The I-17 is another brainchild of the “King of Fighters”, the Soviet designer Nikolay Nikolayevich Polikarpov. The aircraft began to be developed a year after the legendary I-16, which brought its creators the Order of Lenin.
The test pilot Valery Pavlovich Chkalov actively participated in the developing process. Chkalov began testing this plane in 1935.
The new plane resembled the I-16 fighter in many ways: it was a low-wing cantilever monoplane. Structurally, it had a combined wood-and-iron design. However, the new generation aircraft looked more attractive than the “snub-nosed” I-16: it was equipped with an M-100 liquid-cooled engine designed by Vladimir Yakovlevich Klimov. This made the nose more streamlined. With such an engine (with a capacity of 760 horsepower) the aircraft reached speeds of up to 500 km/h and had an altitude ceiling of nearly 10,000 meters.
Chkalov liked the plane, however, like the I-16 before it, during testing, the I-17 had issues with the chassis. During one of the training flights, the pilot had to land the plane on one wheel, as the second one was inoperable.
It was an experimental model; just three planes were built. The only way to get into the I-17 cockpit was “sideways”. In other words, the pilot first had to open the canopy and fold back a small door on the fuselage. When developing fighter aircraft, Polikarpov sacredly observed five commandments: less weight, more speed, excellent maneuvering, a fuselage compressed as much as possible, and optimal wings.
One of the leading engineers of the design bureau Alexander Grigoryevich Rotenberg said,
The test pilot Valery Pavlovich Chkalov actively participated in the developing process. Chkalov began testing this plane in 1935.
The new plane resembled the I-16 fighter in many ways: it was a low-wing cantilever monoplane. Structurally, it had a combined wood-and-iron design. However, the new generation aircraft looked more attractive than the “snub-nosed” I-16: it was equipped with an M-100 liquid-cooled engine designed by Vladimir Yakovlevich Klimov. This made the nose more streamlined. With such an engine (with a capacity of 760 horsepower) the aircraft reached speeds of up to 500 km/h and had an altitude ceiling of nearly 10,000 meters.
Chkalov liked the plane, however, like the I-16 before it, during testing, the I-17 had issues with the chassis. During one of the training flights, the pilot had to land the plane on one wheel, as the second one was inoperable.
It was an experimental model; just three planes were built. The only way to get into the I-17 cockpit was “sideways”. In other words, the pilot first had to open the canopy and fold back a small door on the fuselage. When developing fighter aircraft, Polikarpov sacredly observed five commandments: less weight, more speed, excellent maneuvering, a fuselage compressed as much as possible, and optimal wings.
One of the leading engineers of the design bureau Alexander Grigoryevich Rotenberg said,
