| Dr. Nikholas M. Stage--PHD., sarge_46077(@)yahoo.com, 10.11.2007 This Soviet fighter plane, the I-16, could have WON
the Spanish Civil War (1936-1936) for the Pro-Communist
and Loyalist side of that civil war, if Joseph Stalin
would have understood that 350-to-400 more I-16s, that he had
in his Soviet arsenal, would have "beefed-up" the 140
I-16s already in Spain, being flown by mostly Soviet
"pilot-volunteers".
This little plane, the I-16, was a spunky little fighter,
but it could out-fight Franco's mercenary Italian Air Force pilots and their Fiat-made planes,, and the Soviet I-16s
were more than a match for the new prototype German Me-109
109's being flown by the legendary "volunteer Nazi Condor Legion.
Stalin's own paranoia, and his tight-wad mentality,
did more to totally use up those I-16's, than finally being
exterminated by the Nazi Condor Legion.
However, history did vindicate this plane, as hundreds
of I-16s
fought most of the air battles, for the first 150 days after
Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union in June 22nd, 1941.
There were 29 Soviet air aces that flew against Hitler
in I-16 fighter planes, in the first 120 days of the
4-year war on the Eastern(Russian) Front.
Again, not bad at all.
A good little, but tough, fighter plane, the I-16!! |
