Nikolai Polikarpov - "the king of fighters. Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov Then it was a common occurrence

Polikarpov Nikolay Nikolaevich

A native of the Oryol region, an outstanding Russian and Soviet aircraft designer, called by admiring colleagues and pilots the king of fighters, who designed over 80 aircraft, Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov can be safely called the founder of Soviet fighter aviation - all subsequent designers, up to the advent of jet aircraft, used the backlog he created.

The aircraft designer was born in the family of a priest on June 9, 1892 (May 28, old style), in the village of Georgievsky (now Kalinino) near the town of Livny, Oryol province. He graduated from a theological school and a seminary, throughout his life he was Orthodox not only by the fact of baptism, but a prayer book who openly confessed his faith. In the USSR, among the people whose names the whole country knew, only two, it seems, allowed themselves then - Academician Ivan Pavlov and Nikolai Polikarpov.

While still receiving a spiritual education, Polikarpov had a dream to become a sailor. In 1911, he entered the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, hoping to later engage in the creation of engines for ships. He did not say goodbye to this dream right away - he still managed to build aircraft for naval aviation. Nikolai Nikolaevich also began to engage in aviation even before the revolution. Together with Igor Sikorsky, he created the Ilya Muromets - at that time it was the most powerful aircraft in the world. Later, his I-1 became the world's first monoplane fighter, and the U-2 trainer became a mass multi-purpose machine that broke aviation longevity records.

In 1929, the designer was arrested and sentenced to death. Everything was remembered to him - his “hostile” belonging to the “old” Russian world, his class origin, doubtful for the Soviet authorities, from the family of hereditary priests, spiritual education and the fact that Polikarpov was an Orthodox Russian man who did not hide his faith. Hero Soviet Union Ignatiev recalled that Polikarpov openly sincerely blessed the pilots of his design bureau before the tests, telling them: “God bless!” - a thing completely unheard of in those godless times! Many did not like his character, as well as the independent, independent position of a brilliant professional in aircraft design. Polikarpov was a very calm person, he never was rude, but he knew how to cut off rude opponents. Solving important state tasks of revolutionary aviation construction, Nikolai Nikolayevich seditiously did not belong to the party, but behaved quite boldly with the party elite and even with Stalin himself.

IL-400b - the second prototype of the first Soviet fighter. July 18, 1924 Konstantin Konstantinovich Artseulov made the first flight on the IL-400b

Group photo with the crew at the side of the U-2

Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov while working at the Russian-Baltic plant

A group of participants in the development of the fighter IL-400 (I-1)

But the need for Soviet aviation in Polikarpov was too great - and Nikolai Nikolaevich became a forgiven criminal! He was released in the early 1930s, but the sentence was not overturned. They replaced the execution with imprisonment in the camps, but Polikarpov was needed all the time. And there was an "extraordinary" situation: a deputy of the Supreme Council, a Hero of Socialist Labor could be seized at any time and immediately executed. Because the trial and investigation have already taken place. And he continued to make planes even in prison. It was there that the VT-11 (I-5) aircraft was designed. "VT" stands for "inner prison". Then the creation of the aircraft took two years, it was a worldwide practice. When the prisoners were gathered, they said: you can do two years, but you will be released when you do it. They thought, said: "Six months is enough." They were surprised at the top: “Ah, do you have internal reserves? Three months for you to do everything about everything. A month later, the plane was ready ... In addition to the whip, however, gingerbread was also used in the prison design bureau - for relatives, for his daughter, Polikarpov bought oranges and tangerines in the prison shop, which Muscovites had already begun to forget about.

Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov in the cockpit of a U-2 aircraft. Moscow, 1935

Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov among the cadets of the flying club of plant No. 39

After his release, the designer again actively set to work, creating almost all Soviet fighters of the 30s of the XX century. The legendary Polikarpovsky I-16 received a well-deserved reputation as a formidable air fighter in the skies of Spain, Khalkhin Gol, China and Finland. Created eight years before the Great Patriotic War, the outdated I-16 fought very well in the hardest 1941, especially after Polikarpov armed it with guns. And his successor I-185, which took to the skies back in April 1941, according to the conclusions of testers and front-line pilots, was rated according to its flight data and weapons as best modern fighter! Having remained experimental, the I-185 possessed the full range of advanced qualities of a leading fighter: excellent takeoff and landing, flight and maneuverability, an outstanding range of maximum speeds and altitudes, fuel capacity and flight range. Possessed powerful armament of three synchronous ShVAK cannons of 20 mm caliber in the forward fuselage with 500 rounds of ammunition; under the wing there were 4 bomb racks, on which 4 bombs of 100 kg or 2 of 250 kg were suspended; in addition, instead of bombs, a suspension of eight PC-82 shells on launchers was also provided. The level that could be provided by the development of the I-185 fighter and the new M-71 and M-90 engines was never reached either by the end of the war, or until the transition to jet fighters. And if Yakovlev, Lavochkin, Pashinin and others worked on machines close to the German Bf-109E during 1939-1940, then Polikarpov decided to "strike" with great preemption, choosing the following main parameters of a high-speed fighter as targets: high speeds and rate of climb over the entire range of altitudes, powerful weapons, high performance vertical and horizontal maneuver, 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.

I-185 with M-71 engine (three angles)

I-185 with M-71 engine

I-185 with M-82A engine

Cabin I-185

I-185 scheme with M-71 engine

I-185 scheme with M-82A engine

Undoubtedly, the breakthrough I-185, designed and built at the beginning of 1940 and meeting the requirements of the end of the war in terms of its parameters and potential, deserved (like the experimental engines M-90, M-71, M-82) much more attention from the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry (NKAP). But he shared the dramatic fate of his brilliant creator. It seems that the rejection of the I-185, the M-71 and M-90 engines is connected not so much with technical difficulties, without which it is impossible to create a qualitatively new technique, but with the fact that the adoption of this fighter would sharply depreciate not only the existing Yak -1, Yak-7, Yak-9, La-5, but also the future Yak-3, Yak-9U, and partially even La-7, would cast doubt on the technical policy of the NKAP, starting from 1940 ...

