Polikarpov I-180

I-180
I-180-3 prototype
Role	Fighter
Manufacturer	Polikarpov
Designer	Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov
First flight	15 December 1938
Status	Cancelled
Primary user	Soviet Air Forces
Produced	1938-1940
Number built	10 production + 3 prototypes
Developed from	Polikarpov I-16

The Polikarpov I-180 (Russian: И-180) was a 1938 Soviet fighter prototype. It was the last attempt to extract performance from the basic Polikarpov I-16 design. The development cycle was plagued with problems and the death of the star Soviet test pilot Valery Chkalov in one of the prototypes effectively ended Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov's career as an aircraft designer.

The I-180 represented a further development of the basic I-16 design in order to take advantage of the new radial engines coming into service. It was designed to meet a requirement of the Soviet Air Force of January 1938 for a new interceptor aircraft with a radial engine. It was preceded by a series of projected I-16 variants with a more powerful Tumansky M-88 two-row radial engine: I-161, I-162, I-163, I-164, I-165, I-166 and I-167. The I-180 was a single-engine, low-wing monoplane aircraft of mixed construction with a duraluminum frame covered in plywood and fabric. The pilot sat near the tailfin in an open cockpit with a windshield similar to the I-16. The landing gear was retracted pneumatically, including the tail wheel. The main visual difference between the I-180 and I-16 was a new wing with a perpendicular straight leading edge, and an aerodynamically refined fuselage with a longer slim engine cowling. The new fighter was to be powered by an 820 kW (1,100 hp) M-88 engine, a development of the license-built Gnome-Rhône Mistral Major (known as M-85 in the USSR), and represented the next step in evolution from the 1937 I-165-11 prototype. The proposed armament consisted of four 7.62 mm (0.3 in) ShKAS machine guns and 200 kg (440 lb) of bombs. Dmitriy Tomashevich was assigned as the lead designer.

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