The Polikarpov I-16 (Russian: Поликарпов И-16) is a Soviet single-engine single-seat fighter aircraft. It is a low-wing cantilever monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear, and was the first such aircraft to attain operational status. It "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" or "Ishachok" ("donkey" or "burro") by Soviet pilots, figured prominently in the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, Winter War and the Spanish Civil War – where it was called the Rata ("rat") by the Nationalists or Mosca ("fly") by the Republicans. The Finns called the aircraft Siipiorava "(flying squirrel)".
Design and development
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, and a Wright R-1820 radial engine in a NACA cowling. The aircraft is 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 employing 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 along 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 40-centimetre-wide (16 in) canopy which featured an Aldis-type 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 is fully retractable by a hand crank. The armament consisted of a pair of 7.62×54mmR (0.30 in) ShKAS machine guns in the wings, mounted on the outboard side of the main gear and 900 rounds of ammunition.
Below TsKB-12 fitted with skis and a three-blades Hamilton Standard propeller, and Evgenii Chalow in the cockpit.

These features were proposed at first by Andrei Tupolev; however, the NII VVS (Air Force Scientific Test Institute) was more concerned about the stresses a typical combat aircraft was subjected to in combat, and initially considered the risk too great. However, TsAGI, with the help of the 3rd Design Brigade under the leadership of Pavel Sukhoi and Aleksandr Putylov, eventually convinced NII VVS that what was being proposed was not only feasible, but would enhance the aircraft's performance.

The TsKB-12 was designed for the Wright Cyclone SR-1820-F-3 9-cylinder radial engine (rated at 529 kW/710 hp); a license to build this engine under the supervision of the OKB-19 Shvetsov design bureau in the Soviet Union was being negotiated. As the license was not yet approved, Polikarpov was asked to settle for the less powerful M-22 (Soviet-built version of the Gnome-Rhone Jupiter 9ASB, which itself was a licensed version of the Bristol Jupiter VI) with 358 kW (480 hp). This was deemed acceptable because the projected top speed still exceeded 300 km/h (185 mph).

The M-22-powered TsKB-12 first took to the air on 30 December 1933 with the famous Soviet test pilot Valery Chkalov at the controls. The second TsKB-12, with a Cyclone engine and three-bladed propeller, flew in January of the following year. Initial government trials in February 1934 revealed very good maneuverability, but the aircraft did not tolerate abrupt control inputs. Thus the TsKB-12 was deemed dangerous to fly and all aerobatics were forbidden. The M-22 version was preferred due to the vibration of the Cyclone-powered aircraft. Pilots commented early on about the difficulty of climbing into the cockpit, a trait that persisted through the I-16's service life. Before continuing test flights the designers had to answer the question of spin behavior. Wind tunnel testing suggested that the TsKB-12, with its short tail, would enter an unrecoverable spin, but real-life trials were necessary to confirm this. Since Cyclone engines were rare, it was decided to risk the M-22 prototype for this purpose. On 1 and 2 March 1934, Chkalov performed 75 spins and discovered that the aircraft had very benign stall behavior (dipping a wing and recovering without input from the pilot when airspeed increased) and intentional spins could be easily terminated by placing the controls in the neutral position. The stories of vicious spin behavior of the I-16 perpetuated in modern literature is unfounded (perhaps extrapolated from Gee Bee experience). In fact, the I-16's stablemate, the biplane Polikarpov I-153, exhibited much worse spin characteristics.