If in the middle of 1940 it was possible to fix at least the basic flight data of a fighter even with an experimental engine, no one would have been able to block his path to the series - as it turned out later, the aircraft had no fundamental defects, and it would have had incomparably more flight data higher than competitors. It would be very cool for Polikarpov and our Air Force (by the beginning of the war, a fighter would be in production and operation, significantly superior not only to the Bf-109E, Bf-109F, but also the future Bf-109G), but ... not very good for young design teams ... So, in 1942, it simply would not have made sense for Lavochkin to create the La-5, and after the LaGG-3 was replaced by the Yaks, his design bureau would have been on the sidelines. Yakovlev would also have had a hard time: the I-185 is not the Yak-1, Yak-7, Yak-9, and not even the Yak-3. The demanded number of "Yaks" would have been steadily declining ... It so happened that with powerful behind-the-scenes opposition, only the disgraced Polikarpov, the Air Force, and even engine builders could be interested in the success of the I-185 ...

From the annotation to the book by Vladimir Petrovich Ivanov “Unknown Polikarpov”: “He was supposed to become a priest - but he devoted his life to aviation. He knew incredible ups, all-Union glory, power, honor - and terrible falls, "prison and bag." 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 he reached the Victory, barely exchanging his sixth decade. No wonder historians dubbed Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov the most tragic figure in the history of Soviet aviation.

At the end of 1943, Polikarpov received a task (one might say, comforting) to design a high-altitude interceptor (VP), equipped with a pressurized cabin, under the M-71F engine with TK-3 turbochargers on the basis of the I-185 M-71. During the design process, I had to switch to the AM-39B engine from the TK-300B. According to the calculation, the VP, armed with two 23 mm guns, at an operating altitude (14,000 m) was supposed to have a speed of 715 km / h.

But the failures of recent years - especially with the advancement of the I-185 - greatly undermined the health of Polikarpov, who never complained about anything, was always cheerful and energetic. A serious illness (cancer of the esophagus) brought him down in the prime of his creative powers and talent.

Work on the VP (as well as on the ITP (M2), TIS (MA), NB, "Malyutka" (with LRE) and other machines and projects) was stopped after the death of Polikarpov. Fate took the talented Russian engineer only 52 years of life. July 30, 1944, after a rapidly developing cancer, 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 the funeral of Nikolai Nikolayevich, August 1, 1944, paying deep respect to their creator, they flew low over the place of his last resting place at the Novodevichy cemetery.

In total, over 80 aircraft of various types were developed by the unique Russian aircraft designer. He was one of the first to divide a single aircraft design into specialized parts. Artyom Ivanovich Mikoyan, Mikhail Kuzmich Yangel, Alexander Vasilyevich Potopalov, Vsevolod Konstantinovich Tairov, Vasily Vasilyevich Nikitin and other specialists worked under the guidance of Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov, who later became prominent designers of aviation and rocket and space technology.

In 1944, Vladimir Nikolaevich Chelomey, later a well-known designer of rocket and space technology, headed the Polikarpov Design Bureau. Under his leadership, work on projectile aircraft, begun under Nikolai Nikolayevich, was continued, and the design bureau was no longer engaged in aviation topics. But the aviation past of plant No. 51 continued in 1953, when the Design Bureau of Pavel Osipovich Sukhoi was recreated on its basis, where in subsequent years outstanding aircraft were developed, many of which had no equal in the world. I would like to see something symbolic in this, connected with historical justice ...

Pursued by provocations of the authorities and enemies, denunciations and defamatory competitors, the “non-systemic” designer for grandiose, high-profile achievements and a colossal personal contribution to the development of Soviet aviation was repeatedly, paradoxically awarded by the very same authorities: twice the highest state award - the Order of Lenin (in 1935 and 1940 years); Order of the Red Star (in 1937); He was awarded the title Hero of Socialist Labor (in 1940) and twice awarded the Stalin Prize (in 1941 and 1943).

Note that Polikarpov was rehabilitated only in 1956.

In order to understand the extraordinary, highest morality of Nikolai Nikolayevich in the era of persecution and dramatic trials, we will cite some facts that are important for our awareness. This is how journalistic questions were clarified in his interview to Vladimir Grigoryan (Christian newspaper of the North of Russia "Vera" - "Eskom"), the author of studies of the amazing fate of Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov - Vladimir Petrovich Ivanov ...

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

« I am constantly worried about how you live, how your health is, how you are experiencing our common misfortune. It's not worth even remembering, I'm completely killed by this grief. Occasionally, at night or early in the morning, I hear the sounds of life: a tram, a bus, a car, a ringing for morning, 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 as yet my letters do not reach you. This is the fourth letter... I remember you all the time, mentally travel to you, mentally experience my whole life with you and Mirochka. How I would like to see Mirochka. Probably running around with a sled and a shovel now?.. How is your money? Buy Mirochka a book from me, and arrange a Christmas tree for her by Christmas. Do you play the pianola? How nice it would be to play... Pray for me St. Nicholas, light a candle and don't forget about me. Take care of yourself, dress better and eat better».

There were many denunciations against Polikarpov.

- Who wrote them?

Everyone wrote. It is easier to say who did not 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 ideas. It was Ilyushin who at one time saved Nikolai Nikolaevich from Tupolev.

- Tupolev and Polikarpov were 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 factory during the First World War. Tupolev was the chief designer there, he tried to create machines for naval aviation, but did not achieve much success - the sailors refused his planes. Then the director of the plant, Julius von Meller, who changed his unsuitable 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 excellent projects, and engineer Polikarpov does not bother to provide them with orders.

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

Tupolev wrote later that he himself left, was offended and “took away his drawings” (well, not quite his own, they were prepared by a whole team). From that moment on, he did not miss the opportunity to trip Nikolai Nikolayevich. "For the sake of the cause," as it seemed to Tupolev.

“It was common back then.

Yes, but Polikarpov never did that. When Tupolev was arrested with a large group of his employees, Chkalov, joyful, ran to Nikolai Nikolayevich and announced: “Have you heard? Oak felled! (meaning the arrest of Tupolev, whom Chkalov did not like). And Polikarpov answered quietly: “Yes, it’s hard for them now, you need to pray for them.”

Did he help a lot?

When his deputy Tomashevich was imprisoned, Polikarpov provided his family with money and food. After the release of Dmitry Lyudvigovich, 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 once the NKVD received a denunciation of Yangel - then still a boy who worked 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 a vacation and sent him to Siberia to collect documents about his father's innocence.

