Polikarpov Nikolai Nikolaevich (1892-1944).

The name of designer Nikolai Nikolayevich Polikarpov in the memory of descendants remains inextricably linked with the best achievements of Russian and Soviet aviation. This is the name of an honest and worthy citizen of his Fatherland, a competent and talented engineer, persistent and consistent in the main work of his life - aircraft construction.

Nikolai Polikarpov comes from the Oryol region - he was born on June 9 (May 28, old style) 1892 in the village of Georgievskoye, Livensky district, Oryol province. Before his birth, many generations of Polikarpovs devoted their lives to the Russian Orthodox Church, so young Nicholas was most likely destined to continue the family tradition and become a clergyman.

After graduating from the Livensky Theological School, he studied at the Oryol Seminary, which, however, did not finish: having passed the exams for the gymnasium course as an external student, in 1911 he entered the mechanical department of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, and since 1914, having become interested in aviation, he has been taking aeronautical courses at the shipbuilding department of the institute.

In 1916, after defending his diploma project, he was sent to the aviation department of the Russian-Baltic Carriage Works (RBVZ), where until 1918, under the leadership of the outstanding Russian designer I.I. Sikorsky, he worked as production manager. The first independent task that Polikarpov received from Sikorsky was to study the phenomenon of mutual interference between the floats of a seaplane, its wing and fuselage. For this work, the wind tunnel of the Polytechnic Institute was used. Purges in the pipe provided a lot of factual material, which required complex mathematical calculations and deep understanding. Sikorsky was pleased with the work done, and instructed Polikarpov to work on the design of radiators and the theory of their calculation. Having successfully completed the probationary period, Polikarpov was appointed head of light aircraft production.

On behalf of Sikorsky, along with ongoing production work, Polikarpov completed a significant amount of design drawings for the new S-18 and S-19 aircraft, and actively participated in the design of modifications of the serial Muromtsev and S-16. Sikorsky, despite his youth, enjoyed enormous authority at the plant.

A brilliant designer, he was distinguished by his enormous diligence and perseverance, his ability to think through the smallest details of an aircraft’s design and foresee how it would function. During two years of joint work, Polikarpov learned a lot from this greatest Russian aircraft designer; this time became a good school for the young specialist.

Revolutionary events in Russia put an end to the creative union of two talented designers. The plant stopped production of aircraft, and Sikorsky had to leave Russia forever. In March 1918, Polikarpov managed to get a job in the newly created Air Fleet Directorate (soon transferred to Moscow), where he oversaw the production activities of a number of aircraft factories.

The civil war and the threat of external invasion required the revival of aircraft production, which means there was a demand for aviation specialists. Polikarpov accepts an offer to go to work at the Dux aircraft plant, where he once did his student internship and take the position of head of the technical department.

Since August 1918, the young engineer has been working at the Moscow Dux aircraft plant, later renamed State Aviation Plant No. 1 (GAZ No. 1), as head of the technical department. For several years he has been improving products, redesigning Nieuwports, Farmans and De Havillands to fit existing engines, equipment and materials. The most large-scale work carried out at GAZ No. 1 until the mid-1920s was the preparation for serial production of the English DH-9 aircraft, which became known as the R-1 (reconnaissance first), according to Russian standards and from Russian materials. The largest role in this activity belongs to N.N. Polikarpov, so this aircraft is quite rightly sometimes called an aircraft of his design.

In January 1925, N.N. Polikarpov organized an experimental design department at the AVIAHIM plant and became its head. In February 1926, he was appointed head of the land aircraft manufacturing department (LOA) of the Aviatrest Central Design Bureau.

In the early 1920s, N.N. Polikarpov began designing Soviet aircraft and achieved outstanding success. In the spring of 1923, together with I.M. Kostin and A.A. Popov, he created the first Soviet fighter I-1 (IL-400), which became the world's first fighter - a cantilever monoplane. In 1923, under the leadership of N.N. Polikarpov, the R-1 reconnaissance aircraft, which was very successful by the standards of that time, was created, which became the first mass production Soviet aircraft (1914 aircraft were produced). In 1925, a five-seat passenger aircraft PM-1 was created. In 1926, the two-seat fighter 2I-N1 was created. In 1927, the I-3 fighter was created. In 1928, the R-5 reconnaissance aircraft was created, which was also put into service (4,548 aircraft were built at the Moscow Aviation Plant alone). This aircraft became widely known in connection with the rescue of the Chelyuskin steamship expedition and its successful use in the Arctic, during the development of Siberia and the Far East. The R-5 was used in combat during the armed conflict on the Chinese Eastern Railway in 1929, in the conflicts of the 30s and even in the first period of the Great Patriotic War.

In 1928, N.N. Polikarpov created his legendary initial training aircraft U-2, which gained worldwide fame and was renamed Po-2 in honor of the creator after the death of the designer. U-2 (Po-2) was built until 1959. During this time, more than 40 thousand aircraft were produced, and more than 100 thousand pilots were trained for them. During the Great Patriotic War, U-2s were successfully used as reconnaissance aircraft and night bombers.

However, then the designer’s fate takes a sharp turn. On October 24, 1929, N.N. Polikarpov was arrested on a standard charge - “participation in a counter-revolutionary sabotage organization.” After a short farce called the investigation, less than a month later, out of court, by a resolution of the OGPU of the USSR, N.N. Polikarpov was sentenced to capital punishment. He was awaiting execution for more than two months.

In December of the same 1929, without canceling or changing the sentence, the aircraft designer was sent to the “Special Design Bureau” (TsKB-39 OGPU), organized in Butyrka prison, and then transferred to the Moscow Aviation Plant No. 39 named after V.R. Menzhinsky. Here, together with D.P. Grigorovich, in 1930 he developed the I-5 fighter, which was in service for 9 years. The OGPU Collegium, by its resolution of March 18, 1931, changed the sentence, replacing it with ten years in the camps.

After showing Stalin, Voroshilov, and Ordzhonikidze aerobatics on an I-5 aircraft, piloted by pilots Chkalov and Anisimov, the OGPU board issued a new resolution dated June 28, 1931 - to consider the sentence against Polikarpov suspended. On July 7, 1931, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR decided to grant an amnesty to a group of people, including N.N. Polikarpov. The rehabilitation of the outstanding designer occurred posthumously, 12 years after his death: on September 1, 1956, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR overturned the previous decision of the OGPU Collegium and dismissed the case against N.N. Polikarpov.

Upon his release in May 1931, N.N. Polikarpov was appointed deputy head of the brigade at the Central Design Bureau of P.O. Sukhoi. Since 1933, he has been the head of design team No. 2 of the Central Design Bureau based on aircraft plant No. 39, which was headed by S.V. Ilyushin. In the 1930s, he created the I-15 (1933), I-16 (1934), and I-153 “Chaika” (1938) fighters, which formed the basis of Soviet fighter aviation in the pre-war years. In the first years after their creation, each of these fighters was one of the best machines of its class in the world. This was successfully proven by the I-15 and I-16 in battles in Spain and China, and by the I-153 at Khalkhin Gol. On November 21, 1935, on the I-15, pilot V.K. Kokkinaki set a world altitude record of 14,575 meters. At the same time, N.N. Polikarpov created experienced dive bombers VIT-1, VIT-2, a single-engine light bomber “Ivanov”, and a training fighter UTI-4.

