ICARUS

Spanish Civil War polikarpov I-16 TYPE 5-10

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When the Spanish civil war started the Soviets rightly thought them selves to have one of the best and most advanced fighters on earth in the I-16 type 5. The first 16 examples of I-16 type 5 fighters arrived in Republican Spain on the 25-10 1936 aboard the freighter Kursk, another 15 fighter arrived the next day on the freighter Blagoev which completed a shipment of 31 aircraft.

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This was enough to form two 12 aircraft squadrons with 7 aircraft in reserve. Not only were the Soviet fighters fully armed, they also came with a complete supply of spares of every kind, spare guns, ammunition, aviation petrol, oil and other necessities. The performance of the Type 5 was a significant improvement on its predecessor with a top speed of 457 km/h. In combat the I-16 quickly proved able to outperform the opposition.

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It was a good 80-100 km/h faster than the He-51 and CR-32. In a classic out and out dogfight the two biplanes would usually get the better of the I-16 but the Soviet volunteer pilots who flew them quickly learned to avoid letting the Fascist fighters get to grips with the I-16. Instead of dog fighting they exploited the I-16's superior level speed, altitude performance, climb rate and dive speed by "bouncing" the Fascist biplanes, diving on them and then either zooming for altitude to make another pass or diving away after making a single firing pass.

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Another tactic was to approach the Fascist aircraft formations at treetop level, making the most of the I-16's camouflage. Once in position the I-16 pilots would attack the Fascist fighters and bombers from below. This unorthodox tactic which exploited the I-16's superior climb rate, proved to be a nasty surprise to the Fascist pilots.

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In fact this un-chivalrous behavior so vexed the Fascists that it inspired the I-16 its most famous nickname, "Rata" (rata = rat) because of how the I16's seemed to pop out of holes in the ground just like rats. Type 5 was equipped with a 690 hp M-25 engine. This engine was a license built versions of the American Wright Cyclone SGR 1820 F-3 which the US government had released for export .

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Initial experiences with the type 10 were ambiguous. The new landing flaps proved to be a deathtrap of the worst sort. They deployed very rapidly and caused a string of accidents which resulted in their deactivation on service aircraft.Although it was given the nickname "Super Mosca". The performance of the type 10 in Spain was a disappointment to FARE (Fuerzas Aéreas de la República Española = Spanish Republican Air Force) pilots who had been hoping for an improvement in altitude performance.

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All in all the type 10 did not influence the air war over Spain in a decisive manner since it did not prove able to combat the "Messerschmitt menace" effectively. In this respect the type 10 must be considered a failure since the Soviets do not seem to have registered the importance of the I-16s bad altitude performance which was its Achilles heel over Spain.


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