Polikarpov I-5
Encyclopedia
The Polikarpov
I-5 was a single-seat biplane
which became the primary Soviet
fighter
between its introduction in 1931 through 1936, after which it became the standard advanced trainer. Following Operation Barbarossa
, which destroyed much of the Soviet Air Forces (VVS), surviving I-5s were equipped with four machine guns and bomb racks and pressed into service as light ground-attack aircraft and night bombers in 1941. They were retired in early 1942 as Soviet aircraft production began to recover and modern ground-attack aircraft like the Ilyushin Il-2
became available.
design bureau to develop a mixed-construction (metal and wood/fabric) biplane fighter powered by a Bristol Jupiter
VII engine with the first prototype completed by 1 September 1929. The new fighter was designated I-5 (Istrebitel—Fighter), but had the internal Tupolev designation of ANT-12. Concurrently, Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov
's group was tasked with creating a wood-construction aircraft designated as the Polikarpov I-6
to the same specification. The I-5 design, begun by Pavel Sukhoi
, under the supervision of Andrei Tupolev
, lagged because the Tupolev bureau was preoccupied with large bombers. As the result the I-5 and I-6 projects were unified in 1929 under Polikarpov's leadership, although neither project met its specified completion date.
Nikolai Polikarpov was arrested by the OGPU
in September 1929 for the crime of industrial sabotage for these failures and sentenced to death, although this was commuted to ten years imprisonment in a labor camp. In December 1929 the OGPU gathered a number of aircraft engineers together at Butyrka prison
, including Polikarpov, and formed the Internal Prison Design Bureau (Konstruktorskoye Byuro Vnutrenniya Tyurma—KB VT) under the leadership of Dmitry Pavlovich Grigorovich
. The KB VT was transferred to quarters on the grounds of Factory (Zavod) Nr. 30 in Moscow-Khodinka in early 1930. Shortly afterwards Polkarpov replaced Grigorovich as the head designer when his concept for the I-5 was approved by the OGPU. The full-scale mock-up was approved on 28 March 1930 and the first prototype, designated VT-11 (Vnutrenniya Tyurma—Internal Prison), was completed a month later.
It made its first flight on 30 April 1930 and was fitted with an imported supercharged 450 hp Jupiter VII. It was painted in silver with a red cheat line; a red "VT" was superimposed on the red star on the rudder. The second prototype, known as the VT-12, had a Jupiter VI engine, and took to the air on 22 May, bearing the name "Klim Voroshilov." The two prototypes also differed in minor details regarding the shape of the tail and the construction of the landing gear. All this meant a slight difference in weight and performance between the two prototypes was present, with the second being slightly heavier and faster, while the first had a slight range advantage and a higher service ceiling. The third prototype, designated as the VT-13 and inscribed with "A Gift for the XVIth Congress of the Party", was powered by a 600 hp Soviet-built M-15 engine with a NACA cowling
, but this proved to be unreliable and was not put into production.
The second prototype passed its State acceptance trials on 13 August 1931 and was ordered into production a month later on 13 September. One problem noted during the trials was a tendency to make an uncontrolled 180° turn when landing in light winds. Shortening the landing gear by 15 cm (5.9 in) and moving them 12 cm (4.7 in) cured the problem. The engineer who suggest the change was awarded the Order of the Red Star
for his ingenuity. Ten pre-production aircraft had already been ordered and they were assembled between August and October. They all had imported engines fitted, but trialled various small improvements for the production aircraft that included cooling vents for the crankcase, introduction of a pitot tube
and static vent in the starboard upper wing, a faired headrest for the pilot, and a metal propeller
whose pitch
could be adjusted on the ground.
panels as far back as the rear of the cockpit
. There were also detachable panels allowing easy access to the tailskid shock absorber. The fabric skin was laced for tightness and the seams were covered with calico. A fireproof bulkhead separated the 165 litres (349 US pt) fuel tank from the engine and a fire extinguisher was fitted with outlets to the fuel pump, inlet pipe and carburetor
. The conventional landing gear
was connected by a one-piece axle and some aircraft were fitted with teardrop-shaped spats covering the wheels. Initially the tailskid was fixed, but later aircraft had smaller skids that moved in concert with the rudder
. Rubber rings were used as shock absorbers on the landing gear.
