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Additional Information
from Internet Encyclopedia
The Polikarpov
I-16 was a Soviet fighter aircraft of revolutionary design. It was the world's
first low-wing cantilever monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear to
have attained operational status and as such "introduced a new vogue in
fighter design." The I-16 was introduced in the mid-1930s and formed the
backbone of the Soviet Air Force at the beginning of World War II. The
diminutive fighter, nicknamed "Ishak" ("Donkey") by Soviet
pilots, prominently featured in the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Battle of
Khalkhin Gol and the Spanish Civil Warwhere it was called the Rata
("Rat") by the Nationalists or Mosca ("Fly") by the
Republicans. The Finnish nickname for I-16 was Siipiorava ("Flying
Squirrel").
While working on
the Polikarpov I-15 biplane, Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov began designing an
advanced monoplane fighter. It featured cutting-edge innovations such as
retractable landing gear and a fully enclosed cockpit, and was optimized for
speed with a short stubby fuselage (similar to the Gee Bee R-1) and a Wright
Cyclone radial engine in a NACA cowling. The aircraft was small, light and
simple to build.
Full scale work on
the TsKB-12 prototype began in June 1933 and the aircraft was accepted into
production on 22 November 1933, a month before it took to the air. The TsKB-12
was of mixed construction using a wooden monocoque fuselage and wings based
around a KhMA chrome-molybdenum steel alloy wing spar, dural ribs and D1
aluminum alloy skinning on the center and leading edges, with the remaining portions
of the wings fabric covered. Another modern feature were the ailerons which ran
almost the entire trailing edge of the wing and also operated as flaps (in the
manner of more modern flaperons) by drooping 15°. The cockpit was covered by a
forty cm (sixteen in) wide canopy which featured an Aldis tubular gun sight
which could slide back and forth on runners fitted with rubber bungee cords. A
225 l (59.4 US gal) fuel tank was fitted directly in front of the cockpit. The
main landing gear was fully retractable by a hand-crank. The armament consisted
of a pair of 7.62 mm (0.30 in) ShKAS machine guns in the wings, mounted on the
outboard side of the main gear and 900 rounds of ammunition
At the start of
Spanish Civil War in 1936, Republican forces pleaded for fighter aircraft.
After receiving payment in gold, Joseph Stalin dispatched around 475 I-16 Type
5s and Type 6s. The first I-16s appeared in Spanish skies in November 1936. The
Polikarpov monoplanes had their baptism of fire on 13 November 1936, when twelve
I-16s intercepted a Nationalist bombing raid on Madrid. Soviet pilots claimed
four air victories and two German Heinkel He 51 pilots were killed. But the
Soviets suffered losses too; the group commander collided with an enemy
aircraft and another I-16 pilot crash landed. The Polikarpovs immediately began
dominating the enemy He 51s, Arado Ar 68 and Fiat CR.32 biplanes and remained
unchallenged until the introduction of the Messerschmitt Bf 109. The arrival of
the newest Bf 109Bs and the overwhelming numerical superiority of Nationalist
fighters were the primary cause of the heavy I-15 and I-16 combat losses
suffered by throughout 1937. A number of aviation publications called the new
Soviet fighter a "Boeing" due to the incorrect assumption that it was
based on the Boeing P-26's design. The Nationalists nicknamed the stubby
fighter Rata (Rat), while the Republicans affectionately called it Mosca (Fly).
Combat experience
showed that the I-16 had deficiencies; several aircraft were lost after
structural failure of the wings which was quickly remedied by reinforced
structures. Heavy machine gun bullets could sometimes penetrate the armored
backrest and fuel tanks occasionally caught fire in spite of being protected.
The hot Spanish summers required the addition of oil radiators, and dust
adversely affected the life of the engines. Although some aircraft accumulated
up to 400 hours of flying time, the average life of an I-16 was 87 days, of
which one sixth was spent on maintenance. The biggest complaint in service was
the light armament of only two 7.62 mm (0.30 in) machine guns. This was
urgently addressed with the Type 6 which added a third ShKAS in the bottom of
the fuselage. The four-gun Type 10 was nicknamed "Super Mosca" or
simply "Super". The total number of I-16s delivered to Spain from
1936 to 1938 amounted to 276. When the war ended on 1 April, 1939, 187 Ratas
had been lost in Spain: 112 lost in combat, one shot down by anti-aircraft
fire, eleven destroyed on the ground, one force-landed and 62 lost in accidents
Another 250 I-16
Type 10s were supplied to China. This model added a second set of 7.62 mm (0.30
in) ShKAS machine guns, armor behind the pilot, and had a slightly upgraded 560
kW (750 hp) M-25 engine. In 1939, of the 500 I-16s deployed to the fighting at
Nomonhan, approximately 112 were lost during the battles of Khalkhin Gol, of
which 88 were destroyed in aerial combat, primarily against the all metal Ki-27
IJA fighters. During test trials in Russia of a captured Ki-27, the aircraft
proved superior to the Soviet I-152 (I-15bis), I-153, and the I-16 in aerial
combat, as well as having a faster take off and lower landing speed requiring
shorter airstrips than the I-16, which needed 270 meters to stop and 380 meters
for take off.
