King of Fighters - Nikolay Polikarpov and His Aircraft Designs

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 the Russian and Soviet aviation.

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 the 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, 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 specialisation 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.

About the Author

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