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 sabotage. The main question is different - why did they do it?

The tragic death of Valery Chkalov had great consequences, which they do not like to talk about

This is a very important question. Nobody 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 has benefited from this and who has lost the most? The first question cannot be answered immediately, but the second one can be answered unambiguously.

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

How did all this come about? Why did Polikarpov become a target for the enemies of the Soviet regime?

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 great confidence.

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

Polikarpov became not only the king of fighters, but also, in fact, the main one in all Soviet aviation. In the same 1937, Polikarpov was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Polikarpov was at the top and it seemed that new inevitable successes awaited him. But things turned out 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 the post of technical director of plant No. 156 and was 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 fall of his authority.

Nikolai Polikarpov was the king of fighters, his cars were a serious danger to the enemies of the USSR

Killing Chkalov - they hit the king of fighters, who meant so much to the country

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It is worth noting the situation in which aviation was in general at that time. In bomber aviation, the USSR lagged behind foreign countries, but there was a corresponding "parity" in fighter aviation. Until 1937, Polikarpov's fighters were considered among the best, they successfully fought in the Spanish sky.

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

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

This certainly pleased the 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 both on 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 the fighters of this design bureau was brigade commander V.P. Chkalov.

What promising projects did Polikarpov Design Bureau work on?

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

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

The aircraft combined a huge impact power (to fight tanks and armored vehicles) and excellent flight characteristics. The first was provided by one 20 mm and two 37 mm cannons of the Shpitalny design (with 100 rounds of ammunition), as well as 1600 kilograms of bomb load.

A speed of over 450 km/h and a flight range of 1,000 km were achieved. The speed was provided (in the latest modification) by two motors, with a capacity of 1665 horsepower each.

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

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

Cabins for navigator, pilot and gunner - with large glass surfaces. The armament was powerful - two ShVAK-20 cannons, mobile, in the nose and on the turret, two 37-mm cannons and two ShVAK cannons in the wing, fixed against tanks and two ShKAS machine guns in the lower dagger mount; bombs, as in VIT-1. The first flight was on May 11, 1938 (V.P. Chkalov).

Then B.N. was tested. Kudrin (factory tests) and P.M. Stefanovsky (state tests). The flight qualities were 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 the aircraft of its time, Polikarpov's great success

Continuing to improve their fighters, N.N. Polikarpov was well aware that in order to achieve better flight data, 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 a deep modification of the I-16.

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

I-180 was the main project of Polikarpov in 1938

But that is 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 liquid-cooled engine AM-37 (1400 hp).

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

In general, the design of the I-180 was close to the design of the I-16, but with somewhat larger dimensions. It was supposed to equip the I-180 with four ShKAS machine guns with their further replacement with heavy machine guns or cannons. The construction of the aircraft began in July 1938.

The unhealthy situation that developed around the Polikarpov Design Bureau at plant No. 156 was not conducive to the rapid and high-quality manufacture of parts. Enterprise, page

who previously owned mainly large aircraft, it was difficult for him to produce a small fighter.

But that is 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 capacity of 1600-2000 hp were created).

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

Did Polikarpov have enemies? Yes, there were many.

Enemy number 1 was the deputy. Chairman of the OGPU and future People's Commissar of 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 the Lubyanka and Butyrka prisons, Polikarpov pleaded not guilty. The OGPU without trial sentenced him to death as a "socially alien element." His wife, who remained at large, was not paid a salary, described apartment property

In 1930, Polikarpov was imprisoned, and the R-5 reconnaissance aircraft, created by him before his arrest, won first place at 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 so many enemies of the Soviet government (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 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 someone in the West without a major contract. By the way, one of the radio voices, denouncing Stalin and praising Yagoda, let it 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 the Congresses of Soviets were assembled. They elected the CEC (Central Executive Committee) 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 amnesty to Polikarpov. On July 8, the OGPU released him and took him home in a car.

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

Destroy as a human, 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, another of his enemy No. 2, Andrei Tupolev, was arrested.

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

In November 1931, 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. Tupolev tried to destroy Polikarpov as a designer. It seemed that Polikarpov's career had come to an end, but then Sergey Ilyushin helped him.

