The Gu-1 was a single-seat fighter, similar in design to the American Ercobra. Engine AM-37 behind the cockpit, near the center of mass of the aircraft. A long shaft with a diameter of 120 mm (made from a gun barrel) and an external gearbox. Chassis with nose wheel.

The design is mixed with a predominance of wood. The front part of the fuselage was a welded steel pipe truss, which carried the engine, a long shaft with a gearbox and a propeller. Sheathing her duralumin. The tail part of the fuselage, the wing and plumage are wooden, but the spars of the center section are metal with chromansil shelves-taurus and a duralumin wall. Wing profile 1B-10 type B-2 with a raised trailing edge, momentless. Automatic slats. Main water radiators in the wing, intermediate water-to-air with a separate circuit in the collapse of the engine cylinders for cooling the monitoring station (driven centrifugal supercharger to the engine). Oil coolers in the engine compartment on the sides of the fuselage above the wing.

The armament is very powerful, one Taubin cannon, 37 mm, through the axis of the propeller gearbox (81 rounds) and six more machine guns, synchronous and non-synchronous, in the fuselage and wing. The plane was red, polished.

The construction was overweight in almost everything. Mass summary: engine-790 kg, propeller-145 kg, shaft-45 kg, fuselage-463 kg, center section-435 kg, consoles-326 kg, controls-71 kg, landing gear-318 kg, empty-3742 kg.

The aircraft began to be designed in 1940. Until 1942, the design bureau of A.A. Mikulin, a long shaft with a gearbox was made and an engine was adapted. The power plant was pre-assembled and tested.

To test the Gu-1, Mikhail Ivanovich invited pilot-engineer A.I. Nikashin. This choice was not accidental, since Alexei Ivanovich enjoyed special respect and unquestioned authority among the pilots. The designer was in a hurry with the release of the machine in flight, and it can be understood, because it was military time. On the Gu-1, the landing gear domes were not fully installed, the front landing gear sashs were missing, and the slats were poorly fitted. According to the developers, these shortcomings did not serve as an obstacle to the start of flight tests and, having received the "go-ahead" from the People's Commissariat, LII and TsAGI, they began to prepare the machine for flight.

The first two taxiings took place on March 18, 1943 with acceleration to a speed of 120-140 km / h. At the same time, it was discovered that during the takeoff run the machine was pulled to the side, but the turn was easily parried by light braking of the left wheel and deflection of the rudder.

Two months later, performing the fourth taxiing, Nikashin tore the machine off the runway at a speed of 220 km / h, flying over the runway at an altitude of 0.1-0.12 m. With a weight of 4350 kg, the run did not exceed 550-570 m. eight days, May 29 - the fifth approach. This time, the wing flaps were deflected by 15 °, and the landing gear domes were sealed with canvas. Height above the runway - 0.2 m.

On June 12, 1943, Lieutenant Colonel Nikashin warmed up the engine and at 14:15. The Gu-1 departed for its first and last flight from Moscow's Central Aerodrome. On that day, instead of a holiday, a disaster occurred. After an excessively large takeoff run, the aircraft, gaining a straight altitude of up to 200 m, fell on its side and went in a dive to the ground. The work was stopped.

Photo	Description
	Drawing Gudkov Gu-1

Bibliography

• The History of Designs of Planes in USSR 1938-1950 /Vadim Shavrov/