Russian Engineer who founded the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, which developed many of the country's best-known helicopters.
He won first prize at a model-glider contest when he was just 12.
His first Soviet helicopter took to the air in 1948.
He met his Future wife P.G. Rudenko while learning aeronautical engineering in school. They married in 1932.
He and Yuri Gagarin both received the Order of Lenin, the highest award bestowed by the Soviet Union.