Thanks to N.N. Polikarpov’s significant authority and influence on Soviet aircraft manufacturing, he was nominated to run for full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. When preparing documents submitted to the USSR Academy of Sciences, N.N. Polikarpov assessed his contribution to the development of domestic aircraft construction in the period from 1918 to 1943:
1. Development in 1920-1921 of streamlined winter skis for heavy aircraft (“Ilya Muromets”, DH-4).
2. Creation in 1923-1924 of the first cantilever monoplane fighter in the USSR (I-1).
3. Creation of the first design organization in the USSR for experimental aircraft construction, based on the specialization of individual design stages, as well as the development of methods for designing, building and testing experimental aircraft (1923-1925).
4. Development in 1923-1926 of the first method in the USSR for calculating aircraft strength, as well as a method for performing static tests.
5. Development of a method for calculating the longitudinal static stability of an aircraft (1924-1926).
6. Study of the spin properties of aircraft (1925-1929).
7. Development of domestic duralumin for the first time in the USSR and its use in aircraft structures (1923-1926).
8. Development of installation principles (for the first time in the USSR) of all types of domestic aviation small arms and cannon weapons (PV-1, ShKAS, ShVAK-12.7 mm, ShVAK-20 mm, UBS, etc.) and their development in serial designs.
9. The first installation in the USSR of all new domestic aircraft engines, as well as some foreign ones.
10. Creation of the first monocoque plywood fuselage in the USSR.
11. Creation of a U-2 initial training aircraft that is safe to fly.
12. Development of rational types of hoods for engines M-22, M-25, M-62, M-88, M-90, M-82, M-71.
13. Creation of a retractable landing gear for a monoplane and biplane fighter.
14. Creation of the world's first retractable ski landing gear for a monoplane and biplane fighter.
15. The world's first installation of synchronized cannon weapons.
16. Installation and testing in the air (for the first time in the USSR) of 37 mm aircraft guns.
17. Development of suspended machine gun batteries for fighter aircraft.
18. Development and mass production of in-flight fuel tanks made from non-scarce materials (iron, plywood, fiber, etc.).
19. Development of high-altitude aircraft; the first world altitude record in the USSR of 14475 m (pilot V.K. Kokkinaki, I-15 aircraft).
20. Development in 1937-1939 of pressurized cabins of various designs.
21. Installation (for the first time in the USSR) of guns firing through the hollow shaft of a liquid-cooled motor gearbox.
22. Creation of the first large-tonnage motor glider (MP) in the USSR
23. Creation of the world's first antenna hidden in the fuselage for a fighter (I-185).

Fate gave the talented Russian engineer only 52 years of life. On July 30, 1944, after a rapidly developing cancer disease, Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov died. In commemoration of his memory, the U-2 training aircraft from that moment began to be called Po-2 (Polikarpov-2). On the day of N.N. Polikarpov’s funeral, August 1, 1944, paying tribute to their creator, they flew low over his final resting place at the Novodevichy cemetery.

In total, N.N. Polikarpov developed over 80 aircraft of various types. He was one of the first to break down aircraft design into specialized parts. Under the leadership of N.N. Polikarpov, A.I. Mikoyan, M.K. Yangel, A.V. Potopalov, V.K. Tairov, V.V. Nikitin and other specialists worked, who later became prominent designers of aviation and rocket-space technology.

Awards:
-Hero of Socialist Labor (1940);
-2 Orders of Lenin (1935, 1940);
-Order of the Red Star (1937);
-Stalin Prize (1941, 1943).

About the fate and developments of the outstanding aircraft designer who founded and headed Plant No. 51, which later became the Sukhoi Design Bureau.

June 8 marked the 123rd anniversary of the birth of Nikolai Polikarpov, the creator of the first domestic fighter.
A death sentence and two Stalin Prizes, universal recognition of his aircraft and refusal to mass produce them - Polikarpov’s fate and creativity were quite typical for his time, but at the same time surprising.
"Enemy of the People"
Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov was born on June 8, 1892 in the village of Georgievskoye, Oryol province. His father and grandfather were clergymen. Continuing the family tradition, Nikolai entered theological school. However, upon graduation, he did not continue his studies at the seminary, but, against the will of his father, applied to the mechanical department of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. It was here that he became interested in aviation.
After graduating from the institute, Polikarpov got a job in the aviation department of the Russian-Baltic Carriage Plant. Its immediate leader was Igor Sikorsky himself. Under his leadership, Polikarpov participated in the creation of the legendary aircraft “Ilya Muromets”.
In 1918, Sikorsky was forced to emigrate. According to biographers, he offered Polikarpov to escape together, but the latter, to his misfortune, refused. A few years later, in 1929, Polikarpov was arrested, accused of “counter-revolutionary sabotage activities” and - without trial - sentenced to death.
The aircraft designer waited for the execution of his sentence in his cell for two months. Then he was transferred to the “sharashka” - a closed design bureau, organized directly in the Butyrka prison, and was offered to “make amends” by hard work for the benefit of his homeland. Here, in prison, together with designer Dmitry Grigorovich and a number of other “saboteurs,” they created, for example, the I-5 aircraft, which became the main fighter of the Red Army Air Force and was used until 1943.


Airplane I-5

Polikarpov's death sentence remained in effect for two years. Only in 1931, the OGPU replaced it with 10 years in the camps, and after Stalin’s resolution, which approved I-5, made the punishment conditional.
The stigma of “enemy of the people” remained on Polikarpov throughout his life. Many years later, his contemporaries told how they dispersed the design bureau headed by Polikarpov and forced its employees to move to another team: “They told those who doubted: Polikarpov is a complete man, he’s a priest, he wears a cross, he will soon be shot anyway. Who will protect you then?
The case against Nikolai Polikarpov was dropped only in 1956 - 12 years after the death of the designer.
"King of Fighters"
Surprisingly, in such an environment, Polikarpov managed not only to work, but also to create the best machines for his time. In just over twenty years, the designer has developed almost fifty reliable fighters, powerful bombers and torpedo bombers.
Thanks to these aircraft, the designer forever entered the history of aviation. Among his colleagues, Nikolai Polikarpov was called the “king of fighters.”
But his best car was still not put into mass production. The reason for this, according to most historians, was intrigue and the struggle for power in the highest party circles of the USSR.

Airplane R-1

Before the war, aircraft were given letter designations corresponding to their purpose: training - U, reconnaissance - R, heavy bomber - TB, fighter - I. In the 20s, Polikarpov created the first domestic fighter I-1, reconnaissance aircraft R-1, which participated in the rescue Chelyuskintsev, I-3 fighter, R-5 reconnaissance aircraft and, of course, the famous U-2 (later renamed Po-2).
Creator of the “heavenly slug”
This training aircraft, which appeared in 1928, became Polikarpov's most famous masterpiece. The biplane turned out to be quite light (660 kg) and cheap to produce. It really didn’t differ in its speed qualities (maximum – 150 km/h), but there were legends about its stability. For example, this: once, in order to fly between two closely standing birches, Valery Chkalov turned the U-2 almost 90 degrees.

Airplane Po-2

The U-2 became one of the most popular aircraft in the world: about 35 thousand copies were produced. During the war, it was used as a night bomber, attack aircraft, and ambulance aircraft.
In a web of intrigue
By 1939, Polikarpov had already become a fairly well-known designer. Over the course of several years, he went from deputy brigade chief of the Sukhoi Central Design Bureau to chief designer of plant No. 1. He was even sent on a business trip to Germany.
Polikarpov was absent for only a month. But during this time his design bureau was actually disbanded. Polikarpov’s best designers were transferred to the new unit - under the leadership of Artem Mikoyan, and also transferred the project of the I-200 fighter (the future MiG-1), created by Nikolai Nikolaevich just before the trip.
Having returned, the designer received at his disposal only an old hangar on the outskirts of Khodynka, called on paper “state plant No. 51”. But even in this virtually empty place, Polikarpov managed to create a full-fledged design bureau, which later became a pilot plant named after. BY. Sukhoi.
It was here that the ITP, TIS aircraft, the combat landing glider (BDP, MP), the NB night bomber, as well as the best experimental fighters of the Second World War - the I-180 and I-185 - were developed.
It is believed that serial production of the I-180 was not started due to the death of its tester Valery Chkalov on the first flight. However, the facts indicate that the crash was not at all due to design flaws in the aircraft.
According to the assignment, Chkalov must make only one circle over the airfield. But he decided to make a second one, flying out of bounds. At this moment the engine stalled. The plane was only a few meters short of the runway, and also got caught on the wires. Chkalov died from hitting his head on reinforcement that was located at the site of the plane crash.
Unfair competition
The I-185 fighter, Polikarpov’s last project, created in 1941, surpassed all serial Soviet and foreign piston aircraft of those years in terms of the sum of its characteristics. Its tests showed that the I-185 was the fastest and most powerful, the fastest and most stable, the most maneuverable and armed, the highest altitude and high-tech, the most convenient to manufacture and repair.

