Viktor Belyaev was born in the family of
Nikolai Vasilievich Belyaev, an engineer and founder of the
Upper Volga Railway. Before the
Russian Revolution, he studied mathematics at the
Moscow State University. After the revolution, he was able to continue his studies for short periods of time at the Moscow Polytechnic Institute (1920-1922) and then at the 1st Moscow State University (1922-1923). He began his career in 1918. For some time, he worked at a number of enterprises, including the railway and teaching, but in 1925, he began to work in the aviation industry as a strength engineer in the design bureau of
Dmitry Grigorovich. In 1926, he transferred to the
Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), to the design office of
Andrei Tupolev in the brigade of
Vladimir Petlyakov, where he participated in the strength calculations of the
ANT-6,
ANT-7,
ANT-9,
ANT-14,
ANT-20 aircraft. Soon, Petlyakov's team was transformed into a separate design bureau from 1931, where Belyaev took the post of chief of the settlement brigade. In 1930, Belyaev began to work part-time as a researcher in the strength department of TsAGI. In the early 1930s, Belyaev created the
BP-2 (TsAGI-2) glider, a prototype of an unusual aircraft he had conceived. In August 1934, on a glider rally in
Koktebel, the glider's flights demonstrated excellent flight qualities. In 1935, Belyaev consolidated his success by creating the record-breaking
BP-3 glider, which made its first flight on 18 June 1935. The aerodynamic quality of the glider was very high at 33 units. There is unconfirmed information about the construction of several BP-3 in the workshops of the school of sea pilots in the city of
Yeysk. In 1935, a competition for high-speed transport aircraft was announced by the Aviation All-Union Scientific Engineering and Technical Society (AviaVNITO) and the newspaper
Za Rulem. Belyaev's design team submitted a project for a twin-engine, twin-fuselage aircraft of an unusual design, called AviaVNITO-3. The project was among the winners of the competition and recommended for construction, but none of the competition aircraft were built. In 1937, the design team began developing a bomber on the basis of the AviaVNITO-3 project. In 1939, Belyaev was appointed one of the chief designers of the TsAGI Special Designs plant. In July 1940, he was awarded the degree of chief designer of the third category together with aircraft designers
Artem Mikoyan,
Mikhail Gurevich,
Nikolai Kamov, and others. After returning from evacuation in 1943 and until his death, Belyaev worked at TsAGI. In 1940, he was awarded the degree of
Doctor of Technical Sciences without defending a thesis, and in 1946, the title of professor. == Awards ==