Activities of engineer Boris Loutzkoy on the eve of the First World War

Оlexander Firsov

Abstract The article focuses on the remarkable life of Boris Loutzky, an outstanding designer of Ukrainian descent. The purpose of this research is to fill a gap in the biography of Boris Loutzkoy that related to his activities on the eve of the First World War. The article, based on archival sources, reveals hitherto unknown biographical facts. In particular, previously unknown Boris Loutzkoy’s correspondence with engineer Boris Vorobiev – the founder of Ukraine's first aviation engine-building plant «DEKA» is introduced into scientific use. There is presented documents from the Russian Academy of Sciences, which indicate that Boris Loutzkoy was engaged in manufacturing new aircraft engines of his own design at the Daimler plant in Germany on the eve of the First World War. He intended to put the engines on new aircrafts of his own design and arrange their flight from Germany to Russia with the help of Russian pilots. It is established that Boris Loutzkoy together with engineer Boris Vorobiev and financier Nikolai Vorobiev founded a company in St. Petersburg in 1913. The corporate objective of the company was to build the first in the Russian Empire aircraft engine of Loutzkoy design production plant. It is found that the world's first vertical internal combustion engine with a crankshaft located under the cylinder was created by Boris Loutzkoy in 1885, as the world's first 6-cylinder engine in 1899.

Key words: Boris Loutzkoy, Boris Vorobiev, engineers, designers, unknown biographical facts, correspondence