Arseny Mironov

Mironov contributed to aviation engineering and research through the GFRI, serving as a flight test engineer, researcher, and director. He turned 100 in December 2017.

On his 100th birthday ceremony on 25 December 2017, Mironov was awarded a Chest Badge "Medal of Small Arms Maker M.T. Kalashnikov" by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade.

In 2017, Mironov published a short autobiography: Миронов, Арсений (2017). Эпизоды [Episodes] (in Russian). Жуковский: АО «ЛИИ им. М.М. Громова».

From 1996 to 2019, Mironov worked for the GFRI as a principal researcher in human factors and flight safety.

As an author and consulting editor, Mironov contributed in the academic publication, Свищёв, Георгий, ed. (1994). Авиация : Энциклопедия [Aviation : Encyclopaedia] (in Russian). Москва: Большая российская энциклопедия : TsAGI. p. 735.

Between the early 1980s and mid-1990s, as a chief editor and author, Mironov contributed to the book series Aviation Test Engineer Reference Bibliotheca, which consist of ten and a half monographs on different research and methodical aspects of aircraft flight testing. Mironov's major contributions include the following books:

Mironov became the head of the GFRI's research division. He then worked as a deputy to Victor Utkin [ru], who was the institute's chief from 1969 to 1974. Later, Mironov became his first deputy after veteran Max Taitz. When Utkin died in 1981, Mironov became the institute's chief (1982), serving until Konstantin Vasilchenko [ru] was appointed in 1985. From 1981 to 1985, Mironov was a head of the Aerophysical and Flight Research Department within the Aeromechanics and Flight Engineering Faculty of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

In 1968-1975, Mironov together with V. S. Grachev conducted flight studies of the aerodynamic characteristics of an experimental ogival delta wing designed for the then developing supersonic airliner Tupolev Tu-144. These studies were conducted at the GFRI on one of the two specially created testbed aeroplanes MiG-21I (I - from the imitator). The research flights were performed by Igor Volk, Oleg Gudkov and Vladislav Loychikov.

As a member of investigation commissions, Mironov was closely involved in the investigation of aviation accidents, including the March 1968 MiG-15 training flight accident involving Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Seryogin, the 1972 Il-62 airliner crash near Nerskoye Lake, and others. Regarding the MiG-15 training flight accident, Mironov developed and publicly supported a scientifically-grounded position against numerous different explanations and conspiracies.

The couple had two children. Their son, Mikhail Mironov (Russian: Михаил Арсеньевич Миронов; born 1944), is a Doctor of Physics and Math and an acoustic scientist working for the Andreyev Acoustics Institute. Their daughter, Olga Maksakova (Mironova) (Russian: Ольга Арсеньевна Максакова (Миронова); born 1946) is a psychotherapy practitioner and a Doctor of Medicine working for the Burdenko Neurosurgery National Research Center.

In a group of students visiting the GFRI, Mironov met with then-chief Mikhail Gromov and explained his plans to be a test pilot, to which Gromov responded, "Will see". Since his early days in the institute, Mironov was involved in aircraft flight testing as a test engineer, navigator, and transport pilot. On 4 October 1943, an accident occurred in the La-5 aircraft's test flight with Mironov in the flight crew—a mid-air collision with air defence patrol fighter Yak-1, whose pilot violated normal procedure flying too close to a test aeroplane. Mironov was severely wounded and spent five months in a hospital. Lasting issues in his left elbow hindered Mironov's ability to train and apply for a test pilot position. However, he passed the check flight with the institute's senior test pilot, proving he could fly light transport aeroplanes such as the Po-2. After the incident, Mironov frequently piloted aircraft, including the Po-2 and the Yakovlev UT-1. He completed hundreds of transport flights and obtained a USSR fourth class air transport pilot license. Until 1950, he was also involved in test flights as navigator and flight test engineer on aircraft such as the Il-2, Pe-8, Tu-2, and Yak-9.

In 1936, Mironov entered the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) at a new course Flight Testing and graduated in 1941. In May 1941, he started working for the Gromov Flight Research Institute (GFRI) within the Minaviaprom of the USSR.

Mironov was married to Olga Yevgenevna Rudneva (Russian: Ольга Евгеньевна Руднева; 1919–2017) for 77 years. Rudneva studied in the same class in the MAI with her future husband. She worked at Kazan Aviation Plant and for the GFRI as a lead flight test engineer.

Arseny Dmitrievich Mironov (25 December 1917 – 3 July 2019) was a Russian scientist, aerospace engineer, and aviator. He was one of the oldest researchers in aircraft aerodynamics and flight testing, a Gromov Flight Research Institute (GFRI) director from 1981 to 1985, a recipient of the Stalin Prize in 1948 and the USSR State Prize in 1976, and an honorary citizen of Zhukovsky.

Mironov was born in Vladimir. His father was Dmitry I. Mironov (Russian: Дмитрий Иванович Миронов; 1884–1956), an engineer-electrician who worked for hydroelectric power station Klasson in Moscow Oblast and later for electric company Mosenergo in Moscow. His mother was Maria Mikhailovna Ilyicheva (Russian: Мария Михайловна Ильичёва; 1889–1982), who was a housewife.