Yangel himself was a man of a slightly different stock. During the war, he left his family in evacuation without a livelihood, leaving for Moscow. And once, his wife Irina Strazheva later recalled, they and their children had neither bread nor money left. In the courtyard of 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 you are having a bad life, he sent a bag of potatoes. Sign for receipt."

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

When our wonderful aircraft designer Grigorovich was dying, Polikarpov was the only one of his colleagues who visited him. They had 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 in the General Directorate of the Aviation Industry. The girl, Alexandra Fedorovna, preferred Polikarpov, becoming his wife. Grigorovich was a noisy, harsh man and could yell at anyone, but not at Polikarpov. They maintained respect for each other for life.

Death interrupted 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 placed in the Kremlin hospital, but no one wanted to do the operation. Relatives began to persuade Professor Sergei Sergeevich Yudin - he was a luminary of surgery, he worked in the Sklifosovsky hospital. He set the condition that he would do 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 over his shirt, he turned to his relatives and said: "We will operate." Unfortunately, the operation did not help. On July 30, 1944, Nikolai Nikolayevich died.

This cross was the main family heirloom of the Polikarpovs. When the ancestor of Nikolai Nikolaevich - father 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 transferred to the eldest in the family. So when Nikolai Nikolaevich sometimes repeated: “I proudly carry my cross in life,” it was true, both literally and figuratively ...

Aircraft Design Bureau N.N. Polikarpova

One of the pioneers of the Soviet military aviation, Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov, went through a rather long and difficult path, from an engineer to the chief designer of his design bureau.

It was not for nothing that he was nicknamed the "King of Fighters" it was on his planes that our aces first took to the skies: Pokryshkin, Kozhedub and Rechkalov. Polikarpov's fighters under the letter "I" fought in the skies of Spain, China and Finland, and later held the defense on the borders of our country.

From heaven to earth

Born in the Oryol region near the village of Georgievskoye (now Kalinino) in the Livensky Zemstvo on June 9, 1892, in a family of hereditary clergymen. Mother was from a family of wealthy priests.

His grandmother in the early years lived on the estate of I. S. Turgenev, her father, great-grandfather Kolya, according to the testimony of that time, could serve as a prototype for the stern Bazarov from Turgenev’s work “Fathers and Sons”.

Nikolai's father was a participant in charitable events and organizations. He served as an archbishop in several provinces. By 1903, the seventh child was born in the Polikarpov family.

Censer or motor

Kolya Polikarpov's childhood passed quickly, the boy loved to design and draw, read a lot. At the age of 9, he was sent to study at the Livny Theological School. At the age of fifteen he entered the seminary of the city of Orel. But fortunately N.N. Polikarpov was not interested in the boring life of a parish priest, but in the roar of engines and turbines, perhaps already then the sky beckoned him.

In 1911, leaving spiritual studies, and not thinking about the family vocation of a priest, he passes exams and enters the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute.

Nikolai Polikarpov entered the mechanical department of the shipbuilding faculty. At the age of 20 (1912) he began to practice in the Livensky district, working as an engineer in the construction of highways and bridges. At the age of 21, he is fond of aviation and attends relevant courses at the faculty, at the same time starting studies at the second faculty of aviation.

At the age of 24 he defended his diploma “Marine-type diesel 1000 hp.” and receives the title of “mechanical engineer of the 1st degree”, but failed to defend a diploma on a twin-engine aircraft.

At the time of entering the institute, Nikolai had six more brothers and sisters, and besides, tuition had to be paid. The priest father's budget was limited. Therefore, the future aircraft designer, along with training, worked as an assistant engineer in the shops of the shipbuilding department of the plant, and later in the aircraft building department.

The beginning and rise of a career

After graduation, he works as a production manager in the aviation department of Russo-Balta, as the diversified Russian-Baltic Carriage Works was called at that time.

Nikolay became the leader and mentor, who drew attention to a talented student during his studies.

Polikarpov took part in the giant bomber, a revolutionary project at that time. He created projects for new fighter aircraft of the revived air units of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Fleet and at the same time was engaged in the modernization of old ones.

In 1918, the plant collapsed due to the difficult economic situation after the First World War and the revolution. I.I. Sikorsky did not find mutual understanding with the Bolsheviks in the new situation, and decided to emigrate. Not forgetting about his best student, he called Polikarpov with him, promising better conditions for growth, but he refused.

Dedication to the Union

In the same year, Nikolai began working in Moscow in the administration of the Main Air Fleet, in one of the positions in the construction of aircraft factories.
In 1918 he was sent to Moscow, to the Dux factory. As deputy head of the design department, he studied foreign aircraft and modernized domestic aircraft.

On his own initiative, with his team, he developed the first Soviet monoplane fighter. The serial production of the bold, but not finalized IL-400 project was limited to 33 machines.

From 1924 to 1928 he changed several major leadership positions. During this time he became the first Soviet man who developed methods for creating and testing aircraft. He streamlined the approach and science of aircraft engineering, which guided and leveled other designers before the era of jet aviation.

In 1927, Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov created a winged legend.

The U-2 training aircraft, which weighed about 700 kg, was a team of hundreds and thousands of pilots and for a long time won the glory of the most successful and simple aircraft of the USSR. During its life, this aircraft has changed hundreds of guises: a training and communications aircraft, a limousine, a sprayer, etc.

The machine, which trained about a hundred thousand pilots, was produced for a record long time - until 1954. This was facilitated by both the simplicity of the design and the cheapness of the material: wood, canvas and plywood. In memory of him, the aircraft was renamed Po-2.

In February 1928, Polikarpov's design bureau moved to aircraft factory No. 25, where they completed the development of a new machine by September. The R-5 aircraft became one of the best universal aircraft of the 1930s.

An attack aircraft, a bomber, a carrier of chemical weapons, a reconnaissance aircraft and a transporter, under what conditions he just did not fulfill his tasks. One thing remained unchanged - it is high reliability and simplicity of design.

One step away from being shot

On October 24, 1929, Nikolai Polikarpov was arrested by the state security agencies, imputing articles on counter-revolutionary activities and undermining industry. Nikolai's design mistakes and competition among aircraft manufacturers largely influenced the decision to arrest.