Service trials of the new fighter, designated I-16, began on 22 March 1934. The M-22 prototype reached 359 km/h (223 mph). The pioneering presence of a complex, triple-strut manually retracted main landing gear design was prone to jamming and required considerable strength from the pilot, who directly operated the rearmost strut's upper end, moved with a manually turned jackscrew running spanwise within the wing structure, to "slide" outwards and inwards on each side to respectively get the main gear retracted and extended, with the main strut (the forward-most of the trio) needing to shorten its length during its retraction to fit the mainwheel into the lower fuselage, performed by the middle-location strut's geometric arrangement and pivot locations. Most of the test flights were performed with the gear extended. On 14 April 1934, the Cyclone prototype was damaged when one of the landing gear legs collapsed while it was taxiing. On 1 May 1934, the M-22 prototype participated in the flyover of Red Square. Approximately thirty I-16 Type 1 aircraft were delivered, but were not assigned to any VVS fighter squadron. Most pilots who flew the I-16 Type 1 for evaluation purposes did not find the aircraft to have many redeeming characteristics. Regardless of pilot opinion, much attention was focused on the Cyclone-powered aircraft and the M-25 (the license-built Cyclone).

The third prototype with a Cyclone engine incorporated a series of aerodynamic improvements and was delivered for government trials on 7 September 1934. The top speed of 437 km/h (270 mph) no longer satisfied the Air Force, who now wanted the experimental Nazarov M-58 engine and 470 km/h (290 mph). Subsequently, the M-22-powered version entered production at Factory 21 in Nizhny Novgorod and Factory 39 in Moscow. Because it was the fourth aircraft produced by these factories, it received the designation I-16 Type 4. Aircraft fitted with these new engines required a slightly changed airframe, including armor plating for the pilot and changes to the landing gear doors (particularly, the hinged lower mainwheel door) to allow for complete closure.
Below TsKB-12/Type 4 s/n 123903 in the GAZ-39 at Khodynka, the third production plane.

The M-25 fitted I-16, the I-16 Type 5, featured a new engine cowling which was slightly smaller in diameter and featured nine forward-facing, radially-set shuttered openings to control cooling airflow, a redesigned exhaust with eight individual outlet stubs, and other changes. The M-25 was rated at 474 kW (635 hp) at sea level and 522 kW (700 hp) at 2,300 m (7,546 ft). Due to the poor quality of the canopy glazing, the I-16 Type 5 pilots typically left the canopy open or removed the rear portion completely. By the time the Type 5 arrived, it was the world's lightest production fighter (1,460 kg/3,219 lb), as well as the world's fastest, able to reach speeds of 454 km/h (282 mph) at altitude and 395 km/h (245 mph) at sea level. While the Type 5 could not perform the high-G maneuvers of other fighters, it possessed superior speed and climb rates, and had extremely responsive aileron control, which gave it a very good roll rate, which led to precision maneuvers in loops and split-Ss.

A total of 10,292 single-seat aircraft were produced between 1935 and 1942; the number of two-seat trainer variants produced varies between 843 and 3,189.
Operational history
Initial service experience revealed that the ShKAS machine guns had a tendency to jam. This was the result of the guns being installed in the wings upside-down to facilitate the fit. The problem was addressed in later modifications. Evaluations from pilots confirmed the experience with prototypes. Controls were light and very sensitive, abrupt maneuvers resulted in spins, and spin behavior was excellent. An aileron roll could be performed in under 1.5 seconds (roll rate over 240 degrees/second). The machine guns were fired via a cable and the required effort, coupled with sensitive controls, made precision aiming difficult. The rear weight bias made the I-16 easy to handle on unprepared airfields because the aircraft was rather unlikely to flip over the nose even if the front wheels dug in.

