Valery Pavlovich Chkalov was a test pilot awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union (1936).

The Polikarpov I-180 was a 1938 Soviet fighter prototype. It was the last attempt to extract performance from the basic Polikarpov I-16 design. The development cycle was plagued with problems, especially with the death of the star Soviet test pilot Valery Chkalov in one of the prototypes.