Airplane I-185

However, completely different cars went into production. Polikarpov was actively opposed in promoting his plane. At first, for a year they were not given the opportunity to equip the car with the required engine. Then for another two years they interfered with the testing. And finally, in 1943, they simply misinformed Stalin, who had to make the final decision regarding the fate of this aircraft. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief was informed that tests of the I-185 for flight range were allegedly not carried out.
As a result, the Yak-9 became the most serial fighter. And Polikarpov, as a consolation, was given a second Stalin Prize for the I-185.
Taking off
A year later, on July 30, 1944, Nikolai Nikolaevich died of stomach cancer. He was 52 years old.

Nikolai Polikarpov (center) with employees

Until the very last days, Polikarpov continued to lead the design bureau. Knowing that the end was imminent, he asked to keep the team after his departure and to allow the employees to finish the development they had started. But soon after the death of the designer, his design bureau was disbanded and the projects were closed.
Subsequently, OKB-51 became a branch of OKB-155. Then its territory was designated as the base for the restored OKB P.O. Sukhoi, which is still located on it. In February 1954, OKB P.O. Sukhoi and the pilot plant again received No. 51 in the USSR MAP system.

(1892-1944)

Soviet aircraft designer, Doctor of Technical Sciences (1940), Hero of Socialist Labor (1940). After graduating from the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute and its aviation courses (1916), he worked at the Russian-Baltic Carriage Plant, where, under the leadership of I.I. Sikorsky participated in the construction of the Ilya Muromets aircraft and the design of RBVZ fighters. From 1918 he worked at the Dux plant (aircraft plant No. 1), where until 1923 he headed the technical department.

In the spring of 1923, Polikarpov created the first Soviet fighter I-1 (IL-400), which became the world's first fighter - a cantilever monoplane. In 1923, under the leadership of Polikarpov, the R-1 reconnaissance aircraft was created. In January 1925 N.N.P. (after D.P. Grigorovich left for Leningrad) achieved organization at GAZ 1 named after. Aviakhim experimental department and became its head. In February 1926, N.N. Polikarpov was appointed head of the land aircraft manufacturing department (LOA) of the Aviatrest Central Design Bureau. In 1927 he created the I-3 fighter, in 1928 - the R-5 reconnaissance aircraft (became widely known in connection with the rescue of the expedition of the Chelyuskin steamship), the initial training aircraft U-2, which gained worldwide fame and was renamed Po-2 after the death of the designer ). The U-2 (Po-2) was built until 1959. During this time, more than 40 thousand vehicles were produced, and more than 100 thousand pilots were trained for them. During the Great Patriotic War, U-2s were successfully used as reconnaissance aircraft and night bombers.

Polikarpov was unreasonably repressed. In October 1929, he was arrested on a standard charge - “participation in a counter-revolutionary sabotage organization” - and without trial he was sentenced to capital punishment. For more than two months, Polikarpov was awaiting execution. In December of the same year (without canceling or changing the sentence) he was sent to the “Special Design Bureau” (TsKB-39 OGPU), organized in Butyrka prison, and then transferred to the Moscow Aviation Plant No. 39 named after. V.R. Menzhinsky. Here, together with D. Grigorovich, in 1930 he developed the I-5 fighter, which was in service for 9 years. In 1931, the OGPU board sentenced Polikarpov to ten years in the camps.

But after a successful demonstration of the I-5 aircraft, piloted by Chkalov and Anisimov, to Stalin, Voroshilov, and Ordzhonikidze, it was decided to consider the sentence against Polikarpov suspended. In July of the same year, the Presidium of the USSR Central Executive Committee decided to grant an amnesty to a group of people, including Polikarpov. Only in 1956 - 12 years after the death of the designer - the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR overturned the previous decision of the OGPU Collegium and dismissed the case against Polikarpov.

In the 30s he created the I-15, I-16, and I-153 "Chaika" fighters, which formed the basis of Soviet fighter aviation in the pre-war years. On November 21, 1935, on the I-15, pilot V.K. Kokkinaki set a world altitude record - 14575 km.

After the arrest of A.N. Tupoleva N.N. Polikarpov was appointed Chief Designer of aircraft plant No. 156 (ZOK TsAGI). At the beginning of January 1938, his design bureau moved here from plant No. 84. By the end of 1938, the I-180 fighter was built - a development of the I-16 with the M-87 engine. But the death of V.P. Chkalov on it in the first test flight again plunged Polikarpov into disgrace. His deputy, lead designer D. Tomashevich, director of plant No. 156 Usachev and others were arrested. Polikarpov himself was saved from arrest only by the fact that he refused to sign the certificate of readiness of the aircraft for the first flight and Baidukov’s petition. In May 1939, work on the I-180 was transferred to State Aviation Plant No. 1. The design bureau was also transferred here, and Polikarpov became the technical director and chief designer of the plant. In parallel with the high-speed I-180, Polikarpov continued the line of maneuverable biplanes - I-190 (1939), I-195 (project 1940).

Polikarpov's latest works

My note: The statements of A.S. are interesting. Yakovlev (who at that time worked as Deputy People's Commissar for Experimental Aircraft Construction) about the latest works of N.N. Polikarpov and their fate in his book “Stories of an Aircraft Designer”:

"I-180" was built in three copies. On the first of them, at the very beginning of flight tests, in November 1938, V.P. died. Chkalov. On the second of them, a short time later, military test pilot Susi crashed. Later, on the third I-180, the famous pilot Stepanchenok, making an emergency landing due to an engine stop, did not reach the airfield, crashed into a hangar and burned out."

It should be noted that the information in Yakovlev’s book is incorrect. On the first plane V.P. Chkalov died on December 15 (not November) on the first flight due to engine shutdown at low outside temperatures.

The second disaster also occurred due to engine failure (destruction of the oil cooler).

The third plane crashed during state tests due to a pilot error, while pilot Proshakov bailed out and survived.

The accident with the pilot Stepanchenok described by Yakovlev occurred much later on the I-185 - M-71 aircraft due to engine failure (the carburetor jet was clogged). According to the Air Force Research Institute, it was a fighter superior to all fighters in the world in 1942, and a promising one at that...

Before the war, Polikarpov also worked on a twin-engine aircraft - a tank destroyer - "VIT" (aerial tank destroyer). Nikolai Nikolaevich correctly and promptly realized that to combat tanks even before they entered the battlefield, the most effective weapon could be an airplane. However, he failed to implement his idea: the VIT aircraft - the first and second prototypes - during test flights due to errors made during the design, collapsed in the air, burying the crews led by the famous pilots Golovin and Lipkin under their rubble.

Here Yakovlev again makes a mistake; the disasters occurred not on VIT-1 and VIT-2, but on the later model SPB (high-speed dive bomber).

If we consider that these tragic events occurred in a relatively short time - just 2-3 years - and that after almost every disaster one of the closest employees was brought to justice, then it will become clear why Polikarpov sat silently and motionless in front of me...

...Polikarpov had to compete with all the listed designers (Lavochkin, Gorbunov, Gudkov, Mikoyan, Gurevich, Shevchenko, Florov, Borovkov, Pashinin, my OKB and some others), who, although they did not have the same experience and knowledge as him, were young, full of energy and the desire to achieve success at any cost and win the right to life for themselves and their design teams.

