FSX – Polikarpov I-16 Ishak FHC

FSX – Polikarpov I-16 Ishak FHC. The Polikarpov I-16 was a Soviet fighter aircraft of revolutionary design; it was the world’s first low-wing cantilever monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear to have attained operational status and as such “introduced a new vogue in fighter design.” This little fighter, introduced in the mid 1930’s was one of the mainstay fighters of the Soviet Union at the beginning of WWII, and fought on both sides of the Spanish Civil War. This texture represents one of 6 aircraft restored in teh late 1990’s and shipped to New Zealand. It now resides at the Flying Heritage Collection, in Everett, Washington, owned by Microsoft Co-founder, Paul Allen. The pictures of this aircraft online often show a green cowl, however, when I saw it in 2011, the cowl was black, as a few internet images still show, so that is how I chose to portray Red 4.

By Mark Powell

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