The tragedy of Nikolai Polikarpov. The last plane of the king of fighters. Nikolai Polikarpov - "the king of fighters Aircraft designer Polikarpov biography
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, without thinking about a spiritual career, he decided to enter the St. Polytechnical 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 wrecking organization", sabotage and disruption experimental work, for the manifestation of which the facts of errors and shortcomings in the design activity were given out for last years as well as the previous conflict with the NTK Air Force, during which Polikarpov accused the customer of setting unrealistically high requirements for the aircraft being designed. 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 at Butyrskaya prison a "Special Design Bureau" was organized under the unofficial technical guidance 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 Polikarpov I-16 as cheaper and more technologically advanced (a wood-metal, so-called mixed, design versus an all-metal I-14) with somewhat higher flight characteristics, the prospects for fine-tuning and development 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 from 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 air combat fighter, the I-16 monoplane tactically supplemented 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 of 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 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.
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 answered. “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 main idea was that it would be much easier to introduce them into mass production than to repurpose factories for the production of new cars. 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, from 1939 to 1945, the Luftwaffe 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, played sports all his life and was always full of energy. Polikarpov died painfully, continuing to lead the design bureau until his last days. 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.
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| Memorial plaque in Moscow (on the house) | ||
| Annotation board in Moscow | ||
| Monument in Orel | ||
| Monument in Orel (detail) | ||
| Annotation board in Moscow | ||
| Panel in Moscow | ||
| Annotation board in St. Petersburg | ||
| Memorial plaque in Moscow (on the MAI building) | ||
| Memorial plaque in Orel |
Polikarpov Nikolai Nikolaevich - Head of OKB-51 of the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry of the USSR, Moscow.
Born on May 28 (June 9) * 1892 in the Georgievskaya settlement of the Livensky district of the Oryol province, now the Livensky district of the Oryol region, in the family of a village priest. Russian. Non-partisan.
He studied at the Livny Theological School and at the Oryol Theological Seminary, in 1911 he passed the exam for the secondary course educational institution in the 1st Oryol gymnasium and came to the capital for further studies.
He graduated from the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute and aviation and aeronautics courses under it in 1916. Since 1916, he worked as an engineer at the Russian-Baltic Carriage Works in Petrograd, where, under the leadership of I.I. Sikorsky, he participated in the construction of the Ilya Muromets aircraft and the design of fighters.
From 1918 he worked at the Duks plant in Moscow (the future aircraft plant No. 1, currently the Progress TsSKB rocket and space center), became the head of the technical department.
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 (4,548 vehicles were built only at the Moscow Aviation Plant). This aircraft became widely known in connection with the rescue of the expedition of the Chelyuskin steamer and its successful use in the Arctic, in the development of Siberia and 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 - "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 the abolition or change of 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. 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 mid-1930s, he was the Chief Designer of the Gorky Aviation Plant No. 21 named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze. 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 (674, 9450 and 3437 aircraft were built, respectively). ). 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 created experienced dive bombers VIT-1, VIT-2, a single-engine light bomber "Ivanov", a training fighter UTI-4.
In 1938, after the arrest of A.N. Tupolev, N.N. Polikarpov was appointed Chief Designer of aircraft plant No. 156. 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. N.N. 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. In May 1939, N.N. Polikarpov became the technical director and chief designer of the State Aviation Plant No. 1. In parallel with the high-speed I-180, N.N. Polikarpov continued to work on a series of maneuverable biplanes - I-190 (1939), I-195 (project 1940).
But work on new position turned out to be short lived. In that 1939, N.N. Polikarpov went on a business trip to Germany, and in his absence in December of this year, a new design bureau was separated from the design bureau, to which the best personnel and Polikarpov's production facilities were transferred. But most importantly, his projects were taken away from the designer. In fact, he was in disgrace.
N.N. Polikarpov was appointed chief designer of the new state plant No. 51 and head of OKB-51. He had to create a production base from scratch and recruit employees of the design bureau. In 1938-1944, he designed a number of experimental military aircraft: TIS, VIT, SPB, NB and a number of others.
Decree of the Presidium Supreme Council USSR dated October 28, 1940 for outstanding achievements in the field of creating new types of weapons that increase defense power Soviet Union, Polikarpov Nikolai Nikolaevich He was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.
On January 11, 1941, the I-185 fighter was raised into the sky. In 1942, he passed state tests and military tests on the Kalinin Front. According to the Air Force Research Institute, the aircraft outperformed all domestic and German serial fighters. But the lack of knowledge of the M-71 engine and the disaster in which test pilot V.A. Stepanchonok died, as well as the excessive workload of aircraft factories, did not allow the aircraft to be put into series.
Since 1940, the persecution of the designer did not stop, his work was hampered and remained experimental developments, the country's leadership received proposals to close his design bureau. Only in 1942, at one of the major meetings of the leaders of the aviation industry, did Stalin take Polikarpov under his protection. In 1943, N.N. Polikarpov was appointed professor and head of the aircraft structures department at the Moscow Aviation Institute. The last work of the outstanding designer was the project of a rocket fighter.
Lived in Moscow. He died July 30, 1944 from stomach cancer. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
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.
He was awarded 2 orders of Lenin (05/05/1935, 10/28/1940), the Order of the Red Star (12/28/1936).
Winner of two Stalin Prizes (1941, 1943).
Monuments to N.N. Polikarpov were erected in Moscow, Orel, Livny, Oryol region. In the village of Kalinin, Oryol region, a museum of N.N. Polikarpov was opened. A peak in the Pamirs, a square and a street in Orel, streets in Moscow and Livny, an alley in St. Petersburg are named after him. In Moscow, on the house where N.N. Polikarpov lived, as well as on the buildings of the Moscow Aviation Institute and Polytechnic University in St. Petersburg, in the city of Oryol, memorial plaques were installed on the building of the former theological seminary.
On May 5, 2000, 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 historic hangar, there is a bust of him and a stele with an I-153 fighter.
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. R-5 aircraft became one of the best universal machines 30s.
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 the 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, they collected the best specialists and production facilities, already 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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