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	Background
	This interesting project was designed in 1935-1936 by a student of the MAI (Moskovskiy Aviatsionniy Institut) named F. Kurochkin. The "Sokol" ("Falcon") was a VTOL fighter of 7.53m length overall and 5.80m wingspan. A single 860hp Hispano Suiza engine in the rear fuselage drove the 4m diameter wingtip propellers via driveshafts in the wing. For landing the outer half of the wing tilted and a single centreline undercarriage leg was used with outriggers in the wingtip pods. A 2m diameter propeller was fitted at the tail instead of conventional horizontal control surfaces and the Sokol was estimated to be capable of 527km/h. A single machine gun would have been carried in the upper cowling over the nose (radiator?) air intake. References "Aviatsia i Cosmonavtika Magazin", 1999
	Images
	Presented below are artists' impressions of the VTOL fighter design.  The in-page images are reduced resolution files.  Clicking on the images will open higher resolution images, typically 1280 by 720 pixels, with the file sizes shown.

Click the thumbnail images below to move to the relevant part of the page.

	Attack! A Soviet Army fighter engages two German JU-87s. [552KB]

	The Sokol might also have been used by the Soviet Navy - here shown on the carrier "Komsomolets". [296KB]

	On patrol over the wooded countryside. [465KB]

	A Soviet Navy machine in a colour scheme used on Pe-2 bombers of the period. [185KB]

	3 - view of the Sokol showing the large size of the propellers. [190KB]

	Two Soviet Navy fighters on a midnight patrol. [241KB]