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

A.N. Tupolev tried to destroy Polikarpov as a designer, but he didn’t succeed either

But at the end of 1938, he had already been under arrest for a year and could hardly organize sabotage

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

In December 1937, the design bureau was transferred to experimental 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 executed.

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

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

Production shop of plant No. 156

An enmity broke out at the enterprise, from the very beginning the directors of the plant began to fight against Polikarpov

They had motives and were able to carry out 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 could destroy him.

But by killing Valery Chkalov, Polikarpov's enemies achieved their goal. Therefore, it is easy to understand why Valery Chkalov was killed. Killing the famous pilot, they beat the reputation of an outstanding designer.

It was not just a blow to the designer's reputation. It 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 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 not to imprison at the denunciation of the Designer, but simply to disrupt the work of the Design Bureau itself.

The work of the CB will be automatically stopped for the period of inspections, commissions, proceedings, acts. It's just standard procedure in the event of a serious plane crash with the death of a test pilot. And even more so, if Chkalov also suffers, then the design bureau will most likely be put out of action for a long time.

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

Here are briefly the consequences of the act of sabotage on 12/15/38:

• the work of Polikarpov Design Bureau was stopped for 2 months
• in February 1939, Polikarpov was relieved of the post of technical director of plant No.156 and translated konstr. to plant number 1.
• Project "K" was transferred to the 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 feature. It was on him, among other things, that a reputational blow was dealt.

An analysis of the state of German aviation showed that the I-180, which was introduced into the series, met 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 FW-190 (although little was known about it yet).

And if Yakovlev, Lavochkin, Pashinin and others during 1939-40. worked on machines close to the Bf-109E, 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 throughout 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.

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 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 take some time.

And the tests were, to put it mildly, strange, and here's why. time after time, strange accidents occurred. They were all the more incomprehensible, since Polikarpov's accident rate during tests in general was lower than that of other designers. King though.

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

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

The aircraft was demonstrated at the May Day parade of 1939, however, the release of the I-180 military series was delayed, plant No. other people's projects.

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

Thomas Susie died while testing I-180

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

The 3rd copy was built in February 1940 at factory No. 1. In April, factory No. 21 produced the first 3 serial I-180s, their factory tests continued until July 4, 1940. On July 5, in a test flight, another I-180 crashed -180, the pilot Afanasy Proshakov could not get out of the spin and left the car on a parachute.

Afanasy Grigorievich Proshakov, 1940

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

The attitude towards the aircraft was difficult, 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 to the car:

“In terms of maneuver, 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 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, I-180 mk aircraft did not conquer the skies of our country.

And the K project, also known as the I-200, was taken from the king, it was already called the MiG-1, although neither Mikoyan nor Gurevich were engaged in the design of this fighter.

In the life of Polikarpov there were three difficult trials - prison, persecution and discredit through the murder of a test pilot.

The main goal of Chkalov's assassination - discrediting and eliminating the king of fighters was generally achieved

The 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 N. Polikarpov Design Bureau

Polikarpov I-15M

Development and production

General design data

Engine

Armament

Polikarpov I-15M- a project of a catapult single-seat single-engine fighter seaplane of the USSR, which was based on the I-15 land biplane: the letter M has the designation "Marine". It was proposed by the Polikarpov design team in May 1937 as a replacement for the KOR-1 Beriev, which had various shortcomings. But work on the I-15M did not leave the design stage.

History of creation

Three projections of the seaplane Beriev KOR-1

Three projections of the Polikarpov I-15 fighter

In view of the fact that back in the early 30s of the twentieth century it was planned to equip large surface ships with aircraft and, accordingly, with catapults to launch them, in 1934 a technical task appeared, on the basis of which department No. 5 (headed by G.M. Beriev) The Central Design Bureau of Marine Aircraft Building created KOR-1. He made his first flight in 1936 and was put into mass production, but due to various shortcomings, in addition to the prototype, only 12 aircraft were built.

Therefore, back in May 1937, N.N. Polikarpov proposed to replace it with the project of the I-15M fighter seaplane, based on the land version - the letter "M" stood for "Marine". The main changes consisted in the installation of one main, ventral float, and two auxiliary, wing floats.

