Nikolai Polikarpov

Nikolai Polikarpov
Nikolai Polikarpov
Born	June 8, 1892 Livensky District, Oryol Oblast, Russian Empire
Died	July 30, 1944(1944-07-30) (aged 52) Moscow, USSR
Nationality	Soviet Union, Russia
Engineering career
Discipline	Aeronautical Engineering
Employer(s)	Polikarpov Design Bureau
Significant design	Po-2, I-15, I-16,

Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov (Russian: Никола́й Никола́евич Полика́рпов) (June 8, 1892 – July 30, 1944) was a Soviet aeronautical engineer and aircraft designer, known as "King of Fighters". He designed the I-15 series of fighters, and the I-16 Ishak (Russian: ишак phonetically close to its Russian: И-16 designation) "Little Donkey" fighter.

Polikarpov was born in the village of Georgievskoye near Livny in Oryol Governorate. He was the son of a village priest in the Russian Orthodox Church. He initially also trained for the priesthood and studied at the Oryol Seminary before moving to Saint Petersburg Polytechnical University 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, the head of production at the Russian Baltic Carriage Factory. While working for Sikorski, Polikarpov helped design the massive Ilya Muromets four-engine bomber for the Imperial Russian Air Force.

Polikarpov stayed in Russia after the Russian Revolution 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.