For all of us young people it was a competition.

However, it should be borne in mind that by the time the competition was held, “young” Yakovlev was already deputy people’s commissar.

The accidents with Polikarpov's planes did not go unnoticed - Polikarpov's design bureau was practically destroyed. Works by N.N. Polikarpov was interrupted by death on July 30, 1944, at the age of 52.

HISTORY OF THE FATHERLAND

TWO SKIES BY POLIKARPOV

Next year, our aircraft designers, and the whole country, should celebrate the 120th anniversary of Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov. Why "should"? Unfortunately, his name has been forgotten and it is not a fact that they will remember the anniversary. After all, what do we know about Polikarpov? That he designed the famous “plywood” Po-2. Some have also heard that in Stalin’s times he was not afraid to go to the Orthodox Church and wore a cross. That's all, I guess.

Meanwhile, his colleagues and pilots called him the king of fighters. It was Polikarpov who created the legendary I-16 - the donkey on which our aviators fought in the skies of Spain. They also met the Great Patriotic War there. But this was only one of 80 (!) machines designed by Nikolai Nikolaevich. Polikarpov can safely be called the founder of Soviet fighter aviation - all subsequent designers, right up to the advent of jet aviation, used the groundwork he created.

The aircraft designer was born into the family of a priest, in the village of Georgievskoye (now Kalinino) near the city of Livny, Oryol province. He graduated from theological school and seminary, throughout his life he was Orthodox, not just by baptism, but a man of prayer who openly professed his faith. Among the people whose names the whole country knew, it seems that only two allowed themselves to do this - academician Ivan Pavlov and Nikolai Polikarpov.

He became involved in aviation even before the revolution. Together with Igor Sikorsky he created the Ilya Muromets - it was at that time the most powerful aircraft in the world. Later, his I-1 became the world's first monoplane fighter - an aircraft with one rather than two rows of wings.

In 1929, the designer was arrested and sentenced to death. A letter of his, full of pain and anxiety for his family, written on death row to his wife Alexandra and daughter Marianna - Mirochka, has been preserved:

“I worry all the time about how you live, how your health is, how you are coping with our common misfortune. It’s not worth even remembering, I’m completely heartbroken by this. Occasionally, at night or early in the morning, I hear the sounds of life: a tram, a bus, a car, the bell for matins, but otherwise my life flows monotonously, depressingly... I am very, very afraid that you or Mirochka are sick, because It's been a week now and there's no transmission from you. Yesterday I saw you in a dream, and today Mirochka. I think that my letters have not yet reached you. This is the fourth letter... I remember you all the time, mentally travel to you, mentally relive my entire life with you and Mirochka. How I would like to see Mirochka. He's probably running around with a sled and a shovel now?.. How's your money? Buy Mirochka a book from me, and arrange a Christmas tree for her for Christmas. Do you play the pianool? How nice it would be to play... St. Pray for me. Nicholas, light a candle and don’t forget about me. Take care of yourself, dress better and eat better.”

But the need for Soviet aviation in Polikarpov was too great - and the execution was canceled. He set to work again, creating almost all of the Soviet fighters of the 1930s. By 1941, the I-16 fighter, created eight years before the start of the war, was, of course, outdated. Nevertheless, he fought very well, especially after Polikarpov armed him with cannons instead of machine guns. With such a machine, pilot Boris Safonov won most of his twenty victories. Already at 3.30 in the morning on June 22, a German plane was shot down on an I-16 over Brest. In total, the Germans lost about three hundred vehicles that day, most of which were destroyed by pilots flying Polikarpov’s fighters.

U-2 (Po-2)

Another plane of Nikolai Nikolaevich, the U-2, colloquially called the “corn maker,” we all know from the films “Heavenly Slugger,” “Only Old Men Go to Battle,” “Night Witches in the Sky.” The machine, created in 1927 as a training aircraft, was produced until 1959, breaking all longevity records in aviation. All our pilots, without exception, managed to fly the U-2, which after Polikarpov’s death received his name - Po-2. This plane opened the way to the sky for them in flying clubs and schools. The car was so reliable, economical and easy to operate that it was used both as a passenger and as an ambulance, hanging cabins for the wounded. During the war it was also discovered that the aircraft could be converted into a night bomber. The Germans called it a “coffee grinder” or “sewing machine” because several thousand U-2s bombed their positions almost continuously and with great accuracy. During the night the plane made five or six sorties, sometimes more. Silently, with the engine turned off, he sneaked up to enemy trenches, railway stations, columns on the march and dropped a quarter of a ton of explosives and steel on the heads of the fascists. Very often the pilots were girls who fought in women's air regiments. Twenty-three of them were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Of course, the designer understood before the war that aviation was not standing still, new, modern machines were needed, but from the late 30s he fell into disgrace again. His magnificent I-180 and I-185 - at the time of creation the best in the world - never went into production. The I-200 was taken away from the designer; this machine became famous as the Mig-1, our only aircraft on which not a single accident occurred during testing. Reliability was a unique feature of all Polikarpov’s cars, a man for whom the concept of “love for people” was not a set of sounds. If test pilots died on his machines, as happened with Valery Chkalov, the commissions invariably established that this was not the fault of the aircraft’s creator.

This uniqueness of design talent was accompanied by a deep, sincere faith in God. This life is instructive for our contemporaries. You will learn a lot of new things about her from interviews given to our newspaper by two people who know more about Polikarpov than anyone else. In this issue you can get acquainted with the largest researcher of the life and work of the aircraft designer - Vladimir Petrovich Ivanov. Next, read our conversation with Nikolai Polikarpov’s grandson, Andrei Vladimirovich Korshunov.

We express our gratitude to the director of the local history museum of the city of Livny, Oleg Nikolaevich Bulatnikov, the teacher of the village of Kalinino, Natalya Alekseevna Novikova, and everyone who helped us in preparing this publication.

V. GRIGORYAN

“I PROUDLY CARRY MY CROSS IN LIFE”

“He was supposed to become a priest, but he devoted his life to aviation. He experienced incredible ups, all-Union glory, power, honor - and terrible downs, “prison and scrip.” He is rightfully considered one of the greatest aircraft designers of the 20th century, but many of his projects never saw the sky. He created the best fighter of the Great Patriotic War, which was never put into mass production. And he died before reaching the Victory, barely turning sixty. It is not for nothing that historians have dubbed Nikolai Nikolayevich Polikarpov the most tragic figure in the history of Soviet aviation” (from the annotation to the book “The Unknown Polikarpov” by V.P. Ivanov).

Our correspondent talked with Vladimir Petrovich Ivanov, the author of five books about Nikolai Polikarpov, a major researcher of the life and work of the aircraft designer.

Unknown Polikarpov

– Vladimir Petrovich, Polikarpov was an Orthodox man who did not hide his faith. His origin was again disappointing by Soviet standards - the son of a priest, not to mention the fact that he himself was sentenced to death. How did he even survive?

– Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov was a forgiven criminal. He was released in the early 30s, but the sentence was not overturned. They replaced the execution with imprisonment in camps, but Polikarpov was needed all the time. And the following situation arose: a deputy of the Supreme Council, a Hero of Socialist Labor, could be captured at any time and executed without trial. Because the trial and investigation have already taken place. And he continued to make airplanes.

– How did your interest in Polikarpov begin?

– I myself am an aviation engineer, my grandfather worked at an aircraft factory, built the planes on which my father fought. Friends came to visit my father - pilots and aircraft technicians. Some were personally acquainted with Polikarpov. I remember one of these people, a seriously wounded pilot who lost an eye during the war in Spain. I grew up in this atmosphere, and, naturally, I formed a certain opinion about Nikolai Nikolaevich.

