Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov (; – 30 July 1944) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

aeronautical engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

and aircraft designer, known as the "King of Fighters". He designed the

I-15 I15 may refer to: * Interstate 15, a north–south Interstate Highway in the United States of America * Polikarpov I-15, a Soviet fighter aircraft * I15 (band), a band * , of the Imperial Japanese Navy * Älvsborg Regiment The Älvsborg Regiment ...

series of fighters, and the I-16 Ishak ( phonetically close to its or designation) "Little Donkey" fighter.

Biography

Polikarpov was born in the village of Georgievskoye near

Livny Livny (, ) is a town in Oryol Oblast, Russia. As of 2018, it had a population of 47,221. :ru:Ливны#cite note-2018AA-3 History The town is believed to have originated in 1586 as Ust-Livny, a wooden fort on the bank of the Livenka River, ...

Oryol Governorate Oryol Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR, which existed from 1796 to 1928. Its seat was in the city of Oryol. Administrative division Oryol Governorate consisted of t ...

. He was the son of a village priest in the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

. He initially also trained for the priesthood and studied at the Oryol Seminary before moving to

Saint Petersburg Polytechnical University Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, abbreviated as SPbPU, is a public technical university located in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Over the decades, it established itself as a cornerstone of technical education and research, ulti ...

in 1911, where he became fascinated with the fledgling aviation work being carried out under the shipbuilding department. Polikarpov graduated in 1916 and went to work for

Igor Sikorski Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky, (25 May 1889 – 26 October 1972) was a Russian-American aviation pioneer in both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. His first success came with the Sikorsky S-2, the second aircraft of his design and constru ...

, the head of production at the Russian Baltic Carriage Factory. While working for Sikorski, Polikarpov helped design the massive

Ilya Muromets Ilya Muromets or Murometz, also known as Ilya of Murom, is a ''bogatyr'' (hero) in a type of Russian oral literature , oral epic poem called ''bylina'' set during the time of the Kievan Rus'. He is often featured alongside fellow bogatyrs Dobry ...

four-engine bomber for the

Imperial Russian Air Force The Imperial Russian Air Service () was an air force founded in 1912 for Imperial Russia."''12 августа 1912 года приказом по военному ведомству вопросы воздухоплавания и авиаци� ...

Soviet career

Polikarpov stayed in Russia after the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

and rose to become head of the technical department Dux Aircraft factory in 1923. Polikarpov was responsible for some of the first indigenous aircraft designs in the Soviet Union during the 1920s, including the I-1 fighter (1923), R-1 reconnaissance plane (1927), U-2 utility biplane (1927–1928), I-3 fighter (1928), R-5 reconnaissance bomber (1928). Notably, the U-2, Russian nickname ''Kukuruznik'' (loosely translated: "crop-duster"; post-1944 designation Po-2), remained in mainstream production until 1952 and over 30,000 examples were produced. In 1928 under provisions of the five-year plan for experimental aircraft design, Polikarpov was assigned to develop the primarily wooden I-6 fighter for delivery by mid-1930. The plan was unrealistic and failed. As such, in October 1929, Polikarpov and around other 450 aircraft designers and engineers were arrested on fabricated charges of sabotage and counter-revolutionary activities, after which he was

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

. In December, after two months of waiting for execution, he was transferred to a Special Design Bureau of OGPU set at

Butyrka prison Butyrskaya prison (), usually known simply as Butyrka ( rus, Бутырка, p=bʊˈtɨrkə), is a prison in the Tverskoy District of central Moscow, Russia. In Imperial Russia it served as the central transit prison. During the Soviet Uni ...

and had the sentence changed to 10 years of

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

. Polikarpov and the others were moved to Central Design Bureau 39 (TsKB-39) to complete the I-5 project. After a successful demonstration of the new design, the sentence was changed to a conditional one, and in July 1931 he was granted amnesty together with a group of other convicts. It was not until

de-Stalinization De-Stalinization () comprised a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and Khrushchev Thaw, the thaw brought about by ascension of Nik ...

in 1956 that the criminal charges were officially dropped posthumously. After the release he initially worked with