Design description

The aircraft is a single-seat, single-engine fighter seaplane with one main float. I-15M is a biplane - more precisely, a semi-plane, because. the lower wing is shorter than the upper wing, while it is made according to the "gull" pattern

Fuselage

The fuselage is identical in design to the I-15, but there may be differences in the skin material.

The cockpit, as well as on a land plane, has a transparent canopy in front, transparent windows located under it to illuminate the dashboard and a headrest in the back, as well as two folding (one on each side) flaps to facilitate the landing of the pilot.

Wing and plumage

The aircraft has two straight wings located one above the other (with elliptical tips), while the lower one has a span of 2.25 m less.
The lower wing consists of a center section, which is, in fact, inside the fuselage, and two consoles, the upper one is made of a V-shaped structure, which is attached to the fuselage and provides a "gull" scheme, and two consoles.
Between themselves, they are fastened with I-shaped racks, between the fuselage - most likely, with braces.

Ailerons are located only on the upper wing.

The vertical plumage has an elliptical shape in plan, the horizontal plumage is straight, with rounded tips. The control surfaces are located throughout the span of the keel and stabilizer consoles.
The horizontal tail has two V-shaped struts attached to the fuselage

floats

The I-15M has one two-way main ventral float and two auxiliary underwing floats - the first is mounted, most likely, by two N-shaped racks, the second - of the same shape in terms of each rack.
There is no water steering wheel on the existing sketch.

Power point

The aircraft is equipped with a 9-cylinder M-25 air-cooled radial engine.

About the fate and developments of the outstanding aircraft designer who founded and headed the plant number 51, which later became the Sukhoi Design Bureau.

June 8 marks 123 years since the birth of Nikolai Polikarpov, the creator of the first domestic fighter.
The death sentence and two Stalin Prizes, the universal recognition of his aircraft and the refusal to mass-produce them - the fate and work of Polikarpov were quite typical for their time, but at the same time surprising.
"Enemy of the people"
Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov was born on June 8, 1892 in the village of Georgievsky, Oryol province. His father and grandfather were priests. Continuing the family tradition, Nikolai entered a religious school. However, upon graduation, he did not continue his studies at the seminary, but, contrary to the will of his father, applied for the mechanical department of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. Here he became interested in aviation.
After graduating from the institute, Polikarpov got a job in the aviation department of the Russian-Baltic Carriage Works. Igor Sikorsky himself was his direct supervisor. Under his leadership, Polikarpov participated in the creation of the legendary Ilya Muromets aircraft.
In 1918 Sikorsky was forced to emigrate. According to biographers, he offered Polikarpov to run away together, but the latter, to his misfortune, refused. A few years later, in 1929, Polikarpov was arrested, accused of "counter-revolutionary sabotage" and - without trial - sentenced to death.
For two months, the aircraft designer waited for the execution of the sentence in the cell. Then he was transferred to a "sharashka" - a closed design bureau, organized directly in the Butyrka prison, and offered to "make amends" by hard work for the good of the motherland. Here, in prison, together with designer Dmitry Grigorovich and a number of other "pests", they created, for example, the I-5 aircraft, which became the main fighter of the Red Army Air Force and was used until 1943.


Aircraft 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 the 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 said to those who had doubts: Polikarpov is a finished man, he is a priest, wears a cross, he will be shot soon anyway. Who will protect you then?
The case against Nikolai Polikarpov was closed 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 entered the history of aviation forever. Among colleagues, Nikolai Polikarpov was called the "king of fighters."
But his best car still was not put into mass production. The reason for this, according to most historians, was the intrigue and struggle for power in the highest party circles of the USSR.

R-1 aircraft

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 I-1 fighter, the R-1 reconnaissance aircraft, which participated in the rescue Chelyuskintsev, the I-3 fighter, the 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 manufacture. It really did not differ in speed qualities (maximum - 150 km / h), but there were legends about its stability. For example, this one: once, in order to fly between two closely standing birches, Valery Chkalov turned the U-2 almost 90 degrees.