And then I came across a book by Mikhail Saulovich Arlazorov about aircraft designers, where Polikarpov was literally mixed with dirt. It was 1969. I went to the library to collect arguments for refutation, and discovered that a lot had been written about Polikarpov, but little that was reliable. If so, I decided to take up the matter myself. That was thirty-one years ago. I began to meet with the then still living employees of the designer - Polikarpovites, and wrote down their memories. Then, at the turn of the 80s, access to many materials on Nikolai Nikolaevich was opened. They were removed from regular archives after his arrest and kept under wraps for half a century. And then suddenly they returned it, I began to study them. And today I have collected extracts and copies of almost 13 thousand documents. I know about many days of Nikolai Nikolaevich’s life literally by the hour. But, unfortunately, not everything is known yet.

– How much did you manage to tell about in books?

– As they say, to the best of our ability. The last book, “The Unknown Polikarpov,” which was recently published and is in stores, was cut in half. The publisher said that otherwise it would be too expensive, 600 pages is the limit. Where by washing, where by rolling we managed to bring the volume to 864 pages, but much was still not included.

“We need to pray for them”

– Who told you the most about him?

- A little bit of each. In addition, in the 20s, transcripts of the meetings were constantly kept, there are a lot of them, and his speech is live there. There were a lot of denunciations.

-Who wrote them?

- Everyone wrote. It’s easier to say who didn’t write. For example, Ilyushin, Polikarpov’s best friend, did not write. Nikolai Nikolaevich made a number of projects for Ilyushin in gratitude, and Ilyushin’s early aircraft bear a strong imprint of Polikarpov’s design thought. It was Ilyushin who at one time saved Nikolai Nikolaevich from Tupolev.

– Were Tupolev and Polikarpov enemies?

– The history of their relationship was quite complicated. Polikarpov is a designer from God, and Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolev is an outstanding organizer of the design business, but as an inventor he was not very strong.

Fate first brought them together at the Dux plant during the First World War. Tupolev was the chief designer there, tried to create machines for naval aviation, but did not achieve much success - the sailors refused his aircraft. Then the director of the plant, Julius von Möller, who changed his inappropriate German surname to the sonorous Russian Brezhnev after the start of the war, called Tupolev and asked what was happening. He said that his team creates magnificent projects, and engineer Polikarpov does not bother to provide them with orders.

They called Polikarpov. “What are the projects, so are the orders,” Nikolai Nikolaevich answered calmly. Thus began their war with Tupolev, whom Meller kicked out of the factory.

Tupolev later wrote that he left, was offended and “took his drawings” (well, not exactly his own, a whole team prepared them). From that moment on, he did not miss the opportunity to trip Nikolai Nikolaevich. For the sake of business, as it seemed to Tupolev.

“It was a common occurrence back then.”

– Yes, but Polikarpov never acted like that. When Tupolev was arrested with a large group of his employees, Chkalov, joyful, ran to Nikolai Nikolaevich and announced: “Have you heard? They knocked down the oak!” (referring to the arrest of Tupolev, whom Chkalov did not like). And Polikarpov quietly said in response: “Yes, it’s hard for them now, we need to pray for them.”

– Did he help many people?

– When his deputy Tomashevich was imprisoned, Polikarpov provided his family with money and food. After Dmitry Lyudvigovich’s release, he helped him get a job and, already dying, wrote letters to all authorities, to the People’s Commissariat, asking that his design bureau be given to Tomashevich.

And one day the NKVD received a denunciation against Yangel, then still a boy working for Polikarpov. Let me remind you that Yangel, along with Korolev, Chelomey and Glushko, is the father of Soviet cosmonautics and rocket science. So, he was accused of being the son of a kulak, and his father was hiding in the taiga. What would almost anyone do in Polikarpov’s place at a time when no one trusted anyone? And what did Polikarpov do? He gave the young employee leave and sent him to Siberia to collect documents about his father’s innocence.

Yangel himself was a man of a slightly different type. During the war, he left his family in evacuation without means of subsistence, leaving for Moscow. And one day, his wife Irina Strazheva later recalled, he and his children had neither bread nor money left. It's 1941. Suddenly there is a knock on the door. “I open it,” Irina said, “and there is a beast-like woman standing there, saying: “Polikarpov found out that your life is bad, he sent a bag of potatoes. Sign for receipt."

This is one of many stories. What can I say, a man with a capital M...

When our wonderful aircraft designer Grigorovich was dying, Polikarpov was the only colleague who visited him. They had a history when they were young. Both fell in love with the same girl, who worked, I don’t remember exactly, as a secretary or a typist at the Main Directorate of the Aviation Industry. The girl, Alexandra Fedorovna, chose Polikarpov, becoming his wife. Grigorovich was a noisy, harsh person and could shout at anyone, but not at Polikarpov. They retained respect for each other for the rest of their lives.

Polikarpov family

– Was Nikolai Nikolaevich’s father a priest?

- Yes, a hereditary priest. Once, in a conversation with his daughter, Nikolai Nikolaevich said: “We, the Polikarpovs, come from the Greeks.” There was such a legend in the family, perhaps erroneous. That's what it was based on. The history of the family goes back to the thirteenth century, when, according to the chronicles, the monk Polycarp “from the Greeks” came to Chernigov, to the Seversk land. He asked the prince for permission to baptize the Vyatichi who lived in dense forests in the Bryansk, Oryol, Tula, Kaluga and Lipetsk regions.

The prince gave several Russian priests to help the monk. One of them, who took as his surname the name of a teacher who was later canonized, gave rise to the Polikarpov family. After all, Polycarp himself was a monk and, therefore, could not have a family.

In the Oryol province, the Polikarpovs, together with their relatives, made up at least a quarter of the clergy, and had numerous relatives in neighboring dioceses. In the lists of graduates of the Oryol Theological School for 1790, you can read the name of the aircraft designer’s ancestor, Mikhail Polikarpov, and his brother Matvey. As regimental priest, Fr. Mikhail took part in the defeat of Napoleon's army. The family kept his award cross on the ribbon of the Order of St. Vladimir. On the front side was engraved the inscription: “Not to us, not to us, but to Your name,” and on the back was the date: “1812.” The Polikarpovs served Russia for centuries, Nikolai Nikolaevich simply continued this tradition.

– And if we talk directly about the parents of Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov, how much is known about them?

– His mother Alexandra Sergeevna bore the surname Arakina as a girl. Her grandfather Boris Preobrazhensky became one of the prototypes of Bazarov, the hero of Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons.” They had a long-term acquaintance with Turgenev. In his youth, Boris was a nihilist, but then he repented and took holy orders. During the cholera epidemic in the Oryol diocese, Fr. Boris Preobrazhensky went to confess to the dying, became infected and died. His daughter Maria, the grandmother of an aircraft designer, was raised in the Turgenev family after her father’s death. As a wedding gift, the writer gave her a silver casket, a silver mirror and necklace, an expensive chest of drawers made in Italy and a certain amount of money, which became the basis of the funds with which Maria Borisovna subsequently bought the estate.

Alexandra Sergeevna, Nikolai Nikolaevich’s mother, was well educated, according to the standards of that time. Father - Nikolai Petrovich - was, according to reviews, an excellent Orthodox teacher, for which he was awarded the Order of St. Anne, and was elected many times as a delegate to diocesan congresses. He served in the village of Georgievskoye near the city of Livny, Oryol region.

The atmosphere in the family was the most creative. It was an interesting combination. Father Nicholas and his sons, in addition to spiritual work, had to personally engage in peasant labor: breeding horses, mowing hay, plowing the land. But at the same time there was time for music and painting.

Years of study

– I know that Nikolai Nikolaevich loved to draw. Was this instilled in him as a child?

– Here’s what Polikarpov’s older sister, Lydia Nikolaevna, said (I’ll read it from my book “The Unknown Polikarpov”): “We built houses, towers, fortresses from bricks and cubes, Kolya was especially fond of this. He loved to build and draw (usually we drew on slates). Kolya was good at sculpting animals and milk jugs from blue clay, building cellars, and even made a shop where he sold us dishes. We paid for purchases with colored pieces of glass or penny plants. We usually made toys in winter for summer. Kolya made boats, which he then launched into the water, harrows, plows, carts and arcs...”