The wings were built with two spar
s. The upper wing was made in three parts, with the middle section being of duralumin and the outer ones being made of wood. The wooden lower wings were built in single sections, using a Göttingen-436 profile. The duralumin N-type struts
that separated the wings, and attached the upper wing to the fuselage, had a teardrop profile and were reinforced with steel bracing wires. Laced lacquered fabric
covered the empennage
and wings, except for the roots of the lower wings which were covered in plywood
and the leading edges of the wings were skinned in duralumin for the first 150 cm (59 in). Aileron
s were fitted only to the upper wing. All movable control surfaces and the tail section were built with doped fabric over metal framing. Bracing wires above and below the tail were fitted on the prototypes, but production aircraft replaced the lower wires with a strut on each side. The horizontal tail was offset 3.5 mm (0.137795275590551 in) to port to compensate for the engine's torque
, but it could be adjusted on the ground.
Some early production aircraft had imported Bristol Jupiter VI engines with a metal cowling, but the bulk of the production aircraft used the M-22 license-built copy, both of 480 hp, with a Townend ring
. Early aircraft usually had a fixed-pitch wooden propeller with a diameter of 2.9 metres (9.5 ft), but these were replaced by a 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) duralumin propeller without a spinner that could have its pitch adjusted on the ground.
Two synchronized 7.62 millimetre (0.3 in) PV-1 machine gun
s were fitted in the fuselage with 600 rounds apiece with an OP-1 telescopic sight. It was hoped to fit another pair, but the extra weight adversely affected the aircraft's performance during tests. Two small Der-5 underwing bomb racks were fitted that could carry one 10 kilograms (22 lb) bomb apiece. Beam-type bomb racks were evaluated on the I-5 that could carry a pair of 250 kilograms (551 lb) bombs, but these had such adverse effects on its performance that they were rejected for service use. One of the tests with these racks had the aircraft diving down upon the target; the first example of dive bombing
in the Soviet Union. The I-5 was also used to evaluate the accuracy of the RS-82 rocket
, although they are not known to have been used by the aircraft in service.
I-5s called up during the emergency in 1941 were converted for use as fighter-bomber
s by adding two more machine guns, and some aircraft were fitted with the heavy bombs that had been rejected earlier. The ground-attack version is sometimes referred to as the I-5LSh.
Test pilot Mark Gallai described the flying qualities of the I-5 thus: "After flying it I was convinced that the I-5 is quite a handful, a capricious aircraft. However, if you are careful with the controls and do not offend the machine with rough actions, it will not depart controlled flight."
began deliveries the following year. It delivered ten in 1932, 321 in 1933 and 330 in 1934. Zavod Nr. 1 delivered 76 in 1932 before beginning production of the Heinkel HD 37 as the I-7. The I-5 was first delivered to units in the Leningrad
, Ukraine
and Transbaikal Military District
s and comprised 20% of the VVS's fighter force by the end of 1932. During 1933 deliveries began to units in the Far Eastern
, Belorussian
and Moscow Military District
s and they comprised 40% of the fighter strength by the end of the year. By the end of 1934 most of the Polikarpov I-3
s and Tupolev I-4
s had been replaced and deliveries had begun to Naval Aviation
. The I-5 began to be replaced by the Polikarpov I-15
in 1936, and was completely phased out from front-line use by the end of 1937, but continued to be employed as an advanced trainer.
Following the German Invasion of the Soviet Union
in June 1941, the heavy losses of front-line aircraft endured by the VVS together with the disruption of aircraft production resulted in I-5s being removed from training units and returned to combat service as ground-attack aircraft or night bombers until early 1942. Some I-5s were used by the 605th and 606th Fighter Regiments (Istrebitel'nyye Aviatsionyye Polki (IAP)) during the defence of Moscow
as night bombers until re-equipping in February 1942. The 2nd Ground Attack Regiment (Shturmovoy Aviatsionyye Polki (ShAP)) was raised in September 1941 in the Crimea from reservists and the Kachin Flying School. By 10 October thirty-two I-5s were on hand, although attrition had reduced them to sixteen serviceable. They were down to a total of a dozen aircraft by 18 October. They served until 1 February 1942 when the regiment was withdrawn for conversion to Ilyushin Il-2
s and redesignated as the 766th ShAP. The 11th ShAP was raised by the Air Force of the Black Sea Fleet on 22 September 1941. On 18 October it mustered eighteen serviceable and fifteen unserviceable I-5s, although this was reduced to eleven serviceable and eight unserviceable aircraft by 7 November. It kept the I-5s in service until 1 February 1942 when the regiment was reorganized.
