Jari Juvonen'S Home Page / Flyingplastic.net

My model depicts I-153, "White 24", of the 71 IAP, KBF which was Squadron Leader Captain K.V. Solovyov's mount in the summer of 1942 on the Lavansaari Island in the Gulf of Finland. There are photos and good color profile drawings made by Tapani Tuomanen at Massimo Tessitoris - Sovietwarplanes Pages - website. I painted my model along Tapani Tuomanen's color profiles because I consider them much better examined than kit's painting instructions are. For the first time I used AKAN's water diluted paints which proved to be good. Colors looked quite dark so I tinted AII Green and AII Light Blue with white paint a little.

On my model I used kit's own and Aeromaster decals. Kit's decals were good quality and settled down well with Microsol. I noticed that ICM fuselage stars were too small for the "White 24" compared to Tapani Tuomanen's profile drawings. Measured from aisle tip to aisle tip they were 17,5 mm compared to Aeromaster stars which were 20 mm. So I used Aeromaster stars on the fuselage on my model.

The kit includes painting guides and decals for four planes:

1. Soviet air force's 70th IAP (Fighter Regiment) plane "Red 26" on Khalhin-Gol in August 1939. Painted with Silver/ AE-9 Light Gray/ Green.

2. Soviet air force's 15th IAP (Fighter Regiment) plane "Red 28" on Lithuania in June 1941. Painted with Silver/ AE-9 Light Gray.

3. Nord Fleet Air Force's 72d SAP (Mixed Regiment) plane "Red 6" on Vaenga in 1941. Painted with AII Green (or AII Light Green?) / AII Light Blue.

4. Baltic Fleet Air Force's 71st IAP (Fighter Regiment) plane "White 24" on Lavansaari island in summer 1942. Painted with AII green / AMT-6 Black / AII Light Blue.

Kit's painting guide has few faults. In the guide plane n:o 1 is painted with silver/green dots and plane n:o 2 is painted all around in silver. Soviet VVS painting instructions for I-153 planes until 1940 ordered all fabric covered surfaces to be painted with silver and all metal surfaces (eg. engine covers, front fuselage metal panels and all other metal panels of the plane) with light gray AE-9. Plane n:o 3 is to be painted with AII Green (or AII Light Green?) and AII Light Blue.

Plane n:o 4 "White 24" is painted with AII Green/ AMT-6 Black on upper surfaces and with AII Light Blue on undersides which is right at the date. Kits painting guide differs much from Tapani Tuomanen's color profile drawings at the Massimo Tessitori's website. I painted my model along Tapani Tuomanen's color profiles because I consider them much better examined than the kit's painting instructions.

I painted the cockpit with Light Gray AE-9 (seat, floor, middle part of instrument panel, cockpit's tubular structure). All other inner metal panels were painted with bluish gray A-14 and all inner fabric covered parts with silver AII