Aircraft Po-2

The U-2 has become one of the most popular aircraft in the world: it was produced in the amount of about 35 thousand copies. 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 well-known designer. In a few years, he went from deputy head of the brigade of the Sukhoi Central Design Bureau to the 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. The best designers of Polikarpov were transferred to the new division, under the leadership of Artem Mikoyan, and they also transferred the project of the I-200 fighter (the future MiG-1), created by Nikolai Nikolayevich just before the trip.
Returning, the designer received at his disposal only the old hangar on the outskirts of Khodynka, referred to on paper as "State Plant No. 51". But even in this, virtually empty, place, Polikarpov managed to create a full-fledged design bureau, which later became an experimental 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 experienced fighters of the Second World War - 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 test pilot Valery Chkalov in the first flight. However, the facts indicate that the crash did not occur at all due to the design flaws of the aircraft.
According to the task, Chkalov should be able to make only one circle over the airfield. But he decided to make the second one, flying out of the field at the same time. At this point, the engine stalled. The plane only a few meters did not reach the runway, besides, it caught on the wires. Chkalov died from a blow to his head on the armature, which turned out to be at the site of the crash.
Unfair competition
The I-185 fighter, the last project of Polikarpov, created in 1941, surpassed all serial Soviet and foreign piston aircraft of those years in terms of the sum of its characteristics. His tests showed that the I-185 was the fastest and most power-equipped, the fastest climbing and most stable, the most maneuverable and armed, the highest altitude and high-tech, the most convenient in production and repair.

Aircraft I-185

However, completely different cars went into the series. Polikarpov, in the promotion of his aircraft, was actively opposed. At first, for a year they were not given the opportunity to equip the car with the necessary 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 the I-185 had allegedly not been tested for flight range.
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.
On takeoff
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 about the imminent end, he asked to keep the team after his departure, to let the employees finish the development they had begun. But soon after the death of the designer, his design bureau was disbanded, the projects were closed.
Subsequently, OKB-51 became a branch of OKB-155. Then its territory was determined as a base for the restored OKB P.O. Dry, which is still located on it. In February 1954, OKB P.O. Sukhoi and the pilot plant were again received in the USSR MAP system No. 51.

THE HISTORY OF HOMELAND

TWO SKYS 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 is 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 time he was not afraid to go to the Orthodox Church, he wore a cross. That's all, perhaps.

Meanwhile, colleagues and pilots called him the king of fighters. It was Polikarpov who created the legendary I-16 - a donkey on which our aviators fought in the skies of Spain. On it, they also met the Great Patriotic War. But it was only one of the 80 (!) Machines designed by Nikolai Nikolaevich. Polikarpov can be safely called the founder of the Soviet fighter aircraft - 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, in the village of Georgievsky (now Kalinino) near the city 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. Among the people whose names the whole country knew, only two, it seems, allowed themselves to do this - Academician Ivan Pavlov and Nikolai Polikarpov.

He began to engage 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. 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.”

But the need for Soviet aviation in Polikarpov was too great - and the execution was canceled. He set to work again, creating almost all Soviet fighters of the 30s. 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. On such a machine, the pilot Boris Safonov won most of his twenty victories. Already at 3.30 am on June 22, a German plane was shot down by I-16 over Brest. In total, the Germans lost about three hundred vehicles that day, most of which were destroyed by the pilots who fought on Polikarpov's fighters.

Another plane of Nikolai Nikolayevich - U-2, colloquially referred to as "corn", we all know from the films "Heavenly slug", "Only old men go to battle", "In the sky" Night witches "". The machine, created in 1927 as a training aircraft, was produced until 1959, breaking all records of longevity in aviation. On the U-2, which after the death of Polikarpov received his name - Po-2, before the war all our pilots, without exception, managed to fly. This plane opened the way to the sky for them in aviation clubs and schools. The car was so reliable, economical and easy to operate that it was used both as a passenger car 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 "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 the enemy trenches, railway stations, columns on the march and dropped a quarter ton of explosives and steel on the heads of the Nazis. Very often, the pilots were girls who fought in the 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 end of the 30s he again fell into disgrace. 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 has already gained fame as the MiG-1, our only aircraft on which not a single accident occurred during the tests. Reliability was a unique feature of all the machines of Polikarpov, 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 creator of the aircraft.

