Polikarpov I-15, I-16 and I-153 Aces

AIRCRAFT OF THE ACES Series, book No 95: Polikarpov I-15, I-16 and I-153 Aces

From the heat of Spain to the frozen wastelands of Finland, this book reveals the combat stories of the pilots who flew the Polikarpov fighters from 1936 until the end of World War II.

The I-15, I-16 and I-153 fighters were the world's first mass-produced fighters. Some 17,000 Polikarpovs had been manufactured by the time production ceased in 1941. They served with the Republicans in the Spain, the Chinese against Japan in 1937–38, and the Soviets against both Japan in the Nomonhan Incident and Finland during the Winter War. By 1941, more than 20 Soviet pilots had made ace in Polikarpovs, and many more attained that status during the first months of the German invasion.

Though thoroughly outclassed, this book shows how the Polikarpov was the backbone of the Soviet air force during the early months of the war in the east, and continued to serve, as training aircraft and as frontline fighters, some right through to 1945.

Contents:

• Introduction
• CHAPTER ONE
  SPANISH CIVIL WAR
• CHAPTER TWO
  SWALLOWS OVER CHINA
• CHAPTER THREE
  KHALKHIN GOL
• CHAPTER FOUR
  WINTER WAR
• CHAPTER FIVE
  GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR
• Appendices
• Colour plates commentary
• Index

Author: Mikhail Maslov

Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Description: 96 pages, Paperback, 248 X 184 mm.

Condition: FINE

Shipping weight: 400 gr