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Description
In the mid-1930s, the concept of the “fighter-destroyer” was very popular in design and planning circles. In 1934, the Design Bureau of P.I.Grokhovsky started to design a two-seated (or, alternatively three-seated) fighter-bomber for the Soviet Air Force. Later Grokhovsky hired a young designer Pavel Ivensen who completely redesigned the plane and made it smaller, lighter and more elegant. The first prototype was build, but never flown - in 1936, just in the eve of completion, the project was canceled. In 1937 Josif Stalin made a big purge in the Soviet armed forces, Grokhovsky was arrested on false charges and in 1946 died in prison. Could it have gone different way if Stalin or Soviet Union itself, for example, never existed...? :-D

Description
In the mid-1930s, the concept of the “fighter-destroyer” was very popular in design and planning circles. In 1934, the Design Bureau of P.I.Grokhovsky started to design a two-seated (or, alternatively three-seated) fighter-bomber for the Soviet Air Force. Later Grokhovsky hired a young designer Pavel Ivensen who completely redesigned the plane and made it smaller, lighter and more elegant. The first prototype was build, but never flown - in 1936, just in the eve of completion, the project was canceled. In 1937 Josif Stalin made a big purge in the Soviet armed forces, Grokhovsky was arrested on false charges and in 1946 died in prison. Could it have gone different way if Stalin or Soviet Union itself, for example, never existed...? :-D