110 years later, the fi rst wind tunnel was built on the territory of modern Ukraine. Th is made it possible to start the training of
engineers in the fi eld of aviation at the Mechanical Faculty of the Kharkiv Institute of Technology (KhTI). Despite revolutions,
wars, and post-war devastation, a group of enthusiasts under the leadership of Georgy Fyodorovych Proskura managed to start
giving lectures on aeronautics, organize and equip an aerodynamic laboratory, and start producing aviator engineers.
Th e article gives reasons why George Proskura was forced to change the direction of his own scientifi c research and start
research in the fi eld of aviation and aeronautics. Th anks to numerous petitions from the aero section, it was possible to start
reading lectures on the latest aviation subjects at the beginning of the 20th century. With the construction of the wind tunnel
in 1914, the opportunity appeared to conduct scientifi c research and train engineers in the aviation industry.
Professor Dmytro Ksandrov and graduate student Lazar Shmuglyakov took an active part in the construction of the wind
tunnel. Th e pipe was fi nally built at the end of 1925, and in the following year it was equipped with instruments and research
on numerical models with its help began. Th e construction of the wind tunnel led to an increase in the number of aviation
engineers, 16 of whom were released in 1923—25 alone, most of whom began working at the country’s aviation factories.
Already in 1930, the Aircraft Engine Institute was opened on the basis of the Aviation Department of the KhTI University of
Technology and the Research Department of Hydraulic Machines and Aviation — now the famous National Technical University
“Kharkiv Aviation Institute”.