The I-16 was a difficult fighter to fly. The pilots had poor visibility, the canopy tended to become fouled with engine oil, and the moving portion was prone to slamming shut during hard maneuvers, which caused many pilots to fix it in the open position. The front section of the fuselage, with the engine, was too close to the centre of gravity, and the pilot's cockpit too far to the rear. The Polikarpov had insufficient longitudinal stability and it was impossible to fly the aircraft "hands off".
Spanish Civil War
At the start of the 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. 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 Heinkel He 51 and Arado Ar 68 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 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.
China, the Far East, and battles at Khalkhin Gol
Between October 1937 and September 1939 the USSR delivered 885 aircraft (rising to 1,250 by 1941), including 216 Polikarpov I-16s, predominately Type 5s and Type 10s. At first the Soviet pilots would have to fly the aircraft over 1,500 miles across China to get them to their destination of Lanzhou, however this was a risky journey and so future batches of aircraft would be disassembled and transported to Hami (closer to Lanzhou), before final assembly and delivery to Lanzhou. The first I-16s were delivered in November 1937, however rushed training of the Chinese pilots meant many were lost to crashes. In Chinese service the I-16 became known as the "Lastochka" or "Swallow". In the early years of the war the I-16 was a capable fighter, however from 1939 onwards its performance was deemed to be lacking in comparison to newer fighters.

A number Chinese aces flew the I-16; among them Lo Ying-Teh who in 1938 shot down Japanese unit leader Lt Ryohei Ushioda's A5M2 in his I-16 Type 5. .Another ace to fly the I-16 was Liu Chi-Sheng who achieved 3 of his 10 kills while flying the I-16 Type 5, along with another shared kill.

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 Nakajima Ki-27 Japanese 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 20 mm (0.79 in) ShVAK cannons, making the I-16 one of the most heavily armed fighters of the period, able to fire 28 rounds 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 Chung 28 is an unlicensed I-16 built from the spare parts of I-16s provided to the Nationalists, delivered in 1941 and did not include upgraded cannons. 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. Ten Type 17 fighters were supplied to the Chinese Air Force where on 20 May 1940, they effectively shot down a C5M scout-attack plane and three G3M bombers during the Battle of Chongqing.

Types 18, 24, 27, 28, and 29 could be fitted to carry RS-82 unguided rockets. The first successful use of air-to-air missiles in air combat was on August 20, 1939. A Ki-27 was hit by an RS-82 rocket launched from a distance of about a kilometer. The shot was fired by Captain N. Zvonarev.

A 1939 government study found the I-16 had exhausted its performance potential. The addition of armor, radio, battery, and flaps during the aircraft's evolution exacerbated the rear weight distribution problems to the point where the aircraft required considerable forward pressure on the stick to maintain level flight and at the same time developed a tendency to enter uncontrolled dives. Extension and retraction of the landing flaps caused a dramatic change in the aircraft's attitude. Accurate gunfire was difficult.
Soviet Union
The pilots nicknamed the aircraft Ishak (Russian: Ишак, Donkey/Hinny) because it was similar to the Russian pronunciation of "I-16" ("ee-shestnadtset"). 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. The main assault delivered by the Luftwaffe's Luftflotte 2 (in support of Wehrmacht Army Group Centre) was directed against the Soviet Western Special Military District, that deployed 361 (424 according to other sources) I-16s.During the early phase of the campaign the I-16 bases were the main targets for the German aircraft and after 48 hours of combat, of the 1,635 Polikarpov monoplanes in service on 21 June 1941, only 937 were left.By 30 June the number of I-16s in western front line units had dropped to 873, including 99 that required repairs. To stem the Luftwaffe aerial assault several I-16 pilots adopted the taran tactic and sacrificed their lives, ramming German aircraft.

Its main opponent in the sky in 1941 was the German Messerschmitt Bf 109.The I-16 was slightly more maneuverable than the early Bf 109s and could fight the Messerschmitt Bf 109E, or Emil, on equal terms in turns. Skilled Soviet pilots took advantage of the Polikarpov's superior horizontal maneuverability and liked it enough to resist the switch to more modern fighters. The German aircraft, however, outclassed its Soviet opponent in service ceiling, rate of climb, acceleration and, crucially, in horizontal and diving speed, due to better aerodynamics and a more powerful engine. The main versions of the I-16 had a maximum speed of 450–470 km/h (279–291 mph), while the Bf 109E had a maximum speed of 560–570 km/h (347–353 mph), the more streamlined Bf 109F Friedrich could hit 615–630 km/h (372-390plus mph). German pilots held the initiative and could decide if they wanted to chase their opponents or attack them from above and behind and then gain altitude for a new attack. Meanwhile, Polikarpovs could only defend each other by forming a defensive circle or via horizontal maneuverability.

