Polikarpov I-16 Type 10 Super Mosca the Spanish Republican Air F
Ark Models 48020

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. The I-16 Type 5 was equipped with two 7.62 mm "ShKAS" machine guns. Combat experience of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) showed that the power of the fire of them is no longer sufficient for modern air combat. This has led to the next modification - the I-16 Type 10, which became the most numerous variant of the I-16 fighter: four "ShKAS" machine guns (two synchronized in the fuselage and two in the wings) and the more powerful Shvetsov M-25V engine (550 kW = 750 hp). At the end of March 1938 the first batch of the I-16 Type 10 arrived in Spain, where the new fighter was given the name "Super Mosca" ("Super Fly").