But “at nine years old,” recalled Nikolai Nikolaevich, “childhood ended for me.” This was due to his admission to the Livensky Theological School. He studied there very well, willingly helping weak students.

– Is anything known about his years of study at the seminary?

– Yes, after the school there was a seminary, on the occasion of the graduation of which Nikolai Nikolaevich donated funds for the construction of a new iconostasis of the seminary church. He later spoke very favorably about the seminary. He wrote: “She instilled in me a memory that has not yet been lost, a sense of responsibility and duty, ability to work, a simple way of life, good manners and a sense of camaraderie...”

But already at the time when he was receiving theological education, Polikarpov had a dream of becoming a sailor. He even let his mustache grow so that he could trim it in a “marine” style. In 1911 he entered the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, hoping to later develop engines for ships. He did not immediately say goodbye to this dream - he still managed to build airplanes for naval aviation.

– For some reason, spiritual education awakens a love for the sea. Admiral Rozhdestvensky also studied at the seminary.

– And the Oryol Seminary was proud that the famous Arctic explorer Vladimir Rusanov graduated from it. The death of his expedition inspired the writer Veniamin Kaverin to create the novel “Two Captains”.

Difficult time

– Did Nikolai Nikolaevich ever refuse his father-priest?

- Never. In general, he did not hide his views very much, especially before he was sentenced to death.

“I read from Prosecutor Vyshinsky that it is not necessary to have evidence of guilt, the main thing is to smell the enemy, and concocting a case is not a problem. One must assume that many sensed the enemy in Polikarpov.

– He belonged to the old Russian world. For example, his recipient at baptism was the Cossack captain Pyotr Tatonov, married to Polikarpov’s aunt. One of his sons, Grigory Tatonov, commanded a hundred Cossacks guarding the emperor. Another son, Georgy, was a colonel of the General Staff, a participant in the White movement literally from the moment of its inception. In 1920, when the Reds broke through the front near Kakhovka, a critical situation arose there for the Russian army. What did Tatonov do? He gathered all the non-combatants, cooks, and clerks and planned the counterattack so competently that the enemy was thrown back across the Dnieper. When Wrangel arrived, he was so amazed that he took off his general’s shoulder straps and handed them to Georgy Petrovich. Nikolai Nikolaevich Grigory and Georgy Tatonov were second cousins.

– Did the Soviet government know about this relationship?

- No, no one knew that.

– What was the reason for Polikarpov’s arrest in 1929? By that time he had created his magnificent U-2, the best training aircraft, and later a night bomber. He was a serious figure in the aircraft industry.

– The clouds have been gathering over Polikarpov’s head for a long time. They remembered a lot of things: both the fact that he went to church and the fact that he wore a cross. Many did not like his character, as well as his independent position in matters of aircraft design.

In prison, Polikarpov continued to work. It was there that the VT-11 aircraft was designed. "VT" stands for "internal prison." At that time, it took two years to create an aircraft; this was a worldwide practice. When the prisoners were gathered, they said: you can do it for two years, but you will be released when you do it. They thought and said: “Six months is enough.” Those at the top were surprised: “Oh, do you have internal reserves? Three months for you to do everything.” A month later the plane was ready.

– Love of freedom does wonders. But such breakthroughs are possible in exceptional cases, not as a system.

– Aircraft designer Yakovlev wrote about sharagas: “The organization was crowded and stupid, the costs were high, and the returns were weak.” The GPU did not understand that quantity does not always translate into quality - don’t intimidate, but you can’t do without proper organization of labor. In addition to the stick, however, carrots were also used. For his relatives and his daughter, Polikarpov bought oranges and tangerines in the prison store, which Muscovites had already begun to forget about. This was while he was working in the prison design bureau.

Moment of glory

“Then there was the I-16, our main pre-war fighter, which brought glory to Polikarpov. Having fallen into favor, the “king of fighters” has not changed?

- No. One of his employees, designer Vasily Ivanovich Tarasov, now deceased, recalled. May 1935. Chkalov brilliantly demonstrated the I-16 in front of Stalin. He decided to give Polikarpov and Tarasov a ride home. The car was seven-seater. Stalin was on the back seat, the driver and security were in front, and the aircraft designers were seated on the folding seats. The leader says complacently, puffing on his pipe: “Here, Nikolai Nikolaevich, do you know what we have in common?” “I don’t know,” Polikarpov answers. “It’s very simple: you studied at the seminary, and I studied at the seminary - that’s what we have in common. Do you know how we differ?” “No,” Polikarpov responds. - “You graduated from the seminary, but I didn’t.” Another puff of smoke. Polikarpov calmly blurts out: “It’s obvious, Joseph Vissarionovich.” Stalin frowned and shook his pipe: “Know your place.”

This is how Polikarpov remained until the end. He was a very calm person, he never swore, but he knew how to cut things short. Tarasov said that when they swear, you turn a deaf ear, and when Nikolai Nikolaevich says something, you don’t sleep for a week. Relations with the authorities were not built, except that Stalin treated him favorably, this saved him.

And there were many enemies. Nikolai Nikolaevich was a distinctly Russian, Orthodox man. The only one of the designers who regularly attended church was the Church of the Apostle Philip on Arbat. Hero of the Soviet Union Ignatiev recalled that Polikarpov blessed the pilots before the tests and told them: “With God!”

The Kaganovichs especially hated him. He was called a “crusader” because he wore a pectoral cross. One of the Kaganovichs - Lazar - was a member of the Central Committee, he could do a lot of harm, the other - Mikhail - served as the People's Commissar of the Aviation Industry, and we had to deal with him especially often. But God was merciful.

Another thing is that they did as much harm as they could. Mig-1, one of our best fighters, was created by Nikolai Nikolaevich. But while he went to Germany to get acquainted with fascist aviation, his plant was expropriated and many designers were taken away. Nevertheless, they gave the Stalin Prize for this aircraft.

Things were even worse with the I-180 fighter. This was due to the fact that Chkalov crashed on it. But none of the designers were arrested. It was obvious that they were not to blame. Then they slowed down the creation of the I-185, the fastest fighter in the world, superbly armed. In the end, he was also hacked to death, but the author was again given the Stalin Prize. Death cut short Polikarpov's work on the creation of the first Soviet jet aircraft.

- How did he die?

- Died of stomach cancer. In 1943, severe pain began, then a diagnosis was made. With great difficulty, he was admitted to the Kremlin hospital, but no one wanted to perform the operation. Relatives began to persuade Professor Sergei Sergeevich Yudin - he was a luminary of surgery, worked at the Sklifosovsky hospital. He set the condition that he would perform the operation if he liked Polikarpov as a person. With great difficulty, the doctor was led into the clinic, almost through the kitchen. When the professor saw the patient’s large silver cross lying on top of his shirt, he turned to the relatives and said: “We will operate.” Unfortunately, the operation did not help. On July 30, 1944, Nikolai Nikolaevich passed away.

This cross was the main family heirloom of the Polikarpovs. When Nikolai Nikolaevich’s ancestor, Fr. Mikhail - returned from the war after the defeat of Napoleon, he collected all the silver that was in the house and took it to the master, explaining what he wanted. According to his will, the cross was passed on to the eldest in the family. So when Nikolai Nikolaevich sometimes repeated: “I proudly carry my cross through life,” this was true, both literally and figuratively.

Interviewed by Vladimir GRIGORYAN

The tragic death of Valery Chkalov had very great consequences. There is almost no doubt that the death of pilot No. 1 was a planned act of sabotage. The main question is different - why did they do this?

