Owing much to a line of light cabin monoplanes and advanced trainers, the I-16, designed by Karlis Irbitis and built as a single prototype by the Valsts Elektrotechniska Fabrika (State Electro-Technical Factory) at Riga, was a single-seat lightweight fighter. Of wooden construction with plywood skinning and a fixed, faired undercarriage, the I-16 was powered by a 454hp Walter Sagitta I-SR 12-cylinder inverted-Vee engine. It carried an armament of two 7.9mm fuselage-mounted machine guns which could be augmented by two wing-mounted 20mm cannon. The success of initial flight testing of the I-16 in 1939 prompted the Latvian authorities to order prototypes of the heavier and more powerful I-19 air superiority fighter, but this was still on the drawing boards when Latvia was occupied by Soviet forces on 17 June 1940. The sole prototype of the I-16 was subsequently flown in Soviet markings which gave place to Luftwaffe markings when the Wehrmacht advanced into Latvia during the following year.

3-View

A three-view drawing (1647 x 1110)