб Евгеньевич Котельников; * 18 Januarjul / January 30 1872greg in Saint Petersburg, .. † November 22, 1944 in Moscow) invented the knapsack parachute.

His father was a mathematician and physicist. In 1894 he graduated from the Military Academy Kiev and was until 1910 in military service. Then he dreamed of a career as an actor and went back to Saint Petersburg.

Once there crashed in September 1910 at an air show pilot Lew Mazijewitsch his plane Kotelnikov was shocked and thought about a parachute after. First he tried to place him in a helmet. The parachute should have a minimum diameter of 7.5 meters, but matched therefore no longer in a helmet.

Then the idea came to him with the backpack parachute and at first he built a metal backpack. However, the military was skeptical. Since the tests were inconclusive with a model he built in 1912 a full-scale model, which he called RK -1 ( Russki, Kotelnikowa, model 1). Since the military is now refusing to test him out of a plane, he tried to brake a car with what the military eventually convinced.

In June 1912, lived a test jumper in Salizi, near Gatchina, several jumps from a balloon from different heights. On 9 October, the first attempt was made out of an airplane. In January 1913 his business partner, William Augustowitsch Lomach presented it at a competition in Paris. A student jumped several times from a 53 m high bridge and landed safely. Kotelnikov was not present at the competition and Lomach took the opportunity, the two test parachutes for sale. From mid copies of the RK- 1 in Europe were widespread.

During the First World War, but the government decided to appoint a greater number of RK -1. 1923 modernized Kotelnikov the RK -1 to RK -2 and patented it. The RK -3 1924 had an elastic backpack. Later Kotelnikov tried in the construction of load parachutes.

During the Second World War Kotelnikov lived in Leningrad, where he survived the blockade. He then went to Moscow, where he died in November 1944.

Kotelnikov was honored with the Order of Red Star ( 1924).