Pavel Sukhoi Pavel Osipovich Sukhoi (; , ''Paviel Vosipavič Suchi''; 22 July 1895 – 15 September 1975) was a Soviet aerospace engineer and aircraft designer known as the founder of the Sukhoi Design Bureau. Sukhoi designed military aircraft with Tupolev ...

since 1931, developing the I-16 in 1933 and

in 1934. Then he worked under

Ilyushin The Open joint-stock company , public joint stock company Ilyushin Aviation Complex, operating as Ilyushin () or as Ilyushin Design Bureau, is a Russian aircraft manufacturer and design bureau, founded in 1933 by Sergey Ilyushin , Sergey Vladimir ...

in 1937. In 1938 he established an independent design bureau. In 1939 he completed work on the

I-153 The Polikarpov I-153 ''Chaika'' () is a late 1930s Soviet sesquiplane fighter. Developed from the I-15 with a retractable undercarriage, the I-153 fought in the Soviet-Japanese combats in Mongolia and was one of the major Soviet fighter types ...

. In 1939 he was ordered to make a trip to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. In his absence, his plant director and chief engineer, along with design engineer Mikhail Gurevich put forth a proposal for a new fighter, the I-200, and received approval to create a new Design Bureau under the leadership of

Artem Mikoyan Artem (Artyom) Ivanovich Mikoyan (; ; – 9 December 1970) was a Soviet Armenian aircraft designer, who cofounded the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau along with Mikhail Gurevich. Early life and career Mikoyan was born in the village of Sana ...

, whose brother

Anastas Mikoyan Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan (; , ; ; – 21 October 1978) was a Soviet statesman, diplomat, and Bolshevik revolutionary who served as the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the head of state of the Soviet Union. As a member of th ...

was a senior politician under

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

. On his return, Polikarpov found that his Bureau no longer existed, with his engineers at the new

MiG Mig, MiG, or MIG may refer to: Business * MiG, a Russian aircraft corporation **Any of the MiG aircraft *Marfin Investment Group MIG Holdings S.A. (also known as MIG) is a Greece, Greek investment company. It has acquired several companies an ...

bureau. Nine years after his death, in 1953 his plant was given over to the

Sukhoi The JSC Sukhoi Company (, ) is a Russian aircraft manufacturer headquartered in Begovoy District, Northern Administrative Okrug, Moscow, that designs both civilian and military aircraft. Sukhoi was founded in the Soviet Union by Pavel Sukhoi ...

bureau. Polikarpov was subsequently appointed professor at the

Moscow Aviation Institute Moscow Aviation Institute () is an engineering research university in Moscow, Russia. It is designated a National Research University. Since its inception the institute has been spearheading advances in aerospace technology both within Russia a ...

in 1943. He died on 30 July 1944Associated Press, “Aviation Expert Dies”, ''The San Bernardino Daily Sun'', San Bernardino, California, Tuesday 1 August 1944, Volume 50, page 2. from

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a malignant tumor of the stomach. It is a cancer that develops in the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a numb ...

. He is buried in

Novodevichy Cemetery Novodevichy Cemetery () is a cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist site. History The cemetery was designed by Ivan Mashkov and inaugurated ...

in Moscow. Polikarpov was a recipient of numerous awards, including the Stalin Prize (1941, 1943) and

Hero of Socialist Labor The Hero of Socialist Labour () was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It represented the highest degree of distinction in the USSR and was awarded for exceptional achievements in Soviet ...

(1940). ''Polikarpov Peak'' in the

Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a Mountain range, range of mountains between Central Asia and South Asia. They are located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun Mountains, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya ...

was named after him.

References

Bibliography

* * * *
Biography of Polikarpov at website of the Russian Ministry of Defense
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polikarpov, Nikolai Nikolaevich 1892 births 1944 deaths People from Livensky District People from Oryol Governorate Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery Soviet aerospace engineers Soviet inventors Soviet rehabilitations Sharashka inmates Heroes of Socialist Labour Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University alumni Recipients of the Stalin Prize Deaths from cancer in the Soviet Union Deaths from stomach cancer in Russia Academic staff of Moscow Aviation Institute Russian scientists Inmates of Butyrka prison

Biography

Soviet career

See also

References

Bibliography