Chkalov"s Fatal Fighter. The Scariest Plane Crash of the Stalin Era

On December 15, 1938, the whole country had a terrible news: in Moscow, at the central airfield, in the first test flight of the newest fighter I-180, the best pilot of the USSR, the most Soviet people, the legendary Valery Chkalov crashed. At that sorrowful day, no one has not yet realized that his death is only the first act of the tragedy that the Soviet Union has lost not only his greatest pilot, but much more! - More that this catastrophe will actually put the cross on the career of the brilliant aircraft designer Nikola Polycarpov, by the right of consumed & quot, king of fighters & quot,. Loud successes & quot, Stalinist Sokolov & quot, in the mid-1930s were inextricably linked with his glorified I-15 and I-16, to change which and had to come and-180 - undoubtedly the best fighter of the USSR, high-speed, maneuverable, with powerful Weapons.
And do not happen to the December catastrophe, whether this alerts launched into mass production - in the summer of 1941, our pilots would meet the enemy not on obsolete & quot, Ishaki & quot, & quot, seagulls & quot, & quot, lacquered coffins & quot, Lagg-3 and high-altitude migs which are affordable for air fighting on the Soviet-German front, and on the formidable polycarpovsky and-180 and I-185, who exceeded the praised & quot, Mesters & quot, in all articles ...
Why did this opportunity, the best fighters of their time did not go to the series that for evil rocky over N.N. Polycarpov and his creations - read in the new book of the leading historian of aviation illustrated by many unique drawings and photos