Moreover, in terms of armament, Messerschmitts had a slight edge on the I-16. The Emil carried two wing-mounted 20mm MG FF cannons and two synchronized 7.92 mm MG-17s with a weight of a one-second salvo of 2.37 kg, while the most common version of the I-16—armed with just two synchronized and two wing-mounted 7.62 ShKAS—could deliver 1.43 kg of bullets each second. Finally, the ammunition storage on a Messerschmitt exceeded that of the I-16, carrying 1,000 rounds for each machine gun (plus sixty drum-housed rounds for each cannon), while the Polikarpov carried just 450 rounds for each ShKAS gun.

Around half of all produced I-16s were still in service in 1943, when they were finally replaced.

Specially modified I-16s were used in the Zveno parasite aircraft experiments using the Tupolev TB-3 as a mothership. These I-16s carried two 250 kg bombs for dive bombing. This was more than double the bomb load an I-16 could take off with under its own power. Once the bombs were dropped, they could perform as normal I-16s, and could re-attach to the TB-3 for the return journey.

The Luftwaffe was known to have captured some I-16 and UTI-4 two-seat trainers (two of which were marked with the Stammkennzeichen codes DM+HC and DM+HD) and flown from the Erprobungstelle Rechlin central Luftwaffe test facility by Kampfgeschwader 200 (KG 200).The Luftwaffe was not the only air force able to test its fighters against the I-16; the Japanese captured a few I-16s as well, and the Romanian Air Force also got one when a Soviet pilot defected. The Finnish Air Force (FAF) captured some I-16s (along with several other Soviet types). During the Winter War and the Continuation War, the Finns captured six I-16s and one I-16UTI. Two of the captured I-16s and I-16UTIs were put back into flying condition and flight tested.
Below The I-16 fighter of Hero of the Soviet Union A.G. Lomakin in the Leningrad Defense Museum. Anatoly Georgievich Lomakin was deputy squadron commander of the 21st Fighter Aviation Regiment

Below Starting the engine of an I-16 Type 24 fighter in one of the Soviet naval air regiments.

Below Starting the engine of a Soviet I-16 Type 6 fighter from one of the Baltic Fleet Air Force regiments using an aircraft starter.

Below Squadron commander of the 22nd Fighter Aviation Regiment, Senior Lieutenant Vitt Skobarikhin, in the cockpit of his I-16 with a wing damaged in a ramming attack.

Below Squadron commander of the 7th Fighter Aviation Regiment Fyodor Ivanovich Shinkarenko, third from the right) with his comrades near an I-16 (Type 10) at the airfield.

Below Squadron commander of the 4th Guards Aviation Regiment of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet Air Force, Guards Senior Lieutenant Gennady Dmitrievich Tsokolaev

Below Squadron commander I.A. Ivanenkov (right) of the 728th Fighter Aviation Regiment listens to a report from I-16 fighter pilot Denisov. Kalinin Front, January 1943.

below Soviet pilots play dominoes near an I-16 fighter at the Tamsag-Bulak airfield in Mongolia.

Below Soviet pilots next to an I-16 fighter.

Below Soviet I-16 Type 24 fighters of the 4th Guards Aviation Regiment of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet Air Force at Novaya Ladoga Airfield. The closest is Guards Senior Lieutenant G.D. Tsokolaev.

Below Soviet I-16 Type 5 fighter that made an emergency landing and crashed. In the background is a German Henschel Hs.126 reconnaissance aircraft.

Below Soviet I-16 fighters captured by the Germans at the Riga airfield, early July 1941. I-153 fighters and SB-2 bombers are visible in the background.

Below Soviet I-16 fighters at the airfield. Engines starting.

