Alexander S. Yakovlev, 83; Soviet Aircraft Designer

Aircraft designer Alexander S. Yakovlev, who built warplanes that challenged German Messerschmitts in World War II and later designed passenger jets, has died after a long illness, Tass said Thursday. He was 83.

Yakovlev, who died Tuesday, was awarded the Soviet Union’s prestigious Lenin Prize and was twice named a Hero of Socialist Labor.

“Yakovlev was known for his tireless search for fresh ideas, creative courage and great talent for organization,” the official Soviet news agency Tass said.

Born April 1, 1906, Yakovlev’s career as a designer spanned more than 60 years. He was the last of a generation of aircraft designers, including Oleg Antonov, Alexei Tupolev and Sergei Ilyushin, who dominated Soviet aviation for decades.

The best-known Yakovlev planes of the past decade are the Yak-38, known by NATO experts as the Forger, the country’s only plane capable of operating from naval vessels, and the 120-passenger Yak-42 short-haul passenger jet.

During World War II, Yakovlev’s fighter planes, the Yak-1 through Yak-9 were the dominant force in the Soviet air force. Of 61,000 fighters built by the Soviet Union during the war years, 37,000 of them were Yaks.