This unique design talent was accompanied by a deep, sincere faith in God. This life is instructive for our contemporaries. You will learn a lot 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 an aircraft designer - Vladimir Petrovich Ivanov. In the next one, read our conversation with the grandson of Nikolai Polikarpov, 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 BRING MY CROSS IN LIFE"

“He was supposed to become a priest - but he devoted his life to aviation. He knew incredible rises, 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 serial 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 ”(from the annotation to the book by V.P. Ivanov“ Unknown Polikarpov ”).

Our correspondent spoke with Vladimir Petrovich Ivanov, the author of five books about Nikolai Polikarpov, the largest 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. The origin again let us down 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 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 such a situation: a deputy of the Supreme Council, a Hero of Socialist Labor could be seized at any time and executed without trial or investigation. 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 my father - pilots, 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 a book by Mikhail Saulovich Arlazorov about aircraft designers fell into the hands, where Polikarpov was literally mixed with mud. It was 1969. I went to the library to collect arguments for a refutation, and found that a lot has been written about Polikarpov, but little reliable. As such, I decided to take on the job myself. That was thirty-one years ago. He began to meet with the then still living employees of the designer - Polikarpov, wrote down their memories. Then, at the turn of the 80s, access to many materials on Nikolai Nikolayevich was opened. They were removed from the regular archives after his arrest and kept under wraps for half a century. And then suddenly they returned, I began to study them. And today I have collected extracts and copies from almost 13 thousand documents. I know about many days of the life of Nikolai Nikolaevich literally by the hour. But, unfortunately, not everything is known yet.

- Have you managed to tell a lot in books?

- As they say, as much as possible. The last book - "Unknown Polikarpov", it 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 it was possible to bring the volume to 864 pages, but much still did not enter.

"Pray for them"

Who told you the most about him?

- A little bit of each. In addition, in the 1920s, transcripts of meetings were constantly kept, there are a lot of them, and there he speaks lively. There were many donations.

- 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 kept their respect for each other for the rest of their lives.

Genus Polikarpov

- Was Nikolai Nikolayevich'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.” Such a legend was 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 came to Chernigov, to the Seversk land, “from the Greeks”. He asked the prince for permission to baptize the Vyatichi, who lived in dense forests on the territory of the Bryansk, Oryol, Tula, Kaluga and Lipetsk regions.

To help the monk, the prince gave several Russian priests. One of them, who took as a surname the name of a teacher, 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, had numerous relatives in neighboring dioceses. In the lists of graduates of the Oryol Theological School for 1790, one can read the name of the ancestor of the aircraft designer - Mikhail Polikarpov - and his brother Matvey. As a regimental priest, Fr. Michael participated 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 - the date: "1812". The Polikarpovs served Russia for centuries, Nikolai Nikolaevich simply continued this tradition.

- And speaking 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. Long-term acquaintance connected them 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 the dying, got infected and died. His daughter Maria, the grandmother of an aircraft designer, was brought up in the Turgenev family after the death of her father. As a wedding gift, the writer gave her a silver casket, a silver mirror and a 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 later bought the estate.

Alexandra Sergeevna, the mother of Nikolai Nikolaevich, was well educated, according to the then concepts. Father - Nikolai Petrovich - was, according to reviews, an excellent Orthodox teacher, for which he was awarded the Order of St. Anna, and was elected a delegate to diocesan congresses many times. He served in the village of Georgievsky near the town of Livny, Oryol region.

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

Years of study

- I know that Nikolai Nikolaevich liked to draw. Was it instilled in him as a child?

- Here is what Polikarpova's older sister, Lidia Nikolaevna, said (I will read from my book “Unknown Polikarpov”): “We built houses, towers, fortresses from bricks and cubes, Kolya was especially fond of this. He was terribly fond of building and drawing (usually we drew on slate boards). Kolya was good at sculpting animals and milk jugs from blue clay, he built cellars, he even made a shop where he sold dishes to us. For purchases, we paid with colored glass or "kopeechnik" plants. We usually made toys in winter by summer. Kolya made boats, which he then launched into the water, harrows, plows, carts and arcs ... "

But “at the age of nine,” Nikolai Nikolayevich recalled, “my childhood ended for me.” This was due to his admission to the Livny Theological School. He studied there very well, willingly helping weak students.

