Alexander Sergeevich Kudashev was born on 28th of January, 1872 in St. Petersburg in the family of state councillor . His father Kudashev Sergei Sergeyevich (1834-?), had five daughters and the only son Alexander. In 1895, Alexander graduated from Institute of engineers of ways of communication of the Emperor Alexander II( in the course of science) and got an appointment of engineer of Railway station with the right to the rank of collegiate Secretary upon entry to state service. By the order of the Ministry of communications dated 12 February 1896 he was sent as an engineer of the class IX and performer of the 2nd category for the construction of Railways Tbilisi - Kars.
In 1894 Alexander married Countess Tolstaya. In February, 1896, A. C. Kudashev left to the new place of appointment, Tbilisi, where on March, 29th his son Sergei was born. Here he took part in the construction of a bridge with through the river Kura(its length was 40 yards). 12th of October, 1896 Alexander Sergeyevich got an appointment of engineer of Railway station and the rank of a collegiate Secretary. At the1st of April, 1897 he became a freelance Ministry engineerAt the 1st of June of the same year, Kudashev became a Ministry inhouse engineer of class IX and engineer on new works in the South-Western Railways. Alexandergot an appointment of a technical service routes contril engineer at the South-Western railway, and since the1 December of the same year he was appointed as a freelance engineer.
Despite his origin, the Prince had no regular income. He didn’t have the partimory. Small fees and the need to support a family became the reason for him to think about the prospect of teaching in a higher educational institution. This provided a small but regular income. He was really excited in the construction industry. He worked at the laboratories of of Kiev St. Vladimir University and South-West railway, where he investigated the properties of the cement structures.The learning process was not a waste of time. On the 1st of March,1898, he received a scholarship of the Emperor Alexander II Institute of engineers "for completion of the course and preparing to teaching , while being the engineer". Then, from the 10th June in 1898 - Alexander Sergeyevich became the class IX engineer and became a head of the telecompany "Dnieper-4" in the Kiev district.
On the 1st of September, 1898 the learning process Alexander II started in Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. There were four Departments - mechanical, engineering, chemical and agricultural. However, the engineering Department received organizational independence later. The equipment supplt as well as the recruitment and personnel providing wasn’t really successful. Some subjects were taught irregularly. Director of the KPI Kirpichev C.L. had to look fot the teachers not only in Kiev, but even throughout the whole Empire. At the 20th of November, 1899, the Council of the Institute decided to ask Department of the Kyiv district to send Kudashev abroad for preparing for an academic career for the period from December 1, 1899, to September 1, 1900, for 1800 rubles . According to the permission of the Minister of Finance set out in the circular of the Department of trade and manufactories on 2 December 1899, Alexander Sergeyevich was sent abroad to prepare for an academic career for a period from 10 December 1899, to September 1, 1900. After his coming back in October, 1900, Kudashev successfully delivers lectures on the topic “Reinforced concrete structures”. At the 21st ofOctober in 1900 by the order of the Minister of Finance of Kudashev became a lecturer and Ag. Professor of the Department ofthe art construction of the Kiev Polytechnic Institute.
March 16-18, 1901 in St. Petersburg the 7th Congress of Russian cement technicians and breeders was being held. Kudashev was honoured to be the representative of the KPI at the Congress to discuss issues relating to the testing and use of cement. Here he had the opportunity to meet his father, Sergei Sergeevich. He was seriously ill, and therefore A. C. Kudashev was forced 19 July 1901, to submit to the Director of the Institute of resignation. The family expenditure rose again, because Alexander had to send his father abroad for treatment. Only in June, 1902, A. S. Kudashev returned to Kiev, just in order to receive the certificate and a copy of the official list from KPI. After that Alexander came to Kiev 1906 14 October, where the Council of the Institute appointed him as a teacher of the art of building and surveying for a period of more than one year with a salary on forced or compulsory labour with 2 hours of lectures on geodesy, 6 hours of practical training on the subject and 2 hours of lectures from the building art for a week.
Kudashev received the aircraft operation controlled skills during the Reims aviation week in France in February, 1910, when he was up in the air on the plane with the famous Russian Aviator Efimov Mikhail. The Prince received a comprehensive information about the foreign aircraft from his pilot. Returning to Kiev, Alexander Sergeevich March 1, 1910 applised to Director of the CRPD with the request to allow him to build a hangar to build an airplane of his own design.
Source quotation: “Его превосходительству господину директору Киевского политехнического института инж[енера] Кн[язя] А.С. Кудашева Заявление Имею честь просить Ваше Превосходительство разрешить мне устроить в усадьбе института около химического корпуса временный досчатый сарай для сборки аэроплана в течение настоящего лета, причем сарай этот обязуюсь снести по первому требованию начальства Института. Кн[язь] А. Кудашев 1/Ш.1910. Трехсвятительская 17".
This document is written by his own hand on the letterhead of the Directorate of the KPI and certified by the seal of the Director of the University from March 2, 1910
In 1910 the Board of the Institute have provided A. C. Kudashev with positive response. In Kiev during 1910 and 1911, there are 3 plans wewe made under the direction of Kudashev.
