#### Харь基夫与航空<br>(第一部分)8 张照片

#### Харьков и авиация
(Часть 1)

Aviation plays a crucial role in the life of Kharkov, not only as a means of transportation but also as a focal point for various industrial enterprises, scientific organizations, and educational institutions. This has had a significant impact on the city’s development plans and infrastructure.


The birthplace of aviation in Kharkov was an area located in the northern part of the city, near the beginning of the Belgorod highway. There, in 1874, the aviator M. Lavrentyev conducted demonstration flights with an airship of his own design. Later, in 1897-1898, the medical doctor and inventor K. Danilovsky tested aerostats equipped with rotating wings in his workshop located at No. 50 Mironositskaya Street.

In the early 20th century, as aircraft began to play a more prominent role in transportation, demonstration flights were held at this same site in front of large crowds of spectators from 1910 to 1914. Local and visiting pilots such as S. Zaykin, S. Utotchkin, and V. Dubovskiy, as well as Kharkov’s own S. G. Grizodubov – a renowned aircraft designer and pilot whose name is proudly listed in the history of Russian aviation – conducted these flights.

In 1910, S. G. Grizodubov displayed his first airplane in the yard of his home at No. 91 Mironositskaya Street. One year later, in May 1911, he took to the air for the first time using an aircraft of the G-3 model at the same location.

Meanwhile, another contemporary of Grizodubov, the engineer A. K. Lellee, also attempted to build an airplane, but his prototype did not succeed in taking off. The public’s interest in this new endeavor was further stimulated in 1907 when a film about the Wright brothers’ flights was shown in the Bommer brothers’ “cinematograph” (now the Dzerzhinsky Cinema on Sverdlov Street).

In 1909, under the auspices of the Technical Society of students at Kharkov Technological Institute, an aeronautics research section was established, led by the future academician G. F. Proskura.

In 1910, the Kharkov branch of the Russian Chemical Society founded an aviation department, which was headed by enthusiastic volunteers such as engineers V. E. Morokhoveц and G. L. Okulich-Kazarin. From August 23 to September 14, 1911, the first aviation exhibition in Ukraine was held in this department’s premises at No. 18 Sumskaya Street. There, aircraft of various types were displayed, including I. I. Sikorsky’s airplane. The Kiev-born designer and pilot was a honored guest at this event, which was attended by 8,500 people. In the following years, the department published a monthly magazine called “Heavy Air,” established a pilot training school, and founded the first aviation club in Ukraine.

During the First World War and the Russian Revolution, the development of aviation was largely driven by military needs. A new phase began in 1923 when the Ukrainian Air Transport Corporation was established in Kharkov, then the capital of Ukraine. Regular postal and passenger flights were launched between Kharkov and other cities starting in 1924.

The former racetrack area became an airfield, with hangars and workshops constructed on the site. However, the increasing demand for air transportation led to the need for a new, more modern airport. A site was selected on the southern outskirts of the city, near the Osnova railway station, and a small terminal building was built there in 1928. During the World War II, all facilities of this airport were destroyed, and it had to be rebuilt from scratch. A concrete runway was constructed, and by 1954, a new modern airport terminal was completed. Over time, however, even this airport became outdated and unable to accommodate large modern aircraft.