ENGLISH

Polikarpov's I-16 fighter: its forerunners and progeny

By Yefim Gordon , Keith Dexter

Book information

Publisher
Midland
Year
2002
ISBN
1857801318, 9781857801316
Open Library ID
OL9001197M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
21 MB (22368977 bytes)
Pages
130\130
Scanned
yes
Time added
2012-03-09 12:00:00
Военные дисциплины;Оружие и военная техника;Авиаци

Description

Aviation historians often dismiss the Polyikarpov I-16 because it did not fare well against its more modern adversaries in WWII. It was often referred to in the West by the disparaging nickname of Rata, the Russian word for rat! Nikolay Polyikarpov's I-16 was nevertheless an outstanding fighter in its day--among other things, because it was the world's first monoplane fighter with a retractable undercarriage. Its capabilities were demonstrated effectively during the Spanish Civil War and it was still in front line service when the German armed forces fell on the Soviet Union in 1941. This book details every variant of this diminutive fighter, including development aircraft and unbuilt projects. An account is also given of Polyikarpov's early monoplane fighters that presaged the I-16 and of the later designs that evolved from it. Details are given of all surviving examples including the six aircraft that were restored to airworthy condition in Russia in the 1990s.

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