Below Soviet I-16 fighters at an airfield. In the foreground is an I-16 Type 28.

Below Sergeant V.M. Borodin, pilot of the 8th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 62nd Fighter Aviation Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet Air Force, with an I-16 fighter.died in aerial combat on December 28, 1941.

Below Senior Lieutenant L. Borisov reports to the squadron commander, Hero of the Soviet Union V. Shishkin (right), about the completion of a combat mission in an I-16 fighter. Belgorod area.

Below Senior Lieutenant Alexander Kovalenko's aircraft – an I-16 Type 24, tail number 11 For Stalin, serial number 24P21891. Military unit 72nd SAP

Below Pilots of the 161st Fighter Aviation Regiment, 43rd Fighter Aviation Division, Western Front, near an I-16 fighter. On the left is squadron commander Senior Lieutenant Nikolai Vasilyevich Terekhin

Below Pilots of the 13th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet Air Force near an I-16 fighter during the Soviet-Finnish War.

Below Pilots of the 6th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Black Sea Fleet Air Force read newspapers at the airfield near an I-16 fighter.

Below Pilots of the 4th Squadron of the 67th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Red Army Air Forces near an I-16 Type 24 fighter at the Bolgarika airfield in the Bolgradsky District of the Izmail Region.

Below Pilots of the 1st Squadron of the 13th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Baltic Fleet Air Force stand next to an I-16P fighter (cannon-equipped) with ski landing gear.

Below Pilot of the 6th GIAP of the Black Sea Fleet Air Force, Lieutenant Nikolai Nikolaevich Sikov (1922 - 31.01.1943) near the I-16 fighter.

Below t Fighter Aviation Brigade of the Baltic Fleet Air Force, Junior Lieutenant Viktor Pavlovich Sigolaev in the cockpit of an I-16

Below Pilot brothers Yuri Nikolaevich Tsvetkov (1917-1943) and Konstantin Nikolaevich Tsvetkov (1918-1942) near an I-16 fighter. 87th Separate Fighter Aviation Squadron of the Naval Air Force.

Below Personnel of the 13th Separate Fighter Aviation Squadron of the Baltic Fleet Air Force stand next to an I-16 fighter. The pilots listen to a fellow pilot reading a newspaper.

Below Nikolai Fedorovich Klepikov (bottom right) and a group of pilots from the 40th Fighter Aviation Regiment near an I-16 fighter.

Below Luftwaffe soldiers (probably technicians or anti-aircraft gunners) pose on a Soviet I-16 fighter abandoned at an airfield.

Below Lieutenant Sergei Georgievich Surzhenko (born 1913) from the 72nd Mixed Aviation Regiment of the Northern Fleet Air Force near an I-16 Type 24 fighter with the inscription For the USSR!

Below Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Georgievich Romanenko, commander of the 13th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Baltic Fleet Air Force, poses with technicians near his I-16 fighter.presumably taken at Kerstovo Airfield.

Below I-16 type 4, P-Z, SB during classes at the Red Army Air Forces Aviation School.

Below I-16 fighters of various types (type 29 No. 12, type 28 No. 96, type 29 No. 25) of the 13th Fighter Aviation Regiment (4th GIAP) of the Naval Air Force at the airfield. 1941-1942.

Below I-16 fighter with RS-82 unguided rockets mounted on it at an airfield before takeoff. autumn 1941 and shows an I-16 Type 29 from the 7th Fighter Aviation Regiment operating near Leningrad.

Below I-16 (Type 17) fighter from the 1st Squadron of the 4th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment In the cockpit is the 1st Squadron commander, Guards Senior Lieutenant Mikhail Yakovlevich Vasiliev.

Below I-16 - unknown

Below Heroes of the Soviet Union, from right to left Nikolai Yakovlevich Totmin (1919 - 1942), Pyotr Timofeevich Kharitonov (1916 - 1987) and Mikhail Petrovich Zhukov (1917 - 1943)

Below or Lieutenant Mikhail Petrovich Zhukov (1917–1943) with his I-16 fighter at the Grivochki airfield.