where a Tupolev TB-3
heavy bomber
carried three I-5s as parasite fighters. One I-5 was carried was on each wing and a third over the fuselage. Ramps were used to get the wing-mounted aircraft to their places, but the fuselage-mounted aircraft had to be lifted by hand. This was so cumbersome that they were generally used solely as an extra powerplant for the TB-3 later in the program. The aircraft used in these trials used the longer landing gear with smaller tires originally used in the prototypes.
A two-seat conversion trainer, designated the I-5UTI (Uchebno-Trenirovochnyy Istrebitel—Fighter Trainer), was built by one of the factories. Only about twenty are believed to have been built. The cockpit was moved back and a second one inserted in front of it.
Polikarpov
Polikarpov Design Bureau was a Soviet OKB for aircraft, led by Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov. After his death on 30 July 1944 at the age of 52, his OKB was absorbed into Lavochkin, but with some of its engineers going to Mikoyan-Gurevich and its production facilities going to Sukhoi...
I-5 was a single-seat biplane
Biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...
which became the primary Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
fighter
Fighter aircraft
A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...
between its introduction in 1931 through 1936, after which it became the standard advanced trainer. Following Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, which destroyed much of the Soviet Air Forces (VVS), surviving I-5s were equipped with four machine guns and bomb racks and pressed into service as light ground-attack aircraft and night bombers in 1941. They were retired in early 1942 as Soviet aircraft production began to recover and modern ground-attack aircraft like the Ilyushin Il-2
Ilyushin Il-2
The Ilyushin Il-2 was a ground-attack aircraft in the Second World War, produced by the Soviet Union in very large numbers...
became available.
Development
The 1928 Five-Year Plan ordered the TupolevTupolev
Tupolev is a Russian aerospace and defence company, headquartered in Basmanny District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. Known officially as Public Stock Company Tupolev, it is the successor of the Tupolev OKB or Tupolev Design Bureau headed by the Soviet aerospace engineer A.N. Tupolev...
design bureau to develop a mixed-construction (metal and wood/fabric) biplane fighter powered by a Bristol Jupiter
Bristol Jupiter
The Bristol Jupiter was a British nine-cylinder single-row piston radial engine built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Originally designed late in World War I and known as the Cosmos Jupiter, a lengthy series of upgrades and developments turned it into one of the finest engines of its era.The...
VII engine with the first prototype completed by 1 September 1929. The new fighter was designated I-5 (Istrebitel—Fighter), but had the internal Tupolev designation of ANT-12. Concurrently, Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov
Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov
Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov was a Soviet aeronautical engineer and aircraft designer, known as "King of Fighters". He designed the I-15 series of fighters, and the I-16 Ishak "Little Donkey" fighter....
's group was tasked with creating a wood-construction aircraft designated as the Polikarpov I-6
Polikarpov I-6
|-See also:-Bibliography:...
to the same specification. The I-5 design, begun by Pavel Sukhoi
Pavel Sukhoi
Pavel Osipovich Sukhoi was a Soviet aerospace engineer. He designed the Sukhoi military aircraft and founded the Sukhoi Design Bureau. -Biography:...
, under the supervision of Andrei Tupolev
Andrei Tupolev
Andrei Nikolayevich Tupolev was a pioneering Soviet aircraft designer.During his career, he designed and oversaw the design of more than 100 types of aircraft, some of which set 78 world records...
, lagged because the Tupolev bureau was preoccupied with large bombers. As the result the I-5 and I-6 projects were unified in 1929 under Polikarpov's leadership, although neither project met its specified completion date.
Nikolai Polikarpov was arrested by the OGPU
State Political Directorate
The State Political Directorate was the secret police of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1934...
in September 1929 for the crime of industrial sabotage for these failures and sentenced to death, although this was commuted to ten years imprisonment in a labor camp. In December 1929 the OGPU gathered a number of aircraft engineers together at Butyrka prison
Butyrka prison
Butyrka prison was the central transit prison in pre-Revolutionary Russia, located in Moscow.The first references to Butyrka prison may be traced back to the 17th century. The present prison building was erected in 1879 near the Butyrsk gate on the site of a prison-fortress which had been built...
