Alexander de Seversky

Alexander Nikolaievich Prokofiev de Seversky (Russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Проко́фьев-Се́верский) (June 7, 1894 – August 24, 1974) was a

In 1918, Seversky offered his services to the War Department as a pilot. General William Kenly, Chief of the Signal Corps, appointed him as a consulting engineer and test pilot assigned to the Buffalo District of aircraft production. After the Armistice, Seversky became an assistant to air power advocate General Billy Mitchell, aiding him in his push to prove air power's ability to sink battleships. Seversky applied for and received the first patent for air-to-air refueling in 1921. Over the next few years, 364 patent claims were made, among them the first gyroscopically stabilized bombsight, which Seversky developed with Sperry Gyroscope Company in 1923. After joining the Army Air Corps Reserve, Seversky was commissioned a major in 1928.^[5]

Seversky Aircraft Corporation

Using the $50,000 from the sale of his bombsight to the U. S. Government, Seversky founded the

The SEV-3 was eventually the progenitor of a family of advanced aircraft including the SEV-3XLR and 2-XP (two-place, experimental) fighter, the BT-8 trainer and SEV-1P (single-seat) fighter. The most radical conversion occurred when the fixed-gear SEV-1P was fitted with a rearward retracting main undercarriage to produce the prototype of the successful P-35A fighter series. The Seversky Aircraft design office led by Seversky was responsible for 25 different innovative projects, many of them "still-born" including the "Seversky Super-Clipper", an eight-engine, 250 ft span transoceanic transport and the four-place, tricycle gear "Seversky Executive" high speed personal aircraft.^[6] The Sev-S2, virtually identical to the P-35, which was undergoing trials in 1937, dominated the last three Bendix Trophy air races, beginning in 1937 when Frank Fuller won at an average speed of 415.51 km/h.

The Seversky Aircraft Company began operating out of new facilities in

As World War II approached, Seversky became engrossed in formulating his theories of air warfare. Shortly after the Attack on Pearl Harbor, he wrote Victory Through Air Power, published in April 1942, advocating the strategic use of air bombardment. ^[4] The best-selling book (No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list, appearing first in mid-August 1942 and remaining in first place for four weeks) with five million copies sold. The book's popularity and hard-hitting message led to Walt Disney adapting the book into an animated motion picture (1943) of the same name where Seversky (who also served as the film's technical consultant) provided live-action commentary.^[10] The Disney animated film received a lukewarm reception at the box office and from critics who felt it was an unusual departure from the standard Disney studio fare, sending out a powerful propaganda message based on an abstract political argument. The influence of both the book and film in wartime, however, was significant, stimulating popular awareness and driving the national debate on strategic air power.^[11]

Seversky was one of a number of strategic air advocates whose vision was realized in the 1946 creation of the

In postwar years, Seversky continued to lecture and write about aviation and the strategic use of air power, following up his landmark treatise with Air Power: Key to Survival (1950) and America: Too Young to Die! (1961).

Personal life

Seversky married

Often described as "flamboyant" and a "showman," Seversky was always good at capturing the public eye, and was considered a newsworthy celebrity. In 1942 The New York Times even published one of his residences, reporting that "Airplane Designer Rents Apartment: Major Seversky One Of Seven New Tenants in 40 Central Park South."^[13]

Seversky was a founder and trustee of the New York Institute of Technology, which in 1972 acquired an elegant mansion originally built by Alfred I. du Pont. It was renamed "The DeSeversky Center" in his honor, and is a popular venue for weddings.