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

- Yes, after the school there was a seminary, on the occasion of the end of which Nikolai Nikolayevich donated funds for the construction of a new iconostasis of the seminary church. He later spoke very favorably of the seminary. He wrote: “She brought up in me a memory that has not yet been lost, a sense of responsibility and duty, ability to work, simplicity of lifestyle, accommodating and a sense of camaraderie ...”

But already at the time when he was receiving a spiritual education, Polikarpov had a dream of becoming a sailor. He even let go of his mustache so that he could cut it in a "nautical" manner. In 1911 he entered the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, hoping to subsequently 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.

- Spiritual education for some reason 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".

Hard time

- Did Nikolai Nikolaevich never refuse his father-priest?

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

- I read at the 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. It must be assumed that many sensed the enemy in Polikarpov.

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

- Did the Soviet authorities know about this relationship?

No, no one knew that.

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

- The clouds over Polikarpov's head have been gathering for a long time. He was remembered a lot: 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 an independent, independent position in matters of aircraft design.

In conclusion, Polikarpov continued to work. It was there that the VT-11 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.

“The love of freedom does wonders. But such jerks are possible in exceptional cases, not as a system.

- The aircraft designer Yakovlev wrote about sharagas: "The organization was crowded and stupid, the costs were high, and the return was weak." The GPU did not understand that quantity does not always translate into quality - intimidate do not intimidate, and one cannot do without the correct organization of labor. In addition to the whip, however, the gingerbread was also used. For relatives, for his daughter, Polikarpov bought oranges and tangerines in the prison shop, 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 fame to Polikarpov. Once in 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 had seven seats. Stalin is on the back sofa, the driver and security are in front, the aircraft designers are seated on folding seats. The leader says complacently, puffing on his pipe: “Here, Nikolai Nikolayevich, do you know what we have in common?” “I don’t know,” Polikarpov replies. “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?" “No,” Polikarpov responds. “You graduated from seminary, but I didn’t.” Another puff of smoke. Polikarpov imperturbably blurts: "It is visible, Iosif Vissarionovich." Stalin frowned, threatened with a pipe: they say, know your place.

This is how Polikarpov remained to the end. He was a very calm person, never swearing, but he knew how to cut. Tarasov said that when you swear, you let it go past your ears, and when Nikolai Nikolayevich says something, then 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 Nikolayevich was a distinctly Russian, Orthodox man. The only one of the designers who regularly visited the church was the church of the Apostle Philip on the Arbat. Hero of the Soviet Union Ignatiev recalled that Polikarpov blessed the pilots before the tests, told them: “God bless!”

The Kaganoviches especially hated him. They called him a "crusader" because he wore a pectoral cross. One of the Kaganoviches - Lazar - was a member of the Central Committee, he could do great harm, the other - Mikhail - served as the people's commissar of the aviation industry, they had to deal with him especially often. But God was merciful.

Another thing is that they harmed as best they could. MiG-1 - one of our best fighters - was created by Nikolai Nikolaevich. But while he traveled to Germany to get acquainted with fascist aviation, the factory was expropriated from him, many designers were taken away. Nevertheless, the Stalin Prize for this aircraft was given.

Things got 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 interrupted Polikarpov's work on the creation of the first Soviet jet aircraft.

How did he die?

- He died of stomach cancer. In the 43rd, severe pains 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 - Fr. Michael - returned from the war after the defeat of Napoleon, then 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 through life,” it was true, both literally and figuratively.

Interviewed by Vladimir GRIGORYAN

Polikarpov Nikolai Nikolaevich (1892-1944).

The name of the designer Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov in the memory of his 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 business of his life - the aircraft industry.

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

After graduating from the Livny Theological School, he studies at the Oryol 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. at the shipbuilding department of the institute.

In 1916, after defending his graduation project, he 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. The first independent task that Polikarpov received from Sikorsky was to study the phenomenon of mutual interference of the floats of a hydroplane, its wing and fuselage. For this work, the wind tunnel of the Polytechnic Institute was involved. Purges in the pipe gave 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 passed the probationary period, Polikarpov was appointed head of the production of light aircraft.

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

A brilliant designer, he was distinguished by great diligence and perseverance, the ability to think through the smallest details of the aircraft design and foresee their functioning. For two years of joint work, Polikarpov learned a lot from this greatest Russian aircraft designer, this time became a good school for a young specialist.