"Kudashev-1" is a truss biplane with front wheel height and a tail stabilizer and rudder. Engine "Anzani" 35 HP with a pulling propeller was installed over the front edge of the bottom wing. The front of the farm, carrying the rudder, became the runners-down chassis, to which the wheels were attached. Under the tail was the third wheel. Wings – at the same scale, but on the top, carrying the ailerons, chord length 0.2 m more. The frame of the aircraft was made of pine bars and rails. Box stand wings and rods farms had a round cross-section. Cover - rubberized canvas. This aircraft A. C. Kudashev 23 may 1910, Made a full flight for severaldozens of meters long, which was the first in Russia. The flight was not registered officially, as it was held incognito. - "Kudashev-2" is a truss biplane without front rudder, with normal horizontal tail surfaces, the rudder and the original arc of the chassis. The basis of his served as aspen arc, the curves were mounted on the rubber shock absorbers through axle with wheels. In this scheme the chassis was conventional and has been used for many years. It was applied in the two subsequent aircraft A. C. Kudasheva, and almost immediately was taken as a role model from him by the French engineers ( it was used on aircraft "Deperdussin"). The second plane set up by Kudashev had a larger size and had a "Dwarf" 50 HP engine. It was was producrd in autumn of 1910.
- "Kudashev-3" is a high-wing braced with the fuselage without lining and with the arc of the chassis. Engine - Anzani" 35 HP Design was extremely easy, simple and cheap. The aircraft was released in the winter in 1910 and there were made some test flights.
The fourth model was made at the Riga carriage factory "Russo-Balt" at the request of the famous businessman M. C. Shidlovskii. - "Kudashev-4" – the model of the previous one. The engine is a "Dwarf" 50 HP Landing pilot; it is higher, the boar is double column, arc chassis expressed in a more pure form. The wings are interchangeable: for speeds of 60 and 80 km/h, the latter with less curvature and scale. Cover both sides of rubberized material.
The question of the priority of the first flight by plane domestic production has long been of immediate interest. Professor Artemiev wrote about his the flight of the 23 of may in 1911 and the plane itself" in the magazine "Aero- and auto life", but for a long time in most publications first Russian Aviator-constructor considered to be Gakkel (or the unreal person Golubev). After all, the Prince Kudashev decided make a flight to the St. Petersburg without any warning and observers. Despite the bureaucracy, for the first time in Russia the same Prince Alexander Kudashev made a flight on a national plane In Kiev, Ukraine. And in St. Petersburg Yakov Gakkel rose into the air a day later, on the 24th of may.
After the flight, the pilot sent to Mikhail Efimov the picture of his airplane with this inscription: "The constructor of the first Russian airplane. With regards to the first to the first Russian aviator”.
There were also fixed some memories of the father and son Nikolay and Boris Delaunay: "in the Summer of 1910, Kudashev was the first to perform in Kyiv a small test flight on his airplane. These flights were about 300 meters in length and at a height of 1-2 meters: These young boy’s steps made a great impression on public. Now they are calmly looking at the sky, whereas at that times they were surprisedthat the kid had a kind of"separated" from the planet". There is alsosome materials of Boris Delaunay: "The Prince Alexander Kudashev had made a flight on his own plane. At first he had just been driving it around Pushkin Park, in the morning , and in may he finally took off. All of us have seen it: it was so exciting!. However, I didn’t know that Kudashev was the Professor of the KPI, I thought that he was an adult student." The flights of Kudashev caused the interest and attempts in aviation of the Selyakov. He mentioned that the screw to the first plane of A. C. Kudasheva was made in Kyiv by the outstanding designers and friends of the Prince - F. I. Bilinkis and I. I. Sikorsky. According to the sources, the plane broke down hitting the fence fter the flight.
In several publications Alexander Sergeevich is mentioned as a member of the Kiev Society of Aeronautics. However, in the State archive of the Kiev oblast of the Governorate Foundation in “On the registration of the Kiev society of Aeronautics", the name of Alexander Sergeyevich is missing. It contains a list of the founding members of the partnership with their handwritten signatures and other materials.Probably, Kudashev had personally known some of them. In the historical writings on aviation there are some facts about the first successful flight made by Professor of the KPI and acting associate Professor of the Institute Prince A. S. Kudashev. But after his traveling to France and coming backi to Kiev in 1910 Alexander Sergeevich hadn’t applied with the request to give him some kind of a position of teacher. This document was not found neither in his personal file and his dismissal in 1908. It was not surprising that since 1906 he was a teacher. There is unverified evidence that he later delivered the lectures at the St. Petersburg electrotechnical Institute. In 1911-1912, Alexander worked with Russian-Baltic wagon factory. “Kudashev-4” was made in Riga. The second of April in 1911 the made a test flight over the Racecourse in Zolitud. Later he worked on its improvement. On the first aeronautical exhibition in S. Petersburg in April 1911, Kudashev received a silver medal. Two months later, the aviator and designer took part in the "Aviation week". Their planes were built for their own expense.
The fate of Alexander Sergeevich remains unrevield. According to one of the versions, after the conflict with the leaders of the Russian-Baltic wagon factory, he moved to France, where in 1914 he was a lecturer at the High Polytechnic school in Paris. According to other, he was killed during the revolution in 1917.