The tragic death of Valery Chkalov had great consequences that people don’t like to talk about

This is a very important question. No one needed to kill the pilot himself just to kill the pilot. The reasons for what happened were much more serious and the goals of the organizers of the sabotage were far-reaching

To understand why they did this, you need to look at the consequences of Chkalov’s death. Who benefited from this and who lost the most? It is not possible to answer the first question right away, but the second one can be given a definite answer.

The most lost from the death of Chkalov was the outstanding designer, the king of fighters, Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov.

How did it all come about? Why did Polikarpov become a target for enemies of Soviet power?

The answer to these questions is obvious - the designer Porlikarpov was the king of fighters, he received this unofficial title for a reason. In the 1930s, he was the only designer in the USSR who produced fighters of his time that could withstand the machines of developed foreign countries.

1937-38 became the peak of Nikolai Nikolaevich’s design career. Polikarpov enjoyed Stalin’s enormous trust.

In December 1937, the design bureau was transferred to pilot plant No. 156, Polikarpov was appointed to replace the repressed A. N. Tupolev

Polikarpov became not only the king of fighters, but also actually the head of all Soviet aviation. In the same 1937, Polikarpov was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Polikarpov found himself at the top and it seemed that new inevitable successes awaited him. But everything happened differently.....

Everything changed on December 15, 1938. The death of Chkalov was a severe blow for Polikarpov, his work was paralyzed for almost 2 months, on February 5, 1939, he was relieved of his post as technical director of plant No. 156 and appointed chief designer of plant No. 1.

The murder of Chkalov led to the discrediting of Polikarpov, the destruction of his design bureau, and the decline of his authority.

Nikolai Polikarpov was the king of fighters, his machines posed a serious danger to the enemies of the USSR

By killing Chkalov, they were hitting the king of fighters, who meant so much to the country

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It is worth noting the situation in which aviation in general was then. In bomber aviation, the USSR lagged behind foreign countries, but in fighter aviation there was corresponding “parity”. Until 1937, Polikarpov’s fighters were considered one of the best; they successfully fought in the Spanish skies.

But in 1937 the situation changed for the worse, German aviation launched a new fighter, the Me-109, into the sky.

The Me-109 put the USSR in a lagging position, but in 1938 Polikarpov was already preparing a worthy response to Messerschmitt

This certainly pleased supporters of the Soviet regime and did not please its opponents

In fact, the king of fighters posed a great threat to the enemies of Soviet power. The Polikarpov Design Bureau, powerful enough to work on both a serial machine for the aviation industry and on new developments, had “its own” aircraft plant No. 1 in Moscow (like the M. Koshkin Design Bureau at the Kharkov Locomotive Plant in 1939). The leading test pilot of this design bureau's fighters was brigade commander V.P. Chkalov.

What promising projects did Polikarpov Design Bureau work on?

The first significant project was the VIT-1 attack aircraft. It was a three-seat multi-role aircraft, an aerial tank destroyer, an air combat aircraft, and a dive bomber.

The VIT-1 project, in 1936, was created in the summer of 1937

The aircraft combined enormous striking power (for fighting tanks and armored vehicles) and excellent flight characteristics. The first was provided by one 20 mm and two 37 mm cannons designed by Shpitalny (with ammunition of 100 shells), as well as a 1600 kilogram bomb load.

Speeds of more than 450 km/h and a flight range of 1000 km were achieved. The speed was provided (in the latest modification) by two engines with a capacity of 1665 horsepower each.

Subsequently, to eliminate the shortcomings, it was decided to install more powerful engines on the aircraft and make some changes to the design.

This is how VIT-2 was created. The VIT-2 aircraft is a further development of the VIT-1. The vertical tail is spaced apart, the ShVAK cannon is on the rear turret. M-105 engines, 1050 hp each. With. The chassis wheels, covered together with the struts by convex fairings, were retracted (pneumatic drive) into the rear compartments of the engine nacelles.

The cockpits of the navigator, pilot and gunner have large glass surfaces. Powerful armament was provided - two ShVAK-20 cannons, movable, in the nose and on the turret, two 37-mm cannons and two ShVAK cannons in the wing, stationary against tanks, and two ShKAS machine guns in the lower dagger mount; bombs, like in VIT-1. The first flight was on May 11, 1938 (V.P. Chkalov).

Next, B.N. was tested. Kudrin (factory tests) and P.M. Stefanovsky (state tests). The flight performance was outstanding, the speed reached 513 km/h at an altitude of 4500 m. Estimated range 7900 km at 350 km/h and 6200 km at 500 km/h

VIT-2 was an aircraft of its time, a great success of Polikarpov

Continuing to improve his fighters, N.N. Polikarpov understood perfectly well that to achieve better flight performance, a more powerful engine was needed. The I-16 fighter in service with the Air Force, developed in 1932, five years later no longer met modern requirements. Back in 1936, the designer advocated for a deep modification of the I-16.

This second significant project was the I-180 fighter, on which Chkalov crashed. Created by the designer, it showed excellent flight characteristics and high speed.

I-180 was Polikarpov's main project in 1938

But that's not all. Polikarpov also worked on other projects.

Moreover, in addition to fine-tuning the I-180 fighter, work was carried out on the preliminary design of the high-altitude fighter "K" (project "61") for the AM-37 liquid-cooled engine (1400 hp).

Project "K", this is the future I-200, also known as MiG-1, its author was also Nikolai Polikarpov

In general, the design of the I-180 was close to that of the I-16, but with slightly larger dimensions. It was planned to arm the I-180 with four ShKAS machine guns, with their subsequent replacement by large-caliber machine guns or cannons. Construction of the aircraft began in July 1938.

The unhealthy situation that developed around the Polikarpov Design Bureau at plant No. 156 did not contribute to the rapid and high-quality production of parts. To the enterprise, page

Having previously built mainly large aircraft, the technology for producing a small fighter was difficult for him.

But that's not all. Polikarpov also thought about an even more advanced fighter with an air-cooled engine (in the engine-building design bureaus of S.K. Tumansky and A. D. Shvetsov, new two-row engines with a power of 1600-2000 hp were created).

...........................................

Designer Polikarpov developed fighter aircraft by leaps and bounds. he was very dangerous for the enemies of the USSR, the Soviet government. He simply had to be stopped.

Did Polikarpov have enemies? Yes, there were quite a few.

Enemy No. 1 was the deputy. Chairman of the OGPU and future People's Commissar of the Internal Affairs Genrikh Yagoda, who opened a case against him in 1929.

The OGPU arrested Polikarpov at home in Moscow on October 24, 1929. While in Lubyanka and Butyrskaya prisons, Polikarpov pleaded not guilty. The OGPU sentenced him to death without trial as a “socially alien element.” His wife, who remained at large, was not paid a salary; the apartment property was described

In 1930, Polikarpov was imprisoned, and the R-5 reconnaissance aircraft, which he created before his arrest, took first place in the international aviation competition for reconnaissance vehicles in Tehran. This saved Polikarpov and his comrades.

Polikarpov built the best aircraft in the world, which strengthened the defense of the USSR

And many enemies of the Soviet regime (in the USSR and abroad) did not like it

On March 14, 1931, many engineers and even Grigorovich were released. And four days later, on March 18, the OGPU board sentenced Polikarpov to 10 years in the camps with confiscation of property. Guilty of espionage and “state crimes” (Ivanov, p. 341).
“Crime” – the success of the R-5 in Persia? This success left some in the West without a major contract. By the way, one of the radio voices, denouncing Stalin and praising Yagoda, let slip: Yagoda had an account in a Swiss bank.
Stalin again stood up for Polikarpov. At that time there was no Supreme Soviet of the USSR, but Congresses of Soviets were held. They elected the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the USSR - formally the highest authority of the state.
On July 7, 1931, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR granted an amnesty to Polikarpov. On July 8, the OGPU released him and took him home by car.