The revolutionary events in Russia put an end to the creative union of two talented designers. The plant stopped the production of aircraft, and Sikorsky had to leave Russia forever. In March 1918, Polikarpov managed to get a job at 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 that there was also a demand for aviation specialists. Polikarpov accepts an offer to go to work at the Dux aircraft plant, where he once did student practice and take the position of head of the technical department.

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

In January 1925, N.N. Polikarpov organized an experimental design department on the basis of the AVIAKHIM plant and became its head. In February 1926, he was appointed head of the department of land aircraft construction (OOS) of the Aviatresta 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 free-carrying monoplane fighter. In 1923, under the leadership of N.N. Polikarpov, a very successful reconnaissance aircraft R-1 was created by the standards of that time, which became the first mass-produced Soviet aircraft (1914 aircraft were produced). In 1925, a five-seat passenger aircraft PM-1 was created. In 1926, a 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 (4548 aircraft were built only at the Moscow Aviation Plant). This aircraft became widely known in connection with the rescue of the Chelyuskin expedition and its successful use in the Arctic, in the development of Siberia and the Far East. R-5 was used in combat operations during the armed conflict on the CER in 1929, in 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 in honor of the creator in Po-2 after the death of the designer. U-2 (Po-2) was built until 1959. During this time, more than 40 thousand cars were produced, more than 100 thousand pilots were trained on them. During the Great Patriotic War, U-2s were successfully used as reconnaissance and night bombers.

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

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 the Butyrka prison, and then transferred to the Moscow Aircraft 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 Collegium of the OGPU, by its decision of March 18, 1931, changed the sentence, replacing it with ten years in the camps.

After showing Stalin, Voroshilov, Ordzhonikidze aerobatics on the 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 amnesty a group of people, including N.N. Polikarpov. The rehabilitation of the outstanding designer took place 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 Collegium of the OGPU and dismissed the case against N.N. Polikarpov.

Having been released in May 1931, N.N. Polikarpov was appointed deputy head of the brigade in the Central Design Bureau of P.O. Sukhoi. Since 1933, he was the head of the 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), I-153 Chaika (1938) fighters, which formed the basis of Soviet fighter aviation in the prewar years. In the first years after its creation, each of these fighters was one of the best machines of its class in the world. This was successfully proved by I-15 and I-16 in battles in Spain and China, I-153 - at Khalkhin Gol. On November 21, 1935, on the I-15, pilot V.K. Kokkinaki set a world altitude record - 14575 meters. At the same time, N.N. Polikarpov creates experienced dive bombers VIT-1, VIT-2, single-engine light bomber "Ivanov", training fighter UTI-4.

Thanks to the considerable authority and influence of N.N. Polikarpov on the Soviet aircraft industry, he was nominated to run for full membership in 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 as follows:
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 machines (1923-1925).
4. Development in 1923-1926 of the first in the USSR methodology for calculating aircraft strength, as well as methods for performing static tests.
5. Development of a method for calculating the longitudinal static stability of an aircraft (1924-1926).
6. Study of aircraft spin properties (1925-1929).
7. Development for the first time in the USSR of domestic duralumin 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 its 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 plywood monocoque fuselage in the USSR.
11. Creation of a U-2 initial training aircraft safe for flights.
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 landing gear retractable in flight for a monoplane fighter and a biplane.
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 caliber aircraft guns.
17. Development of outboard machine-gun batteries for fighters.
18. Development and development in mass production of gas tanks discharged in flight from non-deficient materials (iron, plywood, fiber, etc.).
19. Development of high-altitude aircraft; the first in the USSR world altitude record of 14475 m (pilot V.K. Kokkinaki, aircraft I-15).
20. Development in 1937-1939 pressurized cabins of various designs.
21. Installation (for the first time in the USSR) of guns firing through the hollow shaft of the liquid-cooled motor gearbox.
22. Creation of the first in the USSR motor glider of large tonnage (MP)
23. Creation of the world's first antenna hidden in the fuselage for a fighter (I-185).

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 N.N. Polikarpov, August 1, 1944, paying deep respect to their creator, they flew low over the place of 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 dismember 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, who later became prominent designers of aviation and rocket and space technology.

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