Overview

In the century-long history of the conquest of the sky there have been a number of outstanding personalities. Among them is the name of designer Nikolay Polikarpov (1892-1944), which is inseparably associated with the best achievements of Russian and Soviet aviation. His practical activity in the aircraft industry began upon graduation from the Petersburg Polytechnic Institute in 1916. Aged 25, Polikarpov was sent to the Russo-Baltic Wagon Factory (RBWF), where the four-engined Ilya Muromets bombers designed by Igor Sikorsky were being built at that time. Later, beginning from August 1918, he worked in Moscow at the Dux aircraft factory. For several years, he was engaged in improving products manufactured by the factory, and upgrading production aircraft to accommodate the available engines, equipment and materials. From 1922, Polikarpov focused his attention on fighter aircraft, the creation of which was a priority for him during the following years. The first of them was the IL-400 monoplane, designated I-1 by the Air Force. The monoplane was followed by biplanes including the 2I-N1 (1925), the I-3 (1927), the D-2 (1928), and the I-6 (1929). It was specialization in fighter aircraft which, from then on, became his mission in life. At the peak of his career as a designer, Polikarpov was informally styled 'the King of Fighters', which was quite in line with the level of his merits and achievements. In the 1930s, the TsKB-3 (I-15) and TsKB-12 (I-16) fighters were designed under Polikarpov's supervision. These aircraft were the designer's undoubtable success. They were also the main combat fighters in service with the Red Army Air Force. For the creation of the I-15 and the I-16 fighters, Polikarpov was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1935, and the Order of the Red Star a year later. In the 1930s, Nikolay Polikarpov devised a lot of aircraft of various designs, the majority of which can be described as 'advanced' and `innovative'. In 1940, Polikarpov was granted the degree of the Doctor of Engineering and the title of the Chief Designer of the highest category. In the same year, he was awarded the title of the Hero of Socialist Labour. A year later, he became a recipient of the Stalin Prize. The gifted Soviet engineer was destined to live only 52 years. On 30 July 1944, Nikolay Polikarpov died of a rapidly evolving oncological disease. To venerate his memory, the U-2 trainer has ever since been designated the Po-2 (Polikarpov-2). 1000 b/w photographs, 15 scale drawings, 100 colour illustrations

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9781911628859

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Hundreds of photos and dozens of scale drawings support the study. And dozens more color profiles survey the swath of Polikarpov biplane liveries. -- Cybermodeler

Author Information

Mikhail Maslov was born to the family of a serviceman in Mary (USSR, now Turkmenistan) in 1954, while was brought up in a town in the Urals. He graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute (University) in 1982 with a degree in mechanical engineering. Mikhail worked as structural design engineer at Tupolev Design Bureau in 1982-86 and then transferred to TsAGI engineering information department where took various posts, including that of a deputy head of the department. From the end of 1990s he is actively involved in restoration of historical aircraft, including airworthy Po-2, I-15bis, I-153, I-16, DIT, and MiG-3 airplanes. Already during his work at Tupolev, Mikhail became interested in the history of Soviet aviation of 1920-40 period and began the research and analysis of archive material. In the last 30 years of his enthusiastic work he wrote numerous articles and several dozens of books on the history Soviet aircraft of that period.

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