Saratov Aviation Plant

Saratov Aviation Plant

Native name	Саратовский Авиационный Завод
Company type	Manufacturing facility (formerly)
Industry	Aircraft manufacturing
Founded	1937
Defunct	February 2011
Headquarters	Saratov , Russia
Number of employees	15,000 (1992)

The Saratov Aviation Plant (Saratovskiy Aviatsionnyy Zavod, SAZ, Саратовский Авиационный Завод, САЗ) was a manufacturing facility for aircraft located in Saratov, Russia, operating during the Russian and Soviet periods.

File:Яковлев Як-3, Саратов - Южный (САЗ) RP28203.jpg

Як-3, Саратов - Южный (САЗ)

Originally known as Aviation Plant №292 under the Ministry of Aviation Industry of the USSR (MAP), this enterprise began as a combine harvester factory before transitioning to aircraft production in 1925 and officially converting to aviation manufacturing in 1937. By 1992, the workforce numbered approximately 15,000 employees. The company was declared bankrupt in February 2011.

History

In 1929, the V Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union resolved to establish a factory dedicated to producing agricultural machinery in Saratov. On July 8 of that year, the Selmash Trust founded a bureau in Saratov focused on constructing a plant for manufacturing complex threshers and grain cleaning equipment. Later that autumn, several construction units were formed: the Selmash construction bureau, an industrial construction bureau, and a construction works office. The site selected for the factory was situated on the city's outskirts near the Volga River.

The initial structure erected on this site was a residence on a designated housing plot. Nearby, barracks were constructed to accommodate facilities such as a canteen, administrative offices for construction management, worker dormitories, and storage areas.

In May 1930, plans were adjusted to specialize the under-construction agricultural machinery plant toward combine harvester production.

On December 16, 1930, the Presidium of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR reviewed progress on building the Saratov Combine Harvester Plant and resolved to accelerate its completion by all means possible. The targeted completion date was set for January 1, 1932.

Alongside construction efforts, training programs for workers and engineers were implemented while development proceeded on a combine harvester model that would later be branded as "SZK."

On November 13, 1931, Mikhail Lvovich Vitchinkin arrived to assume his role as the first director of the Saratov Combine Harvester Plant.

The final phase before commencing operations involved assembling conveyor systems. The official founding date of the Saratov Combine Harvester Plant named after Comrade Sheboldaev is recognized as December 31, 1931.

Following completion, mass production of agricultural machinery commenced with the SZK combine harvester as its primary product. The factory steadily increased output over subsequent years. Within its initial six years of operation, the workforce significantly contributed to advancing agricultural production across the Volga region, Siberia, and Far East by manufacturing more than 39,000 units of grain harvesting equipment.

Production

• R-10/KhAI-5, produced between 1938 and 1940, totaling 135 units.
• Various Yak trainer aircraft
• Yak-1, with 1128 units manufactured in 1944.
• Yak-3, produced in 1944 with a total of 1682 units.
• Yak-18T
• Yak-25
• Yak-27
• Yak-38
• Yak-40
• Yak-42
• Yak-54
• La-11
• La-15
• MiG-15
• EKIP Tarielka (Ecology & Progress), an experimental saucer-shaped vehicle developed as a series of Soviet aircraft concepts

Awards

• 1942 – Awarded the Order of Lenin
• 1945 – Received the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
• 1982 – Honored with the Order of the October Revolution

See also

• Saratov South Air Base

External links

• aviation.ru/facility/#292
• yak40.com/saratov
• yak42.com/bureau