, including Polikarpov, and formed the Internal Prison Design Bureau (Konstruktorskoye Byuro Vnutrenniya Tyurma—KB VT) under the leadership of Dmitry Pavlovich Grigorovich
Dmitry Pavlovich Grigorovich
Dmitry Pavlovich Grigorovich, in Russian: Дмитрий Павлович Григорович, was a Russian/Soviet aircraft designer of a number of planes under the Grigorovich name....
. The KB VT was transferred to quarters on the grounds of Factory (Zavod) Nr. 30 in Moscow-Khodinka in early 1930. Shortly afterwards Polkarpov replaced Grigorovich as the head designer when his concept for the I-5 was approved by the OGPU. The full-scale mock-up was approved on 28 March 1930 and the first prototype, designated VT-11 (Vnutrenniya Tyurma—Internal Prison), was completed a month later.
It made its first flight on 30 April 1930 and was fitted with an imported supercharged 450 hp Jupiter VII. It was painted in silver with a red cheat line; a red "VT" was superimposed on the red star on the rudder. The second prototype, known as the VT-12, had a Jupiter VI engine, and took to the air on 22 May, bearing the name "Klim Voroshilov." The two prototypes also differed in minor details regarding the shape of the tail and the construction of the landing gear. All this meant a slight difference in weight and performance between the two prototypes was present, with the second being slightly heavier and faster, while the first had a slight range advantage and a higher service ceiling. The third prototype, designated as the VT-13 and inscribed with "A Gift for the XVIth Congress of the Party", was powered by a 600 hp Soviet-built M-15 engine with a NACA cowling
NACA cowling
The NACA cowling is a type of aerodynamic fairing used to streamline radial engines for use on airplanes and developed by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 1927...
, but this proved to be unreliable and was not put into production.
The second prototype passed its State acceptance trials on 13 August 1931 and was ordered into production a month later on 13 September. One problem noted during the trials was a tendency to make an uncontrolled 180° turn when landing in light winds. Shortening the landing gear by 15 cm (5.9 in) and moving them 12 cm (4.7 in) cured the problem. The engineer who suggest the change was awarded the Order of the Red Star
Order of the Red Star
Established on 6 April 1930, the Order of the Red Star was an order of the Soviet Union, given to Red Army and Soviet Navy personnel for "exceptional service in the cause of the defense of the Soviet Union in both war and peace". It was established by Resolution of the Presidium of the CEC of the...
for his ingenuity. Ten pre-production aircraft had already been ordered and they were assembled between August and October. They all had imported engines fitted, but trialled various small improvements for the production aircraft that included cooling vents for the crankcase, introduction of a pitot tube
Pitot tube
A pitot tube is a pressure measurement instrument used to measure fluid flow velocity. The pitot tube was invented by the French engineer Henri Pitot Ulo in the early 18th century and was modified to its modern form in the mid-19th century by French scientist Henry Darcy...
and static vent in the starboard upper wing, a faired headrest for the pilot, and a metal propeller
Propeller (aircraft)
Aircraft propellers or airscrews convert rotary motion from piston engines or turboprops to provide propulsive force. They may be fixed or variable pitch. Early aircraft propellers were carved by hand from solid or laminated wood with later propellers being constructed from metal...
whose pitch
Blade pitch
Blade pitch or simply pitch refers to turning the angle of attack of the blades of a propeller or helicopter rotor into or out of the wind to control the production or absorption of power. Wind turbines use this to adjust the rotation speed and the generated power...
could be adjusted on the ground.
Design
The I-5 was a single-seat biplane with staggered wings in a sesquiplane configuration with fixed landing gear and a tailskid. The aircraft was of mixed construction, with the fuselage being made of a framework of welded steel tubes covered by a fabric skin over the rear fuselage, with the front fuselage section being covered by detachable duraluminDuralumin
Duralumin is the trade name of one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium alloys. The main alloying constituents are copper, manganese, and magnesium. A commonly used modern equivalent of this alloy type is AA2024, which contains 4.4% copper, 1.5% magnesium, 0.6% manganese and 93.5%...
panels as far back as the rear of the cockpit
Cockpit
A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft. Most modern cockpits are enclosed, except on some small aircraft, and cockpits on large airliners are also physically separated from the cabin...