Seversky died in 1974 at New York's Memorial Hospital, and was buried in the

• de Seversky, Alexander P. (1942)
  ISBN 1-299-06704-2, 9781299067042
• de Seversky, Alexander P. (1950) Air Power: Key to Survival, Simon & Schuster
• de Seversky, Alexander P. (1961) America: Too Young to Die!, McGraw-Hill

Seversky aircraft

Before the genesis of the

Republic Aircraft Corporation

, the Seversky Aircraft Corporation produced the following aircraft, which were all variations on the same theme:

• Seversky AT-12
• Seversky BT-8
• Seversky FN
• Seversky P-35
• Seversky XP-41
• Seversky 2PA
• Seversky A8V
• Seversky SEV-1XP
• Seversky SEV-3
• Seversky EP-106 (Export Pursuit)
• Seversky Navy Type S Two-Seat Fighter

See also

• Seversky P-35
• Republic Aviation
• Ionocraft

References

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} De Seversky 1961, p. 15.
2. ^ Aviation encyclopedia "Уголок неба" (in Russian)
3. ^ De Seversky 1942, p. 353.
4. ^ ^{a b c} "Alexander de Seversky." Archived July 31, 2009, at the Wayback Machine cradleofaviation.org, The Cradle of Aviation Museum, 2001. Retrieved: May 15, 2009.
5. ^ ^{a b} Rumerman, Judy."Alexander de Seversky and Seversky Aircraft."US Centennial of Flight Commission, 2003. Retrieved: December 9, 2014.
6. ^ ^{a b} Boyne 1968, p. 28.
7. ^ "Aircraft Firm Buys Long Island Plants; Seversky Gets a Flying Field, Factories and Seaplane Assembly Base." The New York Times, October 17, 1936.
8. ^ Hucker 1984, pp. 70–71.
9. ^ "Alexander de Seversky, Russian Ace of World War One, Aircraft Designer & Founder of Republic Aviation."acepilots.com, 2003. Retrieved: May 16, 2009.
10. ^ Markstein, Don. "Victory Through Air Power." Don Markstein's Toonopedia, 2008. Retrieved: May 16, 2009.
11. ^ Watts 2001, pp. 234–235.
12. ^ "Mrs. Alexander de Seversky, 60, Wife of Plane Designer, Is Dead; A Flier Herself, She Aided Husband in Tests of World War II Craft." The New York Times, July 31, 1967. Retrieved: May 12, 2009.
13. ^ "Airplane Designer Rents Apartment: Major Seversky One Of Seven New Tenants in 40 Central Park South." The New York Times, January 23, 1942. Archived Article Preview. Retrieved: March 23, 2010.
14. ^ "Alexander P. de Seversky Dies at 80; Early Strategic Air Power Proponent." The New York Times, August 26, 1974. Retrieved: May 12, 2009.
15. ^ Alexander De Seversky Receives Harmon Trophy for Advances in Aviation (The New York Times, 1940)
16. ^ "Alexander de Seversky (1894–1974)." Archived March 5, 2010, at the Wayback Machine American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Inc., 2009. Retrieved: May 16, 2009.
17. American Academy of Achievement
    .

Bibliography

• Boyne, Walter. "Sever the Sky." Air Classics, Volume 4, no. 3, February 1968.
• De Seversky, Alexander P. Air Power: Key to Survival. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1950.
• De Seversky, Alexander P. America: Too Young to Die! New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961.
• De Seversky, Alexander P. Victory Through Air Power. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1942.
• Franks, Norman, Russell Guest and Gregory Alegi. Above the War Fronts: The British Two-seater Bomber Pilot and Observer Aces, the British Two-seater Fighter Observer Aces, and the Belgian, Italian, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Fighter Aces, 1914–1918: Volume 4 of Fighting Airmen of WWI Series: Volume 4 of Air Aces of WWI. London: Grub Street, 1997.
  ISBN 978-1-898697-56-5
  .
• Hucker, Robert. "Seversky: Innovator and Prophet." Air Classics, 20th Anniversary Special Edition 1964–1984, 1984.
• Watts, Steven. The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American way of Life. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 2001.
  ISBN 0-8262-1379-0
  .

External links

External videos
An excerpt from Victory Through Superior Air Power on YouTube

• Alexander de Seversky interviewed by Mike Wallace on The Mike Wallace Interview December 28, 1957
• Newspaper clippings about Alexander de Seversky in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW