An all-metal aircraft, it featured an open cockpit, retractable wing wheels, an advanced, nearly-elliptical cantilever wing, and a variable-pitch, metal propeller powered by a 640 hp (477 kW) Wright Cyclone series engine.

The DG-52 was transferred to the Air Force Research Institute on 12 January, 1935 for testing, and was flown that same day by P.Ya.

Like the preceding Grigorovich I-Z, the IP-1 prototype was built around the cannon-fighter concept, with two Leonid Kurchevsky-designed APK-4 76.2mm cannons mounted under the wings, each capable of 5 shots before ammunition was depleted.

On 3 June, 1936 Lieutenant Bolshakov of the 92nd Air Brigade fell into a flat tailspin at 1,700m, and had to bail out with a parachute.

IP-1 number 135 was armed with Six ShKAS machine guns, and 6-6.5mm armor was added to the gas tanks, cockpit, and engine.

Flight tests were carried out on 5 & 6 June, 1939, where it was determined that the tendency to spin was too great and the project was abandoned.

Armed with an engine-mounted ShVAK cannon and 10 ShKAS machine guns, the prototype was nearly complete when abandoned in 1936.

A second prototype (DG-52bis) with ShVAK cannon replacing the Kurchevsy weapons was designed but never built.