Further attempts
were made to upgrade the firepower of the aircraft using twenty mm (0.79 in)
ShVAK cannons, making the I-16 one of the most heavily armed fighters of the
period, able to fire 28 pounds of ammunition in three seconds. Pilots loved the
results, but the cannons were in short supply and only a small number of the
I-16 Type 12, 17, 27, and 28 were built. The cannons adversely affected
performance with 360° turn time increasing from fifteen seconds in the Type 5
to eighteen seconds. The Type 24 replaced the skid with a tailwheel and
featured the much more powerful 670 kW (900 hp) Shvetsov M-63 engine. The Type
29 replaced two of the ShKAS guns with a single 12.7 mm (.50 in) UBS. Types 18,
24, 27, 28, and 29 could be fitted to carry RS-82 unguided rockets
The pilots
nicknamed the aircraft Ishak (Russian: Ишак, Donkey/Hinny) because it was
similar to the Russian pronunciation of "I-16". When Operation
Barbarossa erupted on 22 June 1941, 1,635 of 4,226 VVS aircraft were I-16s of
all variants, fielded by 57 fighter regiments in frontier areas.
TsKB-12: First
prototype, M-22 engine, 336 kW (450 hp), two unsynchronized ShKAS machine guns
in the wings with 900 rpg.
TsKB-12bis: Second
prototype, Wright SGR-1820-F-3 Cyclone engine, 533 kW (715 hp)
TsKB-12P (I-16P):
Prototype armed with two ShVAK cannon in the wings, 150 rpg.
TsKB-18: Ground
attack prototype with M-22 engine and armored cockpit. Armed with four ShKAS or
PV-1 machine guns and 100 kg (220 lb) of bombs. Two additional Type 5s were
fitted with six ShKAS machine guns of which four could decline to 20° for
ground strafing.
TsKB-29 (SPB):
Pneumatically-operated landing gear and flaps, Wright Cyclone engine, armament
of two ShKAS machine guns, used as a high-speed dive bomber in the Zveno
project
I-16 Type 1:
Pre-production series, M-22 engine with 358 kW (480 hp).
I-16 Type 4: First
production version, M-22 engine.
I-16 Type 5: Type
4 with a streamlined and tapered engine cowling, Shvetsov M-25 engine with 522
kW (700 hp).
I-16 Type 6: M-25A
engine, 545 kW (730 hp).
I-16 Type 10: Four
ShKAS machine guns (two synchronized in the fuselage and two in the wings),
windscreen replaced the sliding canopy, could be fitted with retractable skis
for winter operations, M-25B engine with 560 kW (750 hp). Hispano-Suiza-built
aircraft were powered by the Wright Cyclone R-1820-F-54 engine.
I-16 Type 17: Type
10 with two ShKAS machine guns and two ShVAK cannon, rubber tail wheel, M-25V
engine with 560 kW (750 hp). Some aircraft were fitted with an additional 12.7
mm (0.5 in) Berezin UB machine gun for strafing.
I-16 Type 18: Type
10 with Shvetsov M-62 engine producing 620 kW (830 hp), with a two-speed
supercharger and a variable-pitch propeller. Capable of carrying two 100 l (26
US gal) underwing fuel tanks.
I-16 Type 20: Four
ShKAS, first version capable of carrying underwing fuel tanks with 93 l (25 US
gal) capacity based on tanks used on the Japanese Nakajima Ki-27, 80 built.
I-16 Type 24: Four
ShKAS, landing flaps replaced drooping ailerons, tailwheel added, second
cockpit door added on the starboard side, Shvetsov M-63 engine with 670 kW (900
hp).
I-16 Type 27: Type
17 with an M-62 engine.
I-16 Type 28: Type
24 with two ShKAS and two ShVAK.
I-16 Type 29: Two
synchronized ShKAS in the nose and a single 12.7 mm (0.50 in) UBS in the bottom
of the fuselage, no wing guns. Could carry 4-6 RS-82 rockets.
I-16 Type 30:
Re-entered production in 1941-42, M-63 engine.
I-16TK: Type 10
with a turbocharger for improved high-altitude performance, reached 494 km/h
(307 mph) at 8,600 m ( 28,200 ft), did not enter production.
UTI-1: Two-seat
trainer version of Type 1.
UTI-2: Improved
UTI-1 with fixed landing gear.
UTI-4 (I-16UTI):
Two-seat trainer version of Type 5, most with fixed landing gear.