Gleb Evgenievich Kotelnikov was born (18) January 30, 1872 in St. Petersburg in the family of a professor of mechanics and higher mathematics. Graduated from the Kiev military school (1894). In 1910, Kotelnikov, impressed by the death of the pilot L. M. Matsievich, began developing a parachute. Prior to that, pilots escaped with the help of long folded "umbrellas" attached to the plane. Their design was very unreliable, and they greatly increased the weight of the aircraft. Therefore, they were used extremely rarely.
The RK-1 parachute (Russian, Kotelnikova, model one) had a round shape, fit into a metal knapsack located on the pilot with the help of a harness; moreover, constructively the person was attached to the parachute at two points. At the bottom of the knapsack under the dome were springs that threw the dome into the stream after the bouncing one pulled out the exhaust ring.
The Main Engineering Directorate of the Russian Army did not accept it into production because of the fears of the head of the Russian air force, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, that at the slightest malfunction, the aviators would leave the airplane. It was only under Soviet rule that Kotelnikov's parachutes were used. In 1923, Gleb Evgenievich created a new model of the RK-2 knapsack parachute. Later, a model of the RK-3 parachute with a soft knapsack appeared, for which a patent No. 1607 was obtained on July 4, 1924. In the same 1924, Kotelnikov manufactured a RK-4 cargo parachute with a canopy of 12 m in diameter. up to 300 kg. In 1926 G. E. Kotelnikov transferred all his inventions to the Soviet government.
In September 1949, the village of Salizi, where Kotelnikov's parachute was first tested, was renamed Kotelnikovo. A monument with the image of a parachute was erected not far from the landfill.
Gleb Kotelnikov was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery. His grave is a place of pilgrimage for parachutists, who tie scraps of their parachutes to the trees near his grave.