Below Hero of the Soviet Union, Major P.M. Petrov, commander of the 254th Fighter Aviation Regiment, next to an I-16 fighter. The photograph clearly shows the PAK-1 sight (aircraft collimator sight).

Below Hero of the Soviet Union, Guards Senior Lieutenant G.D. Tsokolaev, squadron commander of the 4th Guards Aviation Regiment, in the cockpit of his I-16 fighter

Below Hero of the Soviet Union, fighter pilot of the 158th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Junior Lieutenant P.T. Kharitonov in the cockpit of his I-16 fighter.

Below German soldiers take pictures next to a downed Soviet I-16 fighter.

Below Flight commander of the 145th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Senior Lieutenant Viktor Petrovich Mironov (1918-1943) with an I-16 fighter.

Below Flight commander of the 44th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Lieutenant Mikhail Matveevich Gaponov (1918 - 1942) with an I-16 fighter.

Below Flight commander of the 8th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 62nd Fighter Aviation Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet Air Force, Lieutenant M.A. Dmitrusenko, next to an I-16 fighter.

Below Finnish soldiers near a Soviet I-16 fighter with tail number 64 that made an emergency landing near the village of Riiska on the shore of Lake Suvanto.




Below Fighter pilot of the 158th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Senior Lieutenant Pyotr Afanasyevich Pokryshev

Below Destroyed Soviet I-16 fighters in a field near Riga.

Below Commander of the 131st Fighter Aviation Regiment, Captain Viktor Iosifovich Davidkov with an I-16 fighter. Southern Front.

Below Captain G.I. Matveyev, deputy squadron commander of the 6th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 62nd Fighter Aviation Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet Air Force, sits in the cockpit of an I-16 fighter

Below Captain Boris Feoktistovich Safonov, commander of the 4th Air Squadron of the 72nd Mixed Naval Aviation Regiment, in the cockpit of an I-16 fighter, tail number 11.

Below An Italian soldier inspects a captured and dismantled Soviet I-16 fighter on a railway platform in Voroshilovgrad (now the city of Lugansk).

Below An Italian cameraman films a captured and dismantled Soviet I-16 fighter at the Voroshilovgrad airfield

Below An I-16 fighter from the 72nd Mixed Aviation Regiment of the Northern Fleet Air Force before a combat sortie at an airfield in the Arctic.

Below An I-16 fighter from the 1st Squadron of the 70th Fighter Aviation Regiment made an emergency landing in the Bain-Tumen region (now the city of Choibalsan).

Below Adjustment of the armament of the I-16 type 29 fighter by the pilot of the 3rd aviation squadron of the 71st fighter aviation regiment of the 61st fighter aviation brigade of the Baltic Fleet Air Force

Below Acting commander of the 177th Air Defense Fighter Regiment of the 6th Air Defense Aviation Corps,Junior Lieutenant Viktor Vasilyevich Talalikhin

Below A Soviet I-16 Type 24 fighter suspended under the wing of a TB-3-4AM-34FRN bomber. The fighter's wings carry two 250-kg high-explosive bombs.

Below A Soviet I-16 fighter plane, badly damaged during a forced landing, with which German soldiers happily take pictures.

Below A Soviet I-16 fighter made a forced belly landing. This photo was taken by German soldiers, one of whom is standing next to the plane.

Below A Soviet I-16 fighter before departing on a mission in the Odessa area.

Below A Soviet I-16 (Type 10) fighter from the 70th Fighter Aviation Regiment at the Tamsag-Bulak airfield in Mongolia.

Below A Hungarian soldier and Soviet civilians stand on the road near a crashed Soviet I-16 fighter

Below A Hungarian officer on a horse near a crashed Soviet I-16 fighter.

Below A group of Soviet pilots in flight uniform (leather raglans, helmets, and goggles) in front of an I-16 fighter aircraft parked in the steppe.

