The TERESHCHENKO AIRCRAFT

DESIGN and MANUFACTURING HISTORY

1908 – 1918

Tereshchenko, Zembinsky

Tereshchenko 5

Tereshchenko 5bis

Tereshchenko-7

The aircraft factory at Chervone in Zhytomir Oblast circa 1915 with Tereshchenko-7 model production underway

Fedor Fedorovich Tereshchenko was one of the most important pioneers of aviation in the Russian Empire and what is now Ukraine. Although the Tereshchenko family became wealthy through sugar manufacturing, Fedor devoted much of his inheritance to aviation rather than the family business.

The Tereshchenko Aircraft Business

Rather than purchasing aircraft from France, Fedor wanted to establish a domestic aircraft industry.

1909–1910

Purchased a Blériot XI and learned to fly.
Built his own first monoplane based on, but improving upon, the Blériot concept.
Displayed his aircraft at the All-Russian Aeronautical Congress in Moscow.

Chervone Aviation Workshops

At the Tereshchenko family estate at Chervone Estate, Fedor established:

an aerodrome
engineering workshops
aircraft assembly facilities
engine repair shops
pilot training facilities

Many historians regard this as the first true aircraft manufacturing enterprise in Ukraine.

Aircraft Produced

The Tereshchenko works produced a succession of increasingly sophisticated aircraft:

Aircraft	Approx. Year	Notes
Tereshchenko Monoplane	1909	First experimental design
G-2	1910	Designed with Dmitry Grigorovich
G-3	1910	Improved sports aircraft
Tereshchenko No. 3	1911	Demonstrated during Kyiv Aviation Week
Tereshchenko No. 5	1913	Military reconnaissance monoplane
Tereshchenko No. 5bis	1914	Improved version
Tereshchenko No. 6	1915	Wartime development
Tereshchenko No. 7	1916	Two-seat military aircraft capable of about 150 km/h

Military Contracts

By 1913, Fedor had become an official contractor to the Imperial Russian War Ministry.

His company:

built aircraft for military use,
developed new wing-control systems,
manufactured bomb racks and machine-gun mounts,
assembled roughly 20 aircraft per month during part of the First World War after relocating operations to Moscow.

Important People Who Worked With Him

Among those associated with his aviation enterprise were:

Dmitry Grigorovich, later one of Russia’s greatest aircraft designers.
Lyubov Golanchikova, hired in 1913 as one of the world’s first female test pilots to evaluate Tereshchenko aircraft.
Igor Sikorsky, later the pioneer in helicopter design

Innovative Features

Fedor held patents on aircraft improvements, including:

variable wing camber,
improved control surfaces,
lighter monoplane construction,
adaptations for military reconnaissance.

These innovations were intended to reduce dependence on imported French aircraft technology.

End of the Business

The business was ultimately destroyed by the upheavals of the First World War and the Russian Revolution.

1915: workshops moved from Chervone to Moscow because of the advancing front.
1916: factory sold to Dux.
1917–1918: family estates and remaining assets nationalized.
Fedor emigrated to France, where he never re-established an aviation company and lived modestly until his death in 1950.

Why This Matters

Fedor Tereshchenko’s importance is often overlooked because his work was eclipsed by the Revolution and later Soviet aviation achievements. Yet his accomplishments include:

founding one of the earliest aircraft factories in Ukraine,
helping establish the Kyiv aviation industry,
financing experimental aircraft design from private capital,
producing military aircraft before World War I,
employing future leading aircraft designers and test pilots.