The KhAI was founded in 1930 on the basis of aviation division of the
Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute. In 1941-44 it was evacuated to
Kazan. Its history is closely connected with the development of
aircraft engineering and science in the Soviet Union. The university is famous for its creation of the first in
Europe high-speed airplane with a retractable
landing gear and the creation of the design of the
turbojet engine developed by teacher of the KhAI
A. M. Liulka who afterwards became the academician and designer of many structures of
aircraft engines including the engine of the aircraft
Su-27. The KhAI is a unique
higher educational institution where the airplanes developed by the Institute Design Bureau under the supervision of professor I. G. Neman were produced serially at the aircraft plants and run on
passenger airlines. From 1977 to 1984 the Designer General O.K. Antonov ran the department of airplane structure at the KhAI. In 1978 the KhAI was given the name of N. Ye. Zhukovskiy. In 1980 the institute was awarded with the
order of Lenin. In 1998 the N. Ye. Zhukovskiy State Aerospace University “Kharkiv Aviation Institute” was founded on the basis of the KhAI and in 2000 the University got a status of the National higher education institution and was renamed the National Aerospace University ″Kharkiv Aviation Institute″. ==Students==