Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov

Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov (Russian Николай Николаевич Поликарпов, scientific transliteration Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov; * 26 Junijul / July 8 1892greg in Gergiev, Orel province, .. † 30 July 1944 in Moscow) was a Soviet aircraft designer.

Life

Polikarpov was born the son of a village priest. After attending primary school in Liwenskoje he attended high school in Oryol for four years. After his graduation he studied in Petrograd Polytechnic Institute mechanics and attended courses in aircraft and airships. After graduating in 1916 he became an engineer at the Russian -Baltic airship and airplane plants ( RBWS ), where he had already been working while studying in passing. Polikarpov was there involved in the construction of the four-engined aircraft bomb Ilya Muromets.

In March 1918 he was recruited by the Central Administration of the Air Force and moved to Moscow. He was responsible for launching the series production of aircraft and the establishment of the necessary for production.

In August of the same year moved Polikarpov as head of the technical office of the Duk - plants ( Plant No. 1). These were at that time the largest Russian aircraft plants. There he was responsible for the design and material testing. At the end of the Duk R-1 was ready for flight, a replica of the De Havilland DH4. It was built despite acute shortage of engines in about 3000 copies.

Polikarpov moved in 1919 to the Technical Committee of the military air forces and worked there in various committees. In January Polikarpov took a design office, which consisted of the designers of the dissolved Duk works. Where a reduced version of the Duk R-1 has been developed and is equipped with a powerful motor Liberty. The first natural development of the design office was the fighter aircraft Polikarpov I-1, a cantilever monoplane. Since Polikarpov was not a party member, he was released a short time later from his duties.

Polikarpov was arrested in 1929, but in 1930 again. While in detention, he developed together with Dmitry Grigorovich, the Polikarpov I- fifth In the following years he also worked in OKB by Andrei Tupolev.

The best-known types are the Polikarpov Po-2 (1927) and the Polikarpov I -16 ( 1933), the first modern low-wing monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear. 1940 Polikarpov was awarded the Doctor of Technical Sciences, 1943, he was professor at the MAI Moscow and held the chair for aircraft construction there. During this time, the project of the first Soviet rocket planes, the Maljutka, but this was not pursued by police Karpov's death emerged.

In 1940 he was awarded the Hero of Socialist Labor. He received the State Prize in 1941 and 1943. Twice Polikarpov was awarded the Order of Lenin, once with the Order of the Red Star. He designed about 70 types of aircraft.

Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov died in 1944 of stomach cancer. His relatives put him in at the Moscow Novodevichy Cemetery, where you an allegorical representation of the crashing Icarus took advantage of his tomb, which was originally to be set up separately at the crossroads of the main routes of the celebrity cemetery.