Designer of fighter aircraft in early 1930s, such as the I- 16, first monoplane fighter with enclosed cockpit and retractable landing gear, but most famous design was the 1927 Po-2 biplane, built in thousands.
Aircraft designer Nikolai Nikolayevich Polikarpov was awarded the Order of Lenin for his development of the I-16, initially as leader of Design Team No 2 of the Soviet Union’s Central Design Bureau in 1932-33.
Nikolai Polikarpov, eventually fell into disfavour with Stalin because some of the other aircraft he designed were deemed failures. But when the 52-year-old designer died of cancer on July 30, 1944, Soviet authorities redesignated the U-2 the Po-2 in his honour.
1892-1944
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