. There were also detachable panels allowing easy access to the tailskid shock absorber. The fabric skin was laced for tightness and the seams were covered with calico. A fireproof bulkhead separated the 165 litres (349 US pt) fuel tank from the engine and a fire extinguisher was fitted with outlets to the fuel pump, inlet pipe and carburetor
Carburetor
A carburetor , carburettor, or carburetter is a device that blends air and fuel for an internal combustion engine. It is sometimes shortened to carb in North America and the United Kingdom....
. The conventional landing gear
Conventional landing gear
thumb|The [[Piper PA-18|Piper Super Cub]] is a popular taildragger aircraft.thumb|right|A [[Cessna 150]] converted to taildragger configuration by installation of an after-market modification kit....
was connected by a one-piece axle and some aircraft were fitted with teardrop-shaped spats covering the wheels. Initially the tailskid was fixed, but later aircraft had smaller skids that moved in concert with the rudder
Rudder
A rudder is a device used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft or other conveyance that moves through a medium . On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw and p-factor and is not the primary control used to turn the airplane...
. Rubber rings were used as shock absorbers on the landing gear.
The wings were built with two spar
Spar (aviation)
In a fixed-wing aircraft, the spar is often the main structural member of the wing, running spanwise at right angles to the fuselage. The spar carries flight loads and the weight of the wings whilst on the ground...
s. The upper wing was made in three parts, with the middle section being of duralumin and the outer ones being made of wood. The wooden lower wings were built in single sections, using a Göttingen-436 profile. The duralumin N-type struts
Interplane strut
An interplane strut is an aircraft airframe component designed to transmit lift and landing loads between wing panels on biplanes and other aircraft with multi-wing designs. They also maintain the correct angle of incidence for the connected wing panels and are often braced with wires...
that separated the wings, and attached the upper wing to the fuselage, had a teardrop profile and were reinforced with steel bracing wires. Laced lacquered fabric
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
covered the empennage
Empennage
The empennage , also known as the tail or tail assembly, of most aircraft gives stability to the aircraft, in a similar way to the feathers on an arrow...
and wings, except for the roots of the lower wings which were covered in plywood
Plywood
Plywood is a type of manufactured timber made from thin sheets of wood veneer. It is one of the most widely used wood products. It is flexible, inexpensive, workable, re-usable, and can usually be locally manufactured...
and the leading edges of the wings were skinned in duralumin for the first 150 cm (59 in). Aileron
Aileron
Ailerons are hinged flight control surfaces attached to the trailing edge of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. The ailerons are used to control the aircraft in roll, which results in a change in heading due to the tilting of the lift vector...
s were fitted only to the upper wing. All movable control surfaces and the tail section were built with doped fabric over metal framing. Bracing wires above and below the tail were fitted on the prototypes, but production aircraft replaced the lower wires with a strut on each side. The horizontal tail was offset 3.5 mm (0.137795275590551 in) to port to compensate for the engine's torque
Torque
Torque, moment or moment of force , is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis, fulcrum, or pivot. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist....
, but it could be adjusted on the ground.
Some early production aircraft had imported Bristol Jupiter VI engines with a metal cowling, but the bulk of the production aircraft used the M-22 license-built copy, both of 480 hp, with a Townend ring
Townend ring
A Townend Ring is a narrow-chord cowling ring fitted around the cylinders of an aircraft radial engine to reduce drag and improve cooling.-Development:...
. Early aircraft usually had a fixed-pitch wooden propeller with a diameter of 2.9 metres (9.5 ft), but these were replaced by a 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) duralumin propeller without a spinner that could have its pitch adjusted on the ground.
