Polikarpov
I-16
Introduction
The I-16 was long known to me having built a
kit
from Revell in the early sixties and being
well treated in
Vol 3
of William Greens´s
Warplanes of the Second World War [1], one
of my essential type collecting books from
the early sixtie´s, too.
I started this page because
I had the opportunity to take photographs
and videos of
the restored Polkarpov
I-16 Red 9 at her airshow
debut in Europe, in Coburg on
4.July 2009.
Objectively nice sights and sounds for an
aviation enthusiast from a rare and
historically important warbird but I have
mixed feelings about liking the Polikarpov
I-16. For me she is out of proportion and
the extremely matt finish of this variant,
which I cannot replicate on the photos adds
to my dislike. A little better for me looks
the UTI-4 trainer version, especially with
this paintwork shown at the box of this
plastic kit and also found as color
profile in [3]).
Pictures
of the airshow
at
Coburg Brandensteinsebene
see right.
Videos
of airshow display
here:
Take Off
Display
©
cjk
History of Red 9 ( D-ERPN )
The Polikarpov I-16 Red 9, registerd D-ERPN
shown here was bought by Thomas Juelich
member of Flugwerk Mannheim e.V , Germany
from Alpine Fighter Collections. It arrived
on 31 January 2009 and was first flown in
Germany on May 22, 2009. [L 1]
Alpine Fighter Collection
(AFC) , had six I-16 wrecks restored to flying
condition and test flown in Russia, and
subsequently certificated in the
Experimental Category in New Zealand.
It is interesting that
Gordon
and Dexter in Polikarpov's I-16 Fighter [3]
point out on page 84, that the
applicability of the term 'restored' is
questionable, since, "...though the fighters
do make use of original
components recvered in North Western Russia,
they are effectively new- built aircraft -in
other words, flying replicas."
In this
book Gordon and Dexter list Red 9 with
the construction number 2421319. They note:
"
Original aircraft built by Plant No. 21 late
1939 or early 1940, possibly tip 18 partly
upgraded to tip 24 standard. beleived
operated by the 155th IAP, North Fleet Air
Arm; crashed 2 km NW of Lake Kokkoyarvi (38
km SW of Kostomooksha, Karelia) in 1941 or
1942. First post-reconstruction flight 1995.
Gren with light blue undersurfaces, white
fin cap." [3] p. 84.
Aeroplane Monthly 10/2009 tell us: "This
aircraft was built at Gorky Aircraft Plant
No. 2 in late 1939. Serving with the Norh
Front´s 155th Fighter Squadron in 1941-42
until it crashed south west of Kostomuksha
in Kareilia. It was recovered and rebuilt in
the 1990´s by Alpine Fighter Collection in
New Zealand.[2]
Nicknames
Until about August 2009 the Polikarpov I-16 was known to me
simply as
Rata.
Only when I did some research upon the a
dicussion regarding the videos linked above
did I learn that Rata was only one
of various nicknames. The official name is
Polikarpov I-16 . I changed the
titles in my videos and will not use any
nickname in the general description of the
type Polikarpov I-16
. I treat the usage of the nicknames in
various sources in detail
here.
General History of the Polikarpov
I-16
see references [1], [3],[4] and [5]
below.
References
|
Books and Magazines
|
| [ 1 ] |
Green,
William :
War Planes of
the Second World
War . Fighters
Vol. 3. London:
Macdonald, 1961.Picture |
| [ 2 ] |
Aeroplane Monthly 10/2009,
|
|
[ 3 ]
|
Gordon ,
Yefim and
Keith
Dexter:
Polikarpov's I-16 Fighter: Its
Forerunners and Progeny
Midlands
Publishing,
2002
|
| [ 4 ] |
Donald (1998 )
The Enyclopedia of World Aircraft
|
|
[ 5 ] |
Squadron Signal in Action Number 157
"Polikarpov Fighters Pt.1"
Stapfer,Hans-Heiri ISBN 0-89747-343-4
Squadron Signal in Action Number 162
"Polikarpov Fighters Pt.2"
Stapfer,Hans-Heiri ISBN 0-89747-355-8
|
|
[ 6 ] |
Gunston (1995)
The Osprey
Enyclopedia of
Russian Aircraft |
|
Websites
|
| [L1] |
according to
Classic Wings
magazine
quoted in
Flugwerk
Mannheim e.V
website |
|
|
Title picture:
Polikarpov I-16, Red 9 D-ERPN.
Location:
Coburg
Brandensteinsebene airfield Germany ( EDQC)
. Low pass before
landing late afternoon
on 3.July 2009 before next day´s airshow
Four pictures below:
Landing on
grass parallel to main asphalt runway and
taxiing to the parking position.
Click for
larger size.
Pictures
below: Polikarpov
I-16, Red 9 D-ERPN.
Airshow routine on Saturday 4. July
2009
|
