[烛光生存狂]-西班牙内战中的I-153

Did the Soviet Polikarpov I-153 biplane fighter see action in Spain in the waning months of the civil war, joining over 250 other different types of aircraft that served in that bloodiest of conflicts? Although hardly of major historical import, the question has nevertheless been raised and debated by aviation researchers and historians on more than one occasion since the end of the war in 1939. Based primarily on the publication of illustrations depicting this aircraft in supposedly authentic Republican markings, along with mention of its use in Spain in various articles and books, the supposition's validity has been in doubt due to a lack of suitable photo and text documentation.

苏联的波利卡尔波夫I－153双翼战斗机曾经在西班牙内战期间，在那些血腥的冲突中作为交战双方的总型号超过250种的飞机的一种参加过战斗吗？

With the publication of Volume 1 of Justo Miranda's and Paula Mercado's exemplary work on Spanish civil war aircraft, AVIACION MUNDIAL EN ESPANA 1936-1939, the question has been raised once again. (1) Published in 1985 and subtitled "Aviones Americanos y Rusos," this first volume of a planned 7 volume series, devotes 6 pages to the I-153 "Chaika," with 3 pages of drawings in 1/72 scale, showing various details of the aircraft, plus a 3-view tone drawing illustrating the craft in a Republican color scheme.

Inspired by an illustration attributed to a Keith Ward, supposedly published in the bulletin of the AAHS, which was, in turn, based on information supplied by another AAHS member, Clark Macomber, the authors believe that Ward would have required at least two photographs to supply sufficient detail on which to base the illustration and its color scheme. (2) Without doubting the existence of such photos, they nevertheless feel the scheme is an unlikely one and the code number on the rudder inappropriate for a Republican aircraft in 1938. (3) Despite their reservations, the husband and wife team of Miranda and Mercado believes that it was possible for the I-153 (or its pre-production prototypes) to have been in Spain during the final months of 1938, briefly engaging in combat before returning to the Soviet Union.

The question of the I-153's role in the civil war may have first arisen in 1961 when William Green, the well-known British aviation historian, affirmed its presence in Spanish skies in Volume 3 of his series, WAR PLANES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR, although later published articles on Polikarpov fighters (in 1971 and 1980) by the same author omitted any such statement. Whether this was a deliberate omission based on the author's subsequent inability to find suitable documentary evidence or a simple oversight, it did little to lay the matter to rest and speculation has continued regarding the use of this third variation of the I-15 "Chato," which had been in Spain since October of 1936, when Russian personnel and equipment, including the more modern I-16, began to arrive in sizeable quantities. The Spanish aviation historian, Salvador Rello, also claimed that the I-153 was in Spain in the final months of the war, with the total number not exceeding 10 aircraft. (4) More recently, French author Herbert Leonard, in his little volume on Polikarpov fighters, mentions a "handful" of I-153s, when summing up the total of Polikarpov fighters sent to Spain during those fateful years. (5)

Over 380 I-15 "Chatos" were used by the FARE (Fuerza Aerea de la Republica Española) during the civil war, comprising the major part of the republic's fighter force. The initial evaluation of its combat performance revealed, that despite a creditable performance against Nationalist fighter aircraft, such as the Italian Fiat CR32 and the German Heinkel He51, it still lacked sufficient speed and altitude performance to do much more than cope with such competition. Athough possessing excellent maneuverability, the I-15 frequently came off second best, especially when pitted against the new Messerschmitt Bf109 that began to arrive in Spain in the spring of 1937. Its mediocre combat performance against the new German monoplane was viewed with dismay in the Soviet Union, where performance appraisals and critiques were carried out on a continuing basis as action reports from Soviet fighter commanders in Spain were received and evaluated. (6)

Although a trend toward more modern monoplane fighter aircraft was certainly well established within the Soviet Union, as evidenced by the development and production of the I-16, many traditionalists still favored the superior maneuverability of the biplane and pushed for improved versions of the gull-winged I-15 almost as soon as it began to enter squadron service with the Soviet air force in 1934. (7) Polikarpov and his associates aggressively took up the challenge and the resulting I-152 (or I-15bis) corrected some of the original's more obvious deficiencies. The poor pilot visibiity occasioned by the gull-wing configuration was somewhat improved by a more conventional cabane strut mounted upper wing with a new, more efficient airfoil section. The powerful 750 hp. Shvetsov M-25V radial engine, with an aerodynamically improved cowling, replaced the I-15's 635 hp. M-25, a license-built version of the American Wright Cyclone. A fixed landing gear capable of mounting skis or spats and some minor structural changes essentially completed this modification. However, when all was said and done, only a modest improvement in performance was achieved, with maximum speed increased to 385 km/hr. at 3000 meters, from the I-15's 360 km/hr. at the same altitude. The maximum altitude remained at 9000 meters, essentially the same for both aircraft.

The I-152's first combat operations were flown against the Japanese over Nanking in the latter part of 1937; approximately 200 aircraft having been supplied to the Nationalist Chinese government by the Soviet Union. An additional quantity was assigned to Spain, some 31 aircraft reaching Barcelona by sea late in 1938, with approximately 64 others intercepted while enroute via rail and interned in France until the end of the war when most were returned to the Soviet Union still in shipping crates. Some sources aver that 2 squadrons were in operation before the end of 1938, but it is more generally believed that 3 squadrons of these "Super Chatos" formally entered Republican service in January 1939, receiving the code "CC," which had originally been assigned to the early Soviet-built I-15s. Details of the brief combat career of the I-152 in Spain remain obscure, but it was most likely devoted to ground attack missions.

Soviet assessment of combat operations against the Japanese in China revealed that the I-152 was still lacking the performance necessary to successfully compete against modern monoplane fighter designs and the decision to pursue yet a third version was made early in 1938. It was quickly determined that a retractable undercarriage was necessary, along with a return to the gull wing configuration, although the advanced airfoil section selected for the I-152 was retained. The potent 1000 hp. M-62 radial replaced the I-152's 750 hp. M-25V and overall performance was notably improved. Top speed at 4600 meters was now 444 km/hr., with a maximum ceiling of 10,700 meters, along with an increased radius of action; performance features that now compared favoraby with contemporary monoplane fighters, such as the I-16 and Bf109. The new I-15ter or I-153, resembled the original I-15 to a remarkable degree and from a distance, with the landing gear down, it would have been quite easy to confuse the two.

In the autumn of 1938, the bloody Battle of the Ebro was reaching its critical phase and the fate of Republican Spain was now hanging in the balance. After active participation for almost two years, the Soviet Union had essentially written off its Spanish adventure as a lost cause and was then withdrawing its air force personnel, albeit leaving most of their aircraft b

新用户注册返回首页
首页上一页下一页尾页页次1/1 转到第页