| Konstantin Chelpan | |
| Native Name Lang: | ru |
| Nationality: | Soviet |
| Birth Date: | 27 May 1899 |
| Birth Place: | Cherdakly, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Death Place: | Kharkiv, Ukraine SSR, Soviet Union |
| Resting Place: | Unknown |
| Education: | Kharkiv Technological Institute |
| Parents: | Fyodor Myhailovich Chelpan, Elizaveta Khalangot |
| Children: | Lenimir Konstantinovich Chelpan |
| Discipline: | Diesel engines |
| Institutions: | Kharkiv Locomotive Factory |
| Significant Design: | V-2 engine |
| Significant Awards: | Order of Lenin |
Konstantin Fyodorovich Chelpan (Russian: Константин Фёдорович Челпан; 27 May 1899 – 10 March 1938) was a prominent Soviet engineer of Greek background. Head of the Engineering Design Bureau of the Kharkiv Locomotive Factory, chief designer of the T-34 tank engine. Awarded the Order of Lenin, he was politically repressed and executed under a mass persecution ordered by Joseph Stalin, but politically rehabilitated after death.
Born on 27 May 1899 in Cherdakly, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire (now Kremenivka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine),[1] to Fyodor Myhailovich Chelpan and Elizaveta Khalangot.[2] Both parents were Greeks.[1]
After graduating from Mariupol Realschule in 1919, took part in the Russian Civil War.[2] In 1924, he graduated with honors from Kharkiv Technological Institute with a major in internal combustion engines.[2] [3]
From 1924 to 1937 Chelpan worked at the Kharkiv Locomotive Factory[3] as a Designer, Head of the Diesel Department, Lead Designer, and Head of the Engineering Design Bureau.[4] [5] In 1928–1929 he received practical training in Germany, Switzerland, and the UK.[2]
Konstantin Chelpan was the head designer of the famous T-34 tank diesel engine V-2,[6] for which he was awarded the Order of Lenin.[7] The engine consisted of lightweight aluminum alloy.[8] [9] [10] [11]
From 1927, he was a senior lecturer at Kharkiv Technological Institute.[12]
Konstantin Chelpan was arrested on 15 December 1937 during the first days of the Greek Operation of NKVD.[1] [2] [11] He was charged with leading a Greek nationalist counter-revolutionary organization, as well as conspiring to sabotage the Kharkiv Locomotive Factory.[1] [11] After being interrogated and tortured, he confessed to being a spy.[2] On 4 February 1938, he was sentenced to execution by shooting.[2] [3] [11] The sentence was carried out in Kharkiv prison on 10 March 1938[2] and covered up.[1] In a few years his wife received a death certificate, indicating that Konstantin Chelpan died on 16 May 1942 from congestive heart failure.[1]
On 6 August 1956, Konstantin Chelpan was rehabilitated by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR.[2] [3] However, only in 1988 was his true cause of death revealed.[1] [11]