On October 31, 1937, the first flight of the VIT-1 ("air tank destroyer") aircraft, developed in the design office of Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov, took place. The test pilot was Valery Pavlovich Cheklov. Factory testing of VIT-1 was not completed due to the imperfection of the machine. Among the reasons cited were the relatively large weight of the guns and the lack of a belt feed. Even before the first flight of VIT-1, Polikarpov's design bureau began to develop a more advanced version - the VIT-2 aircraft. Its main external difference was the vertical tail with two fins. The preliminary design of VIT-2 was signed by Nikolai Polikarpov on June 29, 1937. Valery Cheklov made the first flight in the VIT-2 on May 11, 1938.

On October 31, 1937, the first flight of the VIT-1 ("air tank destroyer") aircraft, developed in the design office of Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov, took place. The test pilot was Valery Pavlovich Cheklov. Factory testing of VIT-1 was not completed due to the imperfection of the machine. Among the reasons cited were the relatively large weight of the guns and the lack of a belt feed. Even before the first flight of VIT-1, Polikarpov's design bureau began to develop a more advanced version - the VIT-2 aircraft. Its main external difference was the vertical tail with two fins. The preliminary design of VIT-2 was signed by Nikolai Polikarpov on June 29, 1937. Valery Cheklov made the first flight in the VIT-2 on May 11, 1938.