Below A group of pilots from the 22nd Fighter Aviation Regiment during breaks between battles on the Khalkhin Gol River. Second from the right is Senior Lieutenant Viktor Georgievich Rakhov

Below A flight instructor gives final instructions to a cadet before a training flight. Cadet A. Nasledukhov is in the cockpit of an I-16 fighter.

Below A captured and dismantled Soviet I-16 fighter on a railway platform in Voroshilovgrad

Below 1st rank Savely Ipatyevich Stetsyura (born 1907, far left) from the 1st squadron of the air regiment with an I-16 type 17 fighter.

Below German soldiers inspect a Soviet I-16 fighter that made an emergency landing near Rivne.

Below Spanish Civil War Nationalists impressed Polikarpov I 16, Spain, 1940

Below Polikarpov I 16 type 10 Republican Air Force Spain Spain


Below The captured Polikarpov I-16 originally had 20 mm cannons in the wings. TheFinnish State Aircraft Factory changed the wing armament to 7.7 mm Browning machine guns.

Below a Finnish captured Polikarpov I-16 (designation IR-101), then a Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 (designation MS-302) and last is a Heinkel He 115 A (designation HE-115).




Below A starter vehicle drive shaft is connected to the propeller shaft of a captured Polikarpov I-16 UTI (UT-1) trainer fighter


Below Polikarpov I-16UTI (later Finnish Air Force registration number UT-1), captured as a war booty in the Continuation War, was retrieved by Field Air Depot 4 from Troitsankonnu Airport on 6-7 September 1941


Below The crew of a UTI-4 aircraft on ski chassis (a two-seat version of the I-16 aircraft) from Hero of the Soviet Union V. Shishkin's squadron before taking off to attack positions. Belgorod area.

Below A German soldier in a captured UTI-4, a training aircraft based on the I-16.

Below A captured Soviet airfield in the Latvian SSR. In the foreground is a Soviet UTI-4, a two-seat trainer version of the I-16 fighter. In the background, a plane with German crosses on its wings is visible—a Henschel Hs-126.

Below American Volunteer Group servicemen and personnel looking over a Polikarpov I-16 UTI-1 aircraft of the Chinese Nationlist Airforce

Variants
There is considerable disagreement in literature on features of particular I-16 variants.
Polikarpov's I-16 types- LINK -- https://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/i16/i16types.htm
Specifications (I-16 Type 24)
General characteristics
Crew: One
Length: 6.13 m (20 ft 1 in)
Wingspan: 9 m (29 ft 6 in)
Height: 3.25 m (10 ft 8 in)
Wing area: 14.5 m2 (156 sq ft)
Airfoil: TsAGI R-II (16% at root)
Empty weight: 1,490 kg (3,285 lb)
Gross weight: 1,941 kg (4,279 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Shvetsov M-63 9-cylinder supercharged air-cooled radial engine, 820 kW (1,100 hp)
Propellers: 2-bladed variable-pitch propeller
Performance
Maximum speed: 489 km/h (304 mph, 264 kn) at 3,000 m (9,800 ft)
Range: 700 km (430 mi, 380 nmi) with drop tanks
Service ceiling: 9,700 m (31,800 ft)
Rate of climb: 14.7 m/s (2,890 ft/min)
Time to altitude: 5,000 m (16,000 ft) in 5 minutes 48 seconds
Wing loading: 134 kg/m2 (27 lb/sq ft)
Power/mass: 0.43 kW/kg (0.26 hp/lb)
Armament
2 × fixed forward-firing 7.62 mm (0.300 in) ShKAS machine guns in upper cowling
2 × fixed forward-firing 7.62 mm (0.300 in) ShKAS machine guns in the wings/ 20 mm (0.787 in) ShVAK cannons (type-28)
6 × unguided RS-82 rockets or up to 500 kg (1,100 lb) of bombs
(Text from Wikki)