Two synchronized 7.62 millimetre (0.3 in) PV-1 machine gun
PV-1 machine gun
PV-1 is an air-cooled version of the Maxim machine gun for mounting on aircraft....
s were fitted in the fuselage with 600 rounds apiece with an OP-1 telescopic sight. It was hoped to fit another pair, but the extra weight adversely affected the aircraft's performance during tests. Two small Der-5 underwing bomb racks were fitted that could carry one 10 kilograms (22 lb) bomb apiece. Beam-type bomb racks were evaluated on the I-5 that could carry a pair of 250 kilograms (551 lb) bombs, but these had such adverse effects on its performance that they were rejected for service use. One of the tests with these racks had the aircraft diving down upon the target; the first example of dive bombing
Dive bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target reduces the distance the bomb has to fall, which is the primary factor in determining the accuracy of the drop...
in the Soviet Union. The I-5 was also used to evaluate the accuracy of the RS-82 rocket
RS-82 rocket
RS-82 and RS-132 were unguided rockets used by Soviet military aircraft in World War II.-Development:...
, although they are not known to have been used by the aircraft in service.
I-5s called up during the emergency in 1941 were converted for use as fighter-bomber
Fighter-bomber
A fighter-bomber is a fixed-wing aircraft with an intended primary role of light tactical bombing and also incorporating certain performance characteristics of a fighter aircraft. This term, although still used, has less significance since the introduction of rockets and guided missiles into aerial...
s by adding two more machine guns, and some aircraft were fitted with the heavy bombs that had been rejected earlier. The ground-attack version is sometimes referred to as the I-5LSh.
Test pilot Mark Gallai described the flying qualities of the I-5 thus: "After flying it I was convinced that the I-5 is quite a handful, a capricious aircraft. However, if you are careful with the controls and do not offend the machine with rough actions, it will not depart controlled flight."
Operational history
54 I-5s were delivered to the VVS by 1 October 1931, and 66 by the end of the year. These were all aircraft from Zavod Nr. 1 at Khodinka, but Zavod Nr. 21 in GorkiiNizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...
began deliveries the following year. It delivered ten in 1932, 321 in 1933 and 330 in 1934. Zavod Nr. 1 delivered 76 in 1932 before beginning production of the Heinkel HD 37 as the I-7. The I-5 was first delivered to units in the Leningrad
Leningrad Military District
The Leningrad Military District was a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern Fleet and the Baltic Fleet to form the new Western Military District.-History:...
, Ukraine
Kiev Military District
The Kiev Military District was a Russian unit of military-administrative division of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Ukrainian Army, RKKA, and Soviet Armed Forces...
and Transbaikal Military District
Transbaikal Military District
The Transbaikal Military District was a military district of first the Military of the Soviet Union and then the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formed on May 17, 1935 and included the Buryat Republic, Chita Oblast, and Yakutia. Chita was the headquarters of the district...
s and comprised 20% of the VVS's fighter force by the end of 1932. During 1933 deliveries began to units in the Far Eastern
Far Eastern Military District
The Far Eastern Military District was a military district of the Russian Ground Forces. In 2010 it was merged with the Pacific Fleet and part of the Siberian Military District to form the new Eastern Military District....
, Belorussian
Belorussian Military District
The Byelorussian Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces. Originally in the times of Russian Civil War it formed as the Western Front, and in April 1924 it was renamed to the Western Military District. In October 1926 it was redesignated the Belorussian Military...
and Moscow Military District
Moscow Military District
The Moscow Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Leningrad Military District, the Northern Fleet and the Baltic Fleet to form the new Western Military District.-History:In the beginning of...
s and they comprised 40% of the fighter strength by the end of the year. By the end of 1934 most of the Polikarpov I-3
Polikarpov I-3
-Bibliography:...
s and Tupolev I-4
Tupolev I-4
-External links:*http://www.aviation.ru/Tu/#ANT-5...
s had been replaced and deliveries had begun to Naval Aviation
Soviet Naval Aviation
Soviet Naval Aviation was a part of the Soviet Navy.- Origins :...
. The I-5 began to be replaced by the Polikarpov I-15
Polikarpov I-15
The Polikarpov I-15 was a Soviet biplane fighter aircraft of the 1930s. Nicknamed Chaika because of its gulled upper wings, it was operated in large numbers by the Soviet Air Force, and together with the Polikarpov I-16 monoplane, was one of the standard fighters of the Spanish Republicans during...
in 1936, and was completely phased out from front-line use by the end of 1937, but continued to be employed as an advanced trainer.
