High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Polikarpov I-180 (Russian: И-180) was a 1938 Soviet fighter aircraft 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 Soviet hero pilot Valery Chkalov in one of the prototypes effectively ended Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov`s career as an aircraft designer.