The political situation and the intensification of the opposition aggravated the position of the designer.

One of the opponents of the Soviet regime abroad was I.I. Sikorsky, Polikarpov's former mentor, who proposed a plan to overthrow the government by airborne assault from aircraft of his own production.

After sitting in anticipation of two months, the verdict was decided to be postponed indefinitely. He was saved by the need for talented aircraft designers in a difficult world situation.

In December, an aviation design bureau, the so-called “sharashka”, was created in the prison. Such bureaus at that time were the focus of the scientific potential of the USSR. Polikarpov served as deputy D.P. Grigorovich.

In 1930, several fighters were developed, including the I-5, which entered combat duty in the Air Force, where it served until the 40s. In the spring of the 30th, Polikarpov was mitigated and sentenced to 10 years in a camp.

But everything changed in June 1931, when the I-5 was presented to the commission of the People's Commissariat of Defense and Armaments, headed by Stalin. The show was successful and a month later Nikolai Nikolayevich was amnestied with other specialists, and the term of imprisonment was reclassified as a conditional one.

Conquest of new peaks before a serene sunset

After being released, Polikarpov goes to TsAGI. In 1933, and were created, within the framework of the concept of interaction between a maneuverable and high-speed fighter. The I-15 line was further developed in the form of the I-15-2 and I-15-3 fighters.

The I-16 also did not stand still and was constantly modernized, the last model of the I-16 type 29 was released in 1941. For this, the best specialists and production facilities were assembled in our own design office.

I-16 became one of the best machines that came out of Polikarpov's design bureau.

The lobed maneuverable monoplane, assembled mostly from plywood, proved to be excellent in China and Spain, where it was not inferior to the first modifications of its future enemy. Aircraft of Willy Messerschmitt. On this technique, a world altitude record was set in the 35th year.

It was these machines that were the first to meet the enemy in the sky over Brest on June 22, 1941 and served until 1945. One of the last I-16s flew in Spain until the mid-50s!

In 1939, Nikolai Nikolayevich was sent to Germany. The task of the commission, which included Polikarpov, was to collect information about Luftwaffe aircraft and factories in Germany, which at that time was already considered as a future enemy. While the aircraft designer was abroad, his design bureau was disbanded, specialists and projects were transferred to other designers.

So the project of Polikarpov's high-altitude high-speed fighter was finalized and brought to a series in the design bureau of Mikoyan and Gurevich, it entered service as a MiG-1 fighter. Upon his return, Polikarpov reassembled everything, while working on other projects with a shortage of resources.

An old hangar without necessary conditions for work.

At the beginning of the war, one of the best aircraft of its time was developed in this hangar, thanks to which the number of dead Soviet pilots could be reduced significantly. by an order of magnitude superior to the performance characteristics of all German aircraft. But the imperfection of the engine design, to some extent, the intrigues of Yakovlev, led to the oblivion of this fighter.

Although even with the M-82 engine, the I-185 somewhat outperformed its competitor La-5 in flight performance, let alone armament, only the La-7 modification, released at the end of the war in a small series, had 3 air guns.

Nikolai Nikolaevich continued to lead the design bureau after the doctors made a fatal diagnosis. Polikarpov's planes were in service for decades and were recognized as the best in their class on the world stage. By 1943, he had the highest state awards and two Stalin Prizes of the first degree. An outstanding figure died on July 30, 1944 from stomach cancer.

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On June 8, 1892, the legendary Soviet aircraft designer was born Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov.

Everyone knows about such aircraft from the Second World War as the Yaks, Lavochkins, MiGs, everyone has at least heard something about the Tupolevs, Ilahs and the Sukhoi company. Only the “heavenly slug”, the Po-2 biplane, which, by a strange irony of fate, was renamed from U-2 (training) after the death of the designer, reminds us of the largest aircraft designer of the USSR at the beginning of the 20th century. The irony is that Polikarpov was called the “king of fighters”: for more than 10 years in the 1930s, the USSR Air Force was armed only with his aircraft.

Nikolai Polikarpov was born into the family of a village priest. After graduating from the Theological School, against the will of his father, he takes external exams for the course of the gymnasium and in 1911 enters the mechanical department of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. Since 1914, having become interested in aviation, he also takes aeronautical courses at the shipbuilding department of the institute.

After graduating from the institute, Nikolai Polikarpov began working at the aviation department of the Russian-Baltic Carriage Works, which was led by the famous aircraft designer Igor Sikorsky. After the revolution, Sikorsky, because of his origin, fell into disgrace and was forced to emigrate to the United States. He called Polikarpov with him, promising ideal conditions for creativity, but he refused.

I-16 with identification marks of the Spanish Republic. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Álvaro from Getafe, España

Aircraft before the war were not called by the names of the chief designers, but were given serial designations: the R-1 reconnaissance aircraft, the TB-3 heavy bomber, and the I-16 fighter. In the 1920s, Polikarpov created the first domestic I-1 fighter (IL-400), the R-1 reconnaissance aircraft, known for participating in the I-3 fighter, the R-5 reconnaissance aircraft and the famous U-2, and it was thanks to them that the designer gained fame. These machines were among the best aircraft of their time, and this was in conditions of an extreme shortage of aircraft building materials.

“It is visible, Joseph Vissarionovich”

In November 1929, Polikarpov was arrested by the OGPU on charges of "participation in a counter-revolutionary wrecking organization" and sentenced to death without trial. After two months of waiting for the execution of the sentence, in December of the same year he was sent to the "sharashka" - the Special Design Bureau (TsKB-39 OGPU). Here, together with D. P. Grigorovich and other designers in 1930, Polikarpov developed the I-5 fighter, which was in service for more than 9 years. In 1931, the OGPU collegium sentenced Polikarpov to ten years in the camps, but after a successful display Stalin I-5, it was decided to consider the sentence suspended.

Soviet fighter I-5. Photo: Public Domain

Polikarpov was a black sheep in the USSR of the 1930s. He was never a member of the party, wore a pectoral cross and attended church, not embarrassed at all, but behaved quite boldly with the party elite and even with Stalin himself. One of his co-workers designer Vasily Tarasov, spoke about the following case. In May 1935, after Valery Chkalov brilliantly demonstrated the Polikarpov I-16 aircraft to Stalin, who decided to give Polikarpov and Tarasov a ride home. The car had seven seats. Stalin is on the back sofa, the driver and guards are in front, and the aircraft designers are seated on folding seats. Stalin asked: "Here, Nikolai Nikolaevich, do you know what we have in common?" “I don’t know,” Polikarpov replied. “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 what makes us different? You graduated from seminary, but I didn’t.” Polikarpov calmly replied: "It is visible, Joseph Vissarionovich."

