The sole prototype built crashed on its ninth flight, due to manufacturing defects, and the program was cancelled.

Internal bracing wires were not used in the wings as it was built up from plywood ribs with large lightening holes and stringers.

Many panel pins were not connected to the structure at all and many of the bradawl holes necessary to equalize pressure between the inside of the wing and the outside were missing entirely.

The crash of such an advanced aircraft shocked the entire industry and caused a six-month hiatus in design work.

Polikarpov overreacted to its loss and built the structure of a number of his subsequent aircraft stronger, and thus, heavier, than it needed to be.