Igor Sikorsky once called Mikhail Glukharev one of the outstanding designers in world aviation, and this was well deserved. Our compatriot contributed many innovative ideas and developed numerous aircraft. Mikhail Evgenievich was born in 1892 in St. Petersburg and graduated from the Military Engineering School. During the Civil War, he joined the Whites and later emigrated to the USA. There, he managed to find work in his field: he became a design draftsman at Sikorsky Aircraft.

His first significant project was the development of a wing with an improved aerodynamic profile, which allowed for an increase in the speed of light aircraft by 50 km/h and improved their payload capacity. This profile was named GS, 1 (Glukharev, Sikorsky, 1) and brought significant profit to the company, as customers paid $2000 for each wing. Glukharev then focused on designing fighters. In 1939, he developed a combat aircraft with a triangular wing based on a tailless design. According to the engineer's calculations, the fighter could reach speeds of up to 800 km/h, had a range of nearly 2000 km, and a ceiling of 10 km. It was planned to arm it with six 12.7 mm caliber machine guns. However, the project did not interest the US Air Force, although it later became clear that Glukharev's idea was ahead of its time. Subsequently, strategic bombers were built in the USA based on his blueprints.

Later, Sikorsky involved the talented designer in the modernization of helicopters. Glukharev participated in the development of 10 new models and invented all-metal interchangeable rotor blades. It is no surprise that Mikhail Evgenievich became Igor Sikorsky's right-hand man, and after his retirement, he headed Sikorsky Aircraft. Thus, our emigrants made a significant contribution to the development of aircraft manufacturing in the USA.