“Polikarpov will still be shot”

In 1939 Polikarpov was sent on a business trip to Germany. In his absence plant director Pavel Voronin And chief engineer P. V. Dementiev allocated from the composition of the design bureau part of the units and the best designers (including Mikhail Gurevich) and organized a new Experimental Design Department, and in fact - a new design bureau under the leadership Artyom Mikoyan, brother People's Commissar for Foreign Trade of the USSR Anastas Mikoyan. At the same time, Mikoyan was given the project of a new I-200 fighter (the future MiG-1), which Polikarpov sent to the People's Commissariat of Aviation Industry (NKAP) for approval before his trip.

Under the Polikarpov Design Bureau in an old hangar on the outskirts of Khodynka, a new state plant No. 51 was created, which did not have any production base of its own and even a building to house the design bureau. Nevertheless, the designer managed to create on this site the best experimental fighters of World War II - the I-180 and I-185.

The death of Chkalov

Structurally, these machines were modifications of the I-16, the most massive aircraft of the USSR at that time, and the main idea was that it would be much easier to introduce them into mass production than to repurpose factories for the production of new machines. This was especially important on the eve of the war, when every hour counted. However, the start of serial production of the I-180 was prevented by the death of Valery Chkalov in the first test flight.

Many books have been written about the death of a famous pilot, many versions have been put forward, but it is still impossible to say that the plane is to blame for the tragedy. The flight task included takeoff, circle over the airfield and landing. Chkalov, having made the first circle over the airfield, went to the second large circle, flying out of the field, and it was at that moment that the M-88 engine, which was poorly adjusted at that time, stalled near the plane. The pilot almost could not reach the runway, when landing outside it, the plane caught on the wires, and the pilot hit his head on the metal reinforcement that was at the crash site and died two hours later in the hospital. In fairness, it should be noted that numerous accidents and deaths of pilots during the tests of other aircraft did not prevent their launch into mass production.

Latest project

I-185, Polikarpov's last fighter, at the end of 1941, in terms of the sum of the characteristics in prototypes, surpassed all serial Soviet and foreign piston fighters of those years. The aircraft with performance characteristics comparable to the I-185 (La-7) was released only by the middle of 1944. However, instead of this aircraft, fighters with the worst performance characteristics were launched into the series: Yak-1, MiG-1, LaGG-3.

I-185 with M-71 engine. Photo: Public Domain

The first flight of the I-185 was made on January 11, 1941, and on November 18, 1942, after the plant was evacuated from Moscow, the reference copy of the I-185 entered the state tests at the Air Force Research Institute. Moreover, at the end of December 1942, the aircraft underwent front-line tests (participated in battles) on the Kalinin Front, in the 728th Guards Fighter Regiment, and received positive feedback from the pilots. But the launch of the aircraft into serial production was constantly delayed. Realizing that the front needed the plane, Polikarpov wrote a letter reporting on the tests to Stalin, in connection with which a meeting was convened.

This is how he later describes him in his memoirs Alexander Yakovlev, Deputy People's Commissar of the Aviation Industry for New Technology, as well as the designer of those aircraft that were already in the series, the Yak-1, Yak-9 and Yak-7 (that is, speaking modern language, a direct competitor of Polikarpov): “February 16, 1943 in the evening<...>Stalin read aloud a letter from designer N. N. Polikarpov, in which he reported on a new high-speed fighter that was undergoing factory tests and showed great speed. He asked: "What do you know about this car?" "Good car. The speed is really great." Stalin immediately: "You drop your corporate morality. You don't want to offend the designer, you speak well. How impartially?" We are with Shakhurin[People's Commissar of the aviation industry - approx. ed.] tried to objectively evaluate the car and give it the most comprehensive description possible<...>Stalin was interested in the flight range. We called the range figure. Stalin: "Has it been checked in flight?" I answer: "No. The range has not been checked in flight. This is a calculated data." Stalin: "I do not believe the words. First, check the range in flight, and then we will decide what to do with this machine." And put Polikarpov's letter aside."

Nikolai Polikarpov, profile. Photo: Public Domain

If what is written in Yakovlev's memoirs is true, then Stalin was misinformed. The aircraft at that time did not pass factory tests, but tests at the Air Force Research Institute, the flight range was checked, and this characteristic was not lower than all Soviet and German aircraft of the Second World War launched into a series. Other letters from Polikarpov to Stalin had no effect: the I-185 was not put into production.

On June 1, 1943, there were 10,252 aircraft from the USSR, and 2,980 from the German side. This indicates, first of all, that the command's stake was placed on the quantity, and not on the quality of weapons, and this was reflected in the number of dead pilots. The irretrievable losses of the flight personnel of the Red Army Air Force from 1941 to 1945 amounted to 48,158, including 28,193 pilots. Germany lost more than 66,000 aircrew on two fronts in the same period, killed and missing. According to other sources, the Luftwaffe from 1939 to 1945 lost only about 24 thousand killed and 27 thousand missing.

Death

The story with the I-185 crippled Polikarpov's health. He died in 1944 of stomach cancer at the age of 52. His early death struck many: he never drank alcohol or smoked, he played sports all his life and was always full of energy. Polikarpov died painfully, before last days continuing to lead the KB. Knowing that there was very little left, he wrote notes to the Central Committee with requests not to disband the team, to save the plant. His wishes were not fulfilled - shortly after the death of the designer, his last projects were closed, and the design bureau was disbanded.

Polikarpov was rehabilitated only in 1956.

Polikarpov Nikolay Nikolaevich was born on May 28 (June 9), 1892 in the villages of Popovka (where the church and the priest's house were located) near the village of Georgievskoye (now Kalinino, Livensky district, Oryol region) in the family of the village priest Nikolai Petrovich Polikarpov (1867-1938).

