Nikolay Nikolayevich Polikarpov (July 9, 1892 – 1944) was a Soviet aircraft designer, creator of a number of fighters and trainer aircraft, who received the unofficial nickname "King of Fighters." The designer's Nizhny Novgorod connection is defined above all by the Sokol Plant (Plant No. 21 in Gorky), which mass-produced his aircraft in the 1930s–1940s and became one of the main enterprises embodying the developments of his design bureau.[1]

Career

Polikarpov is among the most significant Soviet aircraft designers, alongside Lavochkin, Mikoyan, Yakovlev, and Myasishchev.[2] His design bureau developed fighters and combat trainer aircraft that formed the backbone of Soviet fighter aviation in the interwar period and during the Great Patriotic War.

Connection with the Sokol Plant

Gorky Aircraft Plant No. 21 (now the Nizhny Novgorod Sokol Aircraft Plant), launched in 1932, was one of the four largest aviation enterprises in the USSR and produced 16.5% of all the country's aircraft.[1] The plant's history is inseparably linked with Polikarpov's name: the enterprise manufactured aircraft of his design alongside machines by Lavochkin, Mikoyan, Yakovlev, and Myasishchev.[1]

Back when the plant was just being established, Nizhny Novgorod designers acquired design skills directly in Polikarpov's design bureau. At the same time, they developed drawings for the DI-3 and I-5 aircraft.[1] The I-5 fighter of Polikarpov's design became one of the first types the plant mastered in the prewar period.[1] Over the decades of its operation, the plant built more than 43,500 aircraft in total.[1]

Dates and recognition

Polikarpov was born on July 9, 1892.[3] His name appears in the canonical lists of outstanding Soviet aircraft designers compiled by historical-archival and industry publications.[4][2] In Oryol, the hometown of many figures connected with his biography, Polikarpov's name is mentioned in the context of Oryol natives who gained fame in aviation.[5]

Sources

  1. TASS
  2. ihst.ru — Personalities (Scientists, designers, early aviators, test pilots). M–Ya — Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Russian Academy of Sciences
  3. orelvkartinkax.ru — Streets of Oryol are named after them
  4. cyclowiki.org — Sokol (aircraft plant) — Cyclowiki
  5. checko.ru — OOO "ROSTA" — Vyshny Volochyok — INN 6908020588 — Director General N. N. Polikarpov
  6. combatavia.info — everything about Russian military aviation. Aircraft designers of the USSR and Russia: Petlyakov, Simonov, Sukhoi, Mikoyan, Gurevich, Beriev, Ilyushin, Kamov, Mil, Tupolev, Lavochkin, Myasishchev, Yakovlev…