Following the German Invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
in June 1941, the heavy losses of front-line aircraft endured by the VVS together with the disruption of aircraft production resulted in I-5s being removed from training units and returned to combat service as ground-attack aircraft or night bombers until early 1942. Some I-5s were used by the 605th and 606th Fighter Regiments (Istrebitel'nyye Aviatsionyye Polki (IAP)) during the defence of Moscow
Battle of Moscow
The Battle of Moscow is the name given by Soviet historians to two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated Hitler's attack on Moscow, capital of...
as night bombers until re-equipping in February 1942. The 2nd Ground Attack Regiment (Shturmovoy Aviatsionyye Polki (ShAP)) was raised in September 1941 in the Crimea from reservists and the Kachin Flying School. By 10 October thirty-two I-5s were on hand, although attrition had reduced them to sixteen serviceable. They were down to a total of a dozen aircraft by 18 October. They served until 1 February 1942 when the regiment was withdrawn for conversion to Ilyushin Il-2
Ilyushin Il-2
The Ilyushin Il-2 was a ground-attack aircraft in the Second World War, produced by the Soviet Union in very large numbers...
s and redesignated as the 766th ShAP. The 11th ShAP was raised by the Air Force of the Black Sea Fleet on 22 September 1941. On 18 October it mustered eighteen serviceable and fifteen unserviceable I-5s, although this was reduced to eleven serviceable and eight unserviceable aircraft by 7 November. It kept the I-5s in service until 1 February 1942 when the regiment was reorganized.
Variants
The I-5 was involved in tests of the Zveno projectZveno project
Zveno was a parasite aircraft concept developed in the Soviet Union during the 1930s. It consisted of a Tupolev TB-1 or a Tupolev TB-3 heavy bomber acting as a mothership for between two and five fighters...
where a Tupolev TB-3
Tupolev TB-3
The Tupolev TB-3 was a heavy bomber aircraft which was deployed by the Soviet Air Force in the 1930s and during World War II. It was the world's first cantilever wing four-engine heavy bomber. Despite obsolescence and being officially withdrawn from service in 1939, TB-3 performed bomber and...
heavy bomber
Heavy bomber
A heavy bomber is a bomber aircraft of the largest size and load carrying capacity, and usually the longest range.In New START, the term "heavy bomber" is used for two types of bombers:*one with a range greater than 8,000 kilometers...
carried three I-5s as parasite fighters. One I-5 was carried was on each wing and a third over the fuselage. Ramps were used to get the wing-mounted aircraft to their places, but the fuselage-mounted aircraft had to be lifted by hand. This was so cumbersome that they were generally used solely as an extra powerplant for the TB-3 later in the program. The aircraft used in these trials used the longer landing gear with smaller tires originally used in the prototypes.
A two-seat conversion trainer, designated the I-5UTI (Uchebno-Trenirovochnyy Istrebitel—Fighter Trainer), was built by one of the factories. Only about twenty are believed to have been built. The cockpit was moved back and a second one inserted in front of it.
Specifications
See also
Further reading
- Abanshin, Michael E. and Gut, Nina. Fighting Polikarpov, Eagles of the East No. 2. Lynnwood, WA: Aviation International, 1994. ISBN 1-884909-01-9
- Ede, Paul and Moeng, Soph (gen. editors) The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft ISBN 1-85605-705-4
- Gordon, Yefim and Khazanov, Dmitri. Soviet Combat Aircraft of the Second World War, Volume One: Single-Engined Fighters. Earl Shilton, Leicester, UK: Midland Publishing Ltd., 1998. ISBN 1-85780-083-4
- Green, William and Swanborough, Gordon. The Complete Book of Fighters. New York: Smithmark Publishers, 1994. ISBN 0-8317-3939-8.
- Gunston, BillBill GunstonBill Gunston OBE FRAeS is one of the most internationally respected and published aviation and military authors. He flew with Britain's Royal Air Force from 1943 to 1948, and is a flying instructor. He has spent most of his adult life doing research and writing on aircraft and aviation. He is the...
. The Osprey Encyclopaedia of Russian Aircraft 1875–1995. London, Osprey, 1995 ISBN 1-85532-405-9 - Léonard, Herbert. Les avions de chasse Polikarpov. Rennes, France: Editions Ouest-France, 1981. ISBN 2-85882-322-7 (French)
- Stapfer, Hans-Heiri. Polikarpov Fighters in Action, Part 1 (Aircraft in Action number 157). Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal Publications, Inc., 1995. ISBN 0-89747-343-4