Nikolai Polikarpov had a good memory since childhood, loved to build, draw, at the age of 5 he learned to read on his own. At the age of nine, he was sent to the Livny Theological School, from which he graduated in June 1907 "in the first category", having received the right to be transferred to the first class of the Theological Seminary without entrance exams. At the Oryol Theological Seminary, he was also among the best students, however, not thinking about a spiritual career, he decided to enter the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. The decision was serious, since the institute charged a high tuition fee, in addition, it was necessary to pay for the completed course of the theological seminary, where Polikarpov studied for free. Students of theological seminaries were not admitted to the institute, and Nikolai Polikarpov, having passed the exams as an external student at the 1st Oryol gymnasium, on June 22, 1911, filed a petition for admission to the number of students.

Having passed the competition of certificates, Nikolai Polikarpov in 1911 became a student of the shipbuilding department of the institute, later, in 1914, choosing the specialization "mechanical engineer for steam turbines, internal combustion engines, heating and ventilation systems." At the same time, being carried away by aviation, in 1913 he entered the "Courses of aviation and aeronautics" at the shipbuilding department of the institute.

January 26, 1916 Polikarpov successfully defended his graduation project on the topic “Diesel“ marine type ”with a capacity of 1000 liters. With." and received the title of "mechanical engineer of the I degree." He graduated from the Aviation and Aeronautics courses at the end of 1916, but he failed to defend his graduation project on the topic “twin-engine transport aircraft”, probably due to the difficult situation in the country and the heavy workload at work.

The chief engineer of the aviation department of the Russian-Baltic Carriage Works (JSC RBVZ, Aviabalt) drew attention to a capable student I. I. Sikorsky and sent a nominal application for it to the Office of the Air Force Russian Empire. Nikolai Polikarpov, immediately after the institute, on wartime labor mobilization, begins to work at the RBVZ as the head of the production of S-16 fighters, later being involved in the modernization of the S-16, "Ilya Muromets" and to the design of new ones: S-18, S-19, S-20.

The economic difficulties of World War I, subsequent strikes and revolutions led to the collapse of industry and the actual shutdown of the Aviabalt plant. Aircraft designer I. I. Sikorsky without finding common language emigrated abroad with the new government at the beginning of 1918. Nikolai Polikarpov refused to emigrate and left the plant in March 1918, going to work in the All-Russian Collegium for the Management of the Workers 'and Peasants' Air Fleet.

From August 15, 1918 Polikarpov begins working at the Dux plant as the head of the technical department. From February 6, 1923, he was transferred to the responsible designer of the plant and at the same time deputy. head of the design department of Glavkoavia, in place of D. P. Grigorovich. The first work was to ensure the production and modernization of the manufactured aircraft Nieuport-17, Nieuport-21, Nieuport-23, Farman-30, Ilya Muromets, etc.

In 1927, developed training aircraft Polikarpov U-2(since 1944 Po-2), which won recognition as a very successful design of a light and cheap multi-purpose and training aircraft. Po-2 played a big role in the training of pilots in flight schools and flying clubs of Osoaviakhim, it was produced until 1954 in various modifications for civil and military use, becoming one of the most massive aircraft in the world.

In February 1928, the Polikarpov I-3 half-plane fighter took off for the first time, which was put into service and mass-produced until 1934, becoming the main fighter of the Red Army Air Force of the early 1930s and the second Soviet fighter in history put into service after the I- 2 Grigorovich. At the same time, the Polikarpov Design Bureau moved from Aircraft Plant No. 1 to Experimental Aircraft Plant No. 25, forming the core of its design bureau.

February 28, 1928 Polikarpov was officially appointed technical director and chief designer of the state aircraft factory No. 25. The core of the Polikarpov Design Bureau (OSS - Land Aircraft Building Department) in the period 1926-1932 consisted of 28 designers, mostly young, starting their way in aircraft building.

In September 1928, the Design Bureau began designing the I-6 fighter. After the arrest of Polikarpov in October 1929, the creation of the machine was completed by S.A. Kocherigin. I-6 took to the skies on May 23, 1930, however, unable to compete with a similar I-5 fighter developed in N.N. Polikarpov and D.P. Grigorovich, was not accepted for serial construction. In addition to the I-6, in the work plans of the Polikarpov Design Bureau for the period 1929-31. it was planned to develop the I-7 fighter, the D-2 two-seat fighter and the IK-1 heavy escort fighter. Since 1927, the heavy twin-engine bomber TB-2 (L-2) was also under development.

October 24, 1929 Polikarpov was arrested by the OGPU at his home. He was charged with "participation in a counter-revolutionary sabotage organization", sabotage and disruption of experimental work, for which the facts of errors and shortcomings in design activities in recent years were given out, as well as the previous conflict with the NTK Air Force, during which Polikarpov accused the customer of setting unrealistically high requirements to the designed aircraft. Other designers and workers in the aviation industry were also arrested.

Polikarpov did not plead guilty, after a short investigation he was transferred to the Butyrka prison, where all the imprisoned aviation specialists were gathered, and “as a socially alien element” without trial they were sentenced to death, but the sentence was not carried out.

On November 30, 1929, Ya.I. Alksnis. Referring to the complexity of the international situation, he urged them "to devote their minds and forces to the creation in the shortest possible time of a fighter that would surpass the machines of potential enemies." In December, a “Special Design Bureau” was organized in Butyrskaya prison under the unofficial technical leadership of D.P. Grigorovich, N.N. Polikarpov became his deputy, administrative posts were taken by employees of the economic department of the OGPU. In January 1930, the OKB was transferred to the territory of the Moscow Aircraft Plant No. 39 named after V.R. Menzhinsky, where the prisoners began to live and work in a special hangar, called the "inner prison", and the OKB was renamed the "Central Design Bureau" - TsKB- 39, which in March 1930 was strengthened by civilian specialists.

As a result of hard work, TsKB-39 created a light, maneuverable biplane fighter VT-11, later renamed the I-5. The fighter first took to the skies on April 29, 1930, was put into service and produced in large series, having served in the Red Army Air Force for about 9 years. I-5 has proven itself in operation, its further development was Polikarpov's biplane fighters I-15 and I-153. Polikarpov's contribution to the creation of the machine was significant, since the design of the I-5 was based on the developments of the unfinished I-6 project.

