Polikarpov I-16 Type 24 Russian fighter. Ace Boris Safonov
Ark Models 48033

Dimensions: 127 (length) * 188 (wingspan)
No. of parts: 76

The Polikarpov I-16 fighter was among the world’s best high-speed fighters in the second half of the 1930s. The I-16 was the mainstay of the aircraft fleet of the Red Army’s Air Force in the run-up to the Great Patriotic War. After the I-16 Type 18, the next step for the plant became the aircraft with a more powerful engine - the I-16 Type 24: the Shvetsov M-63 engine with 660 kW (900 hp) and four "ShKAS" machine guns (two synchronized in the fuselage and two in the wings).

Boris Feoktistovich Safonov was an ace of the Naval Air Arm of the Northern Fleet of the Soviet Navy, who was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union twice. When the Nazis invaded, Boris Safonov was a squadron leader in the 72nd Air Regiment of the Northern Fleet. He made 109 sorties on I-16 fighters and shot down 17 enemy aircraft. Lt.-Col. B. F. Safonov was killed in action on his 234th sortie on 30 May 1942 while providing air cover for the Allied convoy PQ-16 en route to Murmansk. He shot down 20 Luftwaffe aircraft personally and five as part of a package.