Aviation pioneer. He designed the Il-2 Shturmovik, which made its maiden flight in 1939. This single-engine aircraft became the most-produced combat aircraft made, with 36,183 being produced. It remains the second most-produced aircraft in history, behind the United States Cessna 172. Born the youngest of eleven children in a peasant family in the Russian Empire, he was mainly self-educated. Before having a career in aviation, he held positions as a factory and railroad laborer, dairy farmer's hand, ditch-digger at construction sites, and cleaner of gutters at a dye plant. While serving in the Russian Army during World War I, he had his chance to enter an aviation career, being trained first as a mechanic and becoming a member of the ground crew. In the summer of 1917, he was qualified as a pilot. With the Russia's October Revolution of 1917, he was drafted into the Red Army in May of 1919, working as aviation technician. In 1921 he was discharged from military service and entered the Institute of Engineers of the Red Air Fleet. In 1925 one of his designs was sent to a competition in Germany, placing first for flight time. He obtained a degree in engineering in 1926 and served until November 1931 as an airplanes section manager within the Soviet Air Force Scientific-Technical Committee. After World War II, he designed the Il-12 twin-engine passenger aircraft in 1946, the Il-18 four-engine turboprop transport in 1957, the Il-62 turbojet passenger carrier in 1962, and the Il-86 airbus, which made its first flight in 1976. While on a solo flight on April 21, 1938, he was forced to make an emergency landing, suffering injuries to his forehead, which was permanently scarred. He eventually became a lieutenant general in the Soviet Red Army technical service and a professor at his old academy. He was awarded three Hero of Soviet Labor medals as well as the Order of Lenin and eight State Prizes of the USSR. He retired in 1970.