G. Yagoda, who was an opponent of Soviet power, was the first to try to destroy Polikarpov

Destroy as a person, but twhen he failed, Polikarpov was released

But in March 1938 Yagoda was tried and shot; he could not organize the murder of Chkalov

The fall of Yagoda was a great relief for Polikarpov. Moreover, in December 1937, his other enemy No. 2, Andrei Tupolev, was arrested.

After N. Polikarpov was released from prison, the chief engineer of TsAGI Tupolev began persecuting him. They didn't work together for long.

In November 1931, Polikarpov was removed from his post as head of brigade No. 3 and transferred from the Central Design Bureau to TsAGI as an ordinary engineer. Tupolev tried to destroy Polikarpov as a designer. It seemed that Polikarpov’s career had come to an end, but then Sergei Ilyushin helped him.

Reorganization was carried out and Polikarpov became deputy P.O. Sukhoi in design team No. 3. This was a new start for Polikarpov.

A.N. Tupolev tried to destroy Polikarpov as a designer, but nothing worked for him either

But at the end of 1938 he had already been under arrest for a year and was unlikely to be able to organize sabotage

Of course, the list of the designer’s enemies was far from exhausted by these names. The enemies of Tupolev (No. 3) were plant No. 156 itself.

In December 1937, the design bureau was transferred to pilot plant No. 156, Polikarpov was appointed to replace the arrested A.N. Tupolev.

A protracted conflict immediately arose between the plant and the design bureau; new designers were simply not allowed into the plant, and they were refused to be hired.

On May 28, 1938, Polikarpov was appointed technical director of the plant, which further distracted him from work, and squabbles began about his clamping down on the production of P. O. Sukhoi’s cars in his own favor.

There were many examples. For example, in January 1938, Polikarpov demanded that production of P. Sukhoi’s Ivanov aircraft begin, but the plant did not carry out this work throughout February and March under various pretexts

Production workshop of plant No. 156

Hostility broke out at the enterprise; from the very beginning, the plant directors began to fight against Polikarpov

They had motives and opportunities for sabotage

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On December 15, 1938, a tragedy occurred that changed Polikarpov’s life for the worse. The decline of his design life began. Neither Yagoda nor Tupolev were able to destroy it.

But by killing Valery Chkalov, Polikarpov’s enemies achieved their goal. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why Valery Chkalov was killed. By killing the famous pilot, they damaged the reputation of an outstanding designer.

This was not just a blow to the designer’s reputation. This was a blow to the reputation of the Chief Designer at that time, whose aircraft were in service with the Army

Neither Yagoda's prison nor Tupolev's persecution could destroy the designer Polikarpov

But this was done by one act of sabotage, in which the pilot beloved by Stalin and the whole country died

It was much more effective - not to poison, not to kill, or even to imprison on the Constructor’s denunciation, but simply to disrupt the work of the design bureau itself.

The work of the design bureau will be automatically stopped during inspections, commissions, proceedings, and reports. This is simply standard procedure in the event of a serious aircraft accident resulting in the death of a test pilot. And even more so, if Chkalov also suffers, then the design bureau will certainly be out of action for a long time.

And in reality, the accident with the I-180 fighter in 1938, in which V.P. died. Chkalov, at that time already a brigade commander (position and rank of general of the Air Force of the Space Forces), struck several targets at once.

Here is a brief summary of the consequences of the act of sabotage on December 15, 1938:

• the work of the Polikarpov Design Bureau was stopped for 2 months
• in February 1939 Polikarpov was relieved of his post as technical director of plant No.156 and translated design. to plant No. 1.
• Project "K" was transferred to OKO, headed by A.I. Mikoyan and M.I. Gurevich

But the heaviest blow was dealt to the I-180 fighter. At that time, this aircraft was the main attraction. It was against him that the reputational blow was dealt.

An analysis of the state of German aviation showed that the I-180 introduced into the series meets the requirements of the time.

But there was no doubt that more advanced modifications of the Bf-109E would soon appear, and the Focke-Wulf company created a new powerful fighter, the FW-190 (though little was known about it yet).

And if Yakovlev, Lavochkin, Pashinin and others during 1939-40. were working on machines close to the Bf-109E, then Polikarpov decided to “strike” with great anticipation, choosing the following main parameters of a high-speed fighter as targets: high speeds and rate of climb over the entire altitude range, powerful weapons, high vertical and horizontal maneuver characteristics, stability and controllability, production and operational manufacturability.

As time has shown, Polikarpov had a very good idea of ​​what a fighter should be like in the impending war - the I-185, in its parameters, met the requirements of the end of the war.

The I-180 and its modifications were the main threat to the enemies of the USSR in the sky

They tried to stop its introduction into mass production at any cost.

The I-180 was tested in 1938, and the same I-16 “type 29” of the 1940 model also had quite decent characteristics and a speed of up to 470 km/h. But after the accident with the death of Chkalov on the I-180, work on the creation and launch of a “new generation” machine with an engine of over 1000 hp. in any case, they should have been inhibited purely technically.

However, neither the army nor the country can wait, and the task of designing and manufacturing a new fighter will be transferred to another design bureau and plant, and in any case this will require some time.

But the tests were strange, to put it mildly, and here’s why. Strange accidents happened over and over again. They were all the more incomprehensible, since Polikarpov’s accident rate during tests in the plant was lower than that of other designers. Still a king.

On April 27, 1939, test pilot S.P. Suprun took off the second I-180-2, flight tests of the I-180 took place without serious comments.

I-180 after the Suprun accident, the plane fell again

The aircraft was demonstrated at the May Day parade in 1939, but the release of the I-180 military series was delayed; plant No. 21 (representative of Polikarpov Design Bureau M.K. Yangel) was loaded with serial production of the I-16 and, while creating the I-21 fighter of its own design, did not want to other people's projects.

On September 5, 1939, on the 53rd flight, under unclear circumstances, the second copy of the I-180-2 crashed, test pilot T.P. Suzi was killed.

Thomas Susi died during testing of the I-180

And again, this looks like sabotage, because if the I-180 had been put into production, the USSR would have had hundreds of such machines by the beginning of the war

The 3rd copy was built in February 1940 at plant No. 1. In April, at plant No. 21, the first 3 serial I-180s were produced, their factory tests continued until July 4, 1940. On July 5, in a test flight, another I-180 crashed -180, pilot Afanasy Proshakov was unable to recover from the spin and left the car by parachute.

Afanasy Grigorievich Proshakov, 1940

He miraculously survived, managing to eject from I-180 in time

Attitudes towards the aircraft were complex, its spin characteristics were questionable, interest in fighters with air-cooled engines was falling, many began to consider them obsolete and unpromising at speeds of more than 500 km/h. Leading test pilot E. G. Ulyakhin gave the following assessment of the machine:

“In terms of maneuverability, the aircraft is very close to the I-16, but it is more stable and better in turns, landing and stability in flight,” The aircraft was superior in speed and maneuverability to the main fighter of the German Air Force Bf-109E; it was not difficult for the pilots to retrain from the I-16 to the I-180.

However, soon, due to defects, the production of M-88 engines was stopped and in August the serial construction of the I-180 was stopped, and at the end of 1940 a decision was made to completely withdraw the aircraft from production

I-180, 1940

The formidable machine was never introduced into wide mass production

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Ultimately, Polikarpov’s VIT 1.2 and I-180 Tk aircraft did not conquer the skies of our country.

And Project “K”, aka I-200, was taken from the king, it was already called MiG-1, although neither Mikoyan nor Gurevich were involved in the design of this fighter.

There were three difficult trials in Polikarpov's life - prison, persecution and discredit through the murder of a test pilot.

The main goal of the murder of Chkalov - discrediting and eliminating the king of the fighters - was generally achieved

Death of V.P. Chkalov on the I-180 is pure sabotage, aimed not only at the new aircraft, but in general against the entire system of work of the N. Polikarpov Design Bureau