June 6, 1931 2009, a closed review of aviation equipment was held at the Central Aerodrome, which was attended by I. V. Stalin, K. E. Voroshilov, G. K. Ordzhonikidze. Polikarpov presented the I-5 fighter from the Central Design Bureau, piloted by V.P. Chkalov and A.F. Anisimov, the show was successful. On June 28, the collegium of the OGPU decided to consider the sentence against Polikarpov conditional, and on July 7, 1931, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR decided on an amnesty and the release of some of the arrested specialists, 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 Special Meeting at the Collegium of the OGPU and dismissed the case against Polikarpov.

August 27, 1931 TsKB-39 was introduced into TsAGI. N.E. Paufler, a protege of the OGPU, was appointed head of TsAGI.

In November 1931, after a conflict with the chief engineer of TsAGI A.N. Tupolev, Polikarpov was removed from the post of head of brigade No. 3 and transferred from the Central Design Bureau to TsAGI as an ordinary engineer, the brigade was headed by engineer G.I. Bertosh.

At the end of November 1931, S.V. Ilyushin, who had known Polikarpov since the Civil War, was appointed head of the Central Design Bureau and at the same time deputy head of TsAGI.

On May 4, 1932, when, during the reorganization, the former Polikarpov brigade No. 3 and the design brigade No. 4 of P.O. Sukhoi merged into a single brigade No. 3 under the leadership of P.O. Sukhoi, N.N. Polikarpov and G.I. Bertosh, on the recommendation of S.V. Ilyushin, were appointed deputies of P.O. Sukhoi.

From February 1933 to July 1936, Polikarpov worked as the head of brigade No. 2 of the Central Design Bureau on the basis of aircraft factory No. 39.

In the middle of 1933, due to difficulties in fine-tuning the I-14 (ANT-31) by P. O. Sukhoi, the Air Force leadership draws attention to the initiative project of a high-speed monoplane fighter of the Polikarpov brigade, which was named I-16 (TsKB-12) and work in this direction is intensifying. I-14 P.O. Sukhoi made its first flight on May 27, 1933, Polikarpov's fighters first took to the skies on October 23 (I-15) and December 30 (I-16), piloted by test pilot of plant No. 39 Valery Chkalov. The Air Force leadership preferred the I-16 Polikarpov, as cheaper and more technologically advanced (wood-metal, the so-called mixed, design against the all-metal I-14) with somewhat higher flight characteristics, the prospects for fine-tuning and mastering in production. I-15 and I-16 went into serial production and into service with the army, and the I-16, showing a combination of high speed and maneuverability, became one of the most advanced fighters of its time, having stood in service with the Red Army Air Force until 1944.

Aerobatics on the I-16 was demonstrated by the Red Five group and individually Valery Chkalov at the May Day parade of 1935 and the subsequent review of aviation technology, which took place at the Central Aerodrome. Stalin noted the plane and after the flights talked with Polikarpov. People's Commissar Sergo Ordzhonikidze made a presentation to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in which he described the designer as "one of the most capable workers in our aviation." On May 5, 1935, Nikolai Polikarpov, with the wording: "for outstanding services in the creation of new high-quality aircraft designs," was awarded the Order of Lenin, and Valery Chkalov, who actually became the leading test pilot of the Polikarpov Design Bureau, was awarded the same Decree. Despite this, the attitude towards Polikarpov on the part of the leadership was difficult, holding a high position, he was not a member of the party, being a believer, he always wore a cross, for which he was called a "crusader". Against this background, attention from Stalin and work in the design bureau, already well-known, test pilot Chkalov meant a lot to the designer.

In the Soviet Air Force, the I-15 biplane (and its further development I-15bis, I-153) was a concept of a highly maneuverable fighter air combat, the I-16 monoplane tactically complemented it as a high-speed interceptor fighter. Thus, the aircraft developed by Polikarpov again formed the basis of the Air Force fighter fleet of 1934-1940, and the designer himself earned a reputation "king of fighters".

In 1939 he was sent on a business trip to Germany. In his absence, plant director P. A. Voronin and chief engineer P. V. Dementyev separated some of the departments and the best designers from the design bureau (including M. I. Gurevich) and organized a new experimental design department, and in fact - a new design bureau , under the direction of Artyom Mikoyan. At the same time, Mikoyan was given the project of a new I-200 fighter (the future MiG-1), which Polikarpov sent to the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry for approval before his trip to Germany. Then, in the old hangar on the outskirts of Khodynka, on the former territory of TsAGI OELID, a new state plant No. 51 was created for Polikarpov, which did not have any production base of its own and even a building to house the design bureau (currently the design bureau and the Sukhoi pilot plant, to which production was transferred in 1953). At this small (compared to the previous) plant, as well as in difficult evacuation conditions, I-185, ITP, TIS fighters (each in several versions), a combat landing glider (BDP, MP), a NB night bomber were created and a whole a series of projects not completed due to the death of Polikarpov.

In the act on the results of state tests of the I-185 M-71 fighter "standard for the series" dated January 29, 1943, approved by the chief engineer of the Red Army Air Force, Lieutenant General A. K. Repin, Polikarpov's aircraft is named "the best modern fighter". For this aircraft in March 1943, Polikarpov was

awarded the Stalin Prize of the 1st degree

After the death of Polikarpov, his design bureau was headed by V.N. Chelomei, who was entrusted with the development of cruise missiles.

Since 1943, simultaneously with his work at the design bureau, he was a professor and head of the aircraft design department at the Moscow Aviation Institute.

He died July 30, 1944 from stomach cancer. He was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery (plot No. 1).

