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Sukhoi SU-25 “Frogfoot” at Tbilisi Airshow Monday. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–The Alexander Kartvelishvili Air Show was held in Tbilisi on Monday, with a display of Sukhoi SU-25 “Frogfoot” and the Aero L-39 Albatros.

The first air show ever in the Georgian capital was held at the air field at the plane factory Tbilaviamsheni, which formerly manufactured the SU-25. By a government decision it was named after Georgian aircraft engineer Alexander Kartvelishvili (Kartveli).

Kartvelishvili, who is believed to be one of the most innovative aircraft designers in the world, made significant achievements in military aviation.

Parachutists opened the event, two of them holding Georgian and U.S. flags, and planes of the type Sukhoi SU-25 and Aero L-39 performed various aerial maneuvers.

The defense minister, speaker of parliament, prison minister, Tbilisi mayor, diplomats, soldiers and ordinary citizens attended the ceremony.

Kartvelishvili was born September 9. in Tbilisi, where he graduated from grammar school in 1914.

He graduated from the most advanced aviation school in Paris in 1922 after which he worked at the company founded by Louis Blériot, Blériot Aéronautique, and designed the Bernard-Ferbois which broke the world speed record in 1924.

In 1927 he was invited to work in New York where he started working for the U.S. branch of the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. Later he was Vice President of Republic Aviation Company, which earlier was named Seversky Aircraft Corporation and belonged to an engineer called Alexander de Seversky, who also was born in Tbilisi.

Seversky and Kartvelishvili together worked on several joint projects. Their P-47 Thunderbolt was one of the most effective during WWII. After the war, Kartvelishvili worked on the well-known aircrafts F-84 Thunderjet and F-105 Thunderchief.

He died in 1974 in New York.