OKB Polikarpov (1924-29)
TsKB-39 (December 1929-31)
OKB-84 (1936-37)
OKB-156 (since January 1938-39)
OKB-1 (May 1939-40)
OKB-51 (1940-44)

POLIKARPOV Nikolai Nikolaevich (07/09/1892-07/30/1944) - Soviet aircraft designer, doctor technical sciences(1940), Hero of Socialist Labor (1940).
Born on June 9 (May 28), 1892 in the village of Georgievsky, Livensky district, Oryol province, in the family of a village priest. After graduating from the Livny Theological School, he studies at the Orel Seminary, which, however, he does not finish: having passed the exams for the gymnasium as an external student, in 1911 he entered the mechanical department of the St. shipbuilding department of the institute.
In 1916, after defending his graduation project, Nikolai Nikolayevich received a referral to the aviation department of the Russian-Baltic Carriage Works (RBVZ), where until 1918, under the guidance of the outstanding Russian designer I.I. Sikorsky, he worked as a production manager. Participates in the construction of the Ilya Muromets aircraft and the design of RBVZ fighters.
After the revolution, Sikorsky emigrated, inviting Polikarpov with him. But he refuses...
From 1918 he worked at the Duks plant (aircraft factory No. 1), where until 1923 he headed the technical department.
In the spring of 1923, Polikarpov created the first Soviet I-1 fighter (IL-400), which became the world's first free-carrying monoplane fighter. In 1923, under the leadership of Polikarpov, the reconnaissance R-1 was also created. In January 1925 N.N.P. (after the departure of D.P. Grigorovich to Leningrad) he achieved the organization at GAZ 1 named after. Aviakhim of the experimental department and became its chief. In February 1926, N.N. Polikarpov was appointed head of the department of land aircraft construction (OOS) of the Aviatrest Central Design Bureau. In 1927 he created the I-3 fighter, in 1928 - the R-5 reconnaissance aircraft (gained wide fame in connection with the rescue of the Chelyuskin steamer expedition), the U-2 initial training aircraft, which gained worldwide fame and was renamed Po-2 after the death of the designer ). U-2 (Po-2) was built until 1959. During this time, more than 40 thousand vehicles were produced, more than 100 thousand pilots were trained on them. During the Great Patriotic War U-2s were successfully used as scouts and night bombers.
Polikarpov was unreasonably repressed. In October 1929, he was arrested on the standard charge - "participation in a counter-revolutionary wrecking 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 the abolition or change of the sentence), he was sent to the "Special Design Bureau" (TsKB-39 OGPU), organized in the Butyrka prison, and then transferred to the Moscow Aviation Plant N 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 show to Stalin, Voroshilov, Ordzhonikidze of the I-5 aircraft, piloted by Chkalov and Anisimov, it was decided to consider the sentence against Polikarpov suspended. In July of the same year, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR decided to amnesty 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 Collegium of the OGPU and dismissed the case against Polikarpov.
In the 30s. he created the I-15, I-16, I-153 Chaika fighters, which formed the basis of Soviet fighter aviation in the prewar 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. Tupolev, N. Polikarpov was appointed Chief Designer of Aircraft Plant No. 156 (ZOK TsAGI). In early January 1938, his design bureau moved here from factory #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 very first test flight again plunged Polikarpov into disgrace. His deputy, chief 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 act of readiness of the aircraft for the first flight and Baidukov's petition. In May 1939, work on the I-180 was transferred to the State Aircraft 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 also continued the line of maneuverable biplanes - I-190 (1939), I-195 (project 1940).
In 1939, Polikarpov went on a business trip to Germany. In his absence, plant director Pavel Voronin and chief engineer Pyotr Dementiev (future minister of the aviation industry) separated some of the departments and the best designers from the design bureau (including Mikhail Gurevich) and organized a new Experimental Design Department, and in fact a new design bureau, under the leadership of Artem Mikoyan.
At the same time, Mikoyan was given the project of a new I-200 fighter (the future MiG-1), which Polikarpov sent to the People's Commissariat of Aviation Industry (NKAP) for approval before his trip to Germany. Polikarpov, as a consolation, received a prize for designing the I-200 fighter and ... was left without many experienced design personnel, without his own premises and, moreover, without a production base. At first, he was sheltered by the TsAGI test hangar. Then, under Polikarpov, in an old hangar on the outskirts of Khodynka, a new state plant No. 51 was created, which did not have any production base of its own and even a building to house the design bureau. On the territory of this plant, there is currently a design bureau and a pilot plant named after. P. Sukhoi.
In 1938-44, Polikarpov designed a number of experimental military aircraft: TIS, VIT, SPB, NB, etc. On January 11, 1941, the I-185 took off - the first domestic fighter according to the requirements of 1940 with an air-cooled engine. In 1942, he passed state tests and military tests on the Kalinin Front. According to the Air Force Research Institute, the aircraft surpassed all domestic and German serial fighters. The lack of knowledge of the M-71 engine, the accident in which test pilot V.A. Stepanchonok died, and the lack of a factory did not allow the aircraft to be put into series.
An unhealthy atmosphere developed around Polikarpov. The persecution of the designer began, the work was slowed down, he was accused of conservatism. This continued until 1942, when Stalin took Polikarpov under his protection. But in 1944 he died (stomach cancer).
One of his last works was the Malyutka missile fighter project.
In total, Polikarpov developed over 80 aircraft of various types. For the period 1923-1940. at plant number 1, on the territory of which the machine-building plant named after. P.V. Voronin, 15951 aircraft were built (and taking into account modifications of experimental and built in small series - 16698 aircraft), mainly of Polikarpov's design. Among them are reconnaissance aircraft R-1 (1914 aircraft), R-5 (4548), such well-known fighters as I-3 (399 aircraft), I-5 (803), I-15 (674 aircraft; and in total - 3083), I-153 (3437), I-16 (was in serial production from 1934 to 1941; a total of 9450 machines were built), training fighter UTI-4 (1639 machines). A number of long-distance flights were made on Polikarpov's planes.
Polikarpov was one of the first to divide the design of aircraft into specialized parts. A.I. Mikoyan, M.K. Yangel, A.V. Potopalov, V.K. Tairov, V.V. Nikitin and other specialists worked under the leadership of Polikarpov, who later became prominent designers of aviation and rocket and space technology.
Since 1943 Polikarpov has been a professor at the Moscow Aviation Institute. Member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR since 1937. State Prize of the USSR (1941, 1943). Awarded 2 Orders of Lenin, Order of the Red Star. Monuments to Polikarpov were erected in Moscow, Orel, Livny. The Polikarpov Museum was opened in the village of Kalinin, Oryol Region. A peak in the Pamirs is named after him.
On May 5, 2000, on the eve of Victory Day, a memorial dedicated to Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov was solemnly opened on the territory of the Sukhoi Design Bureau. On the edge of a small park, next to the historical hangar, in memory of this remarkable aircraft designer, there is his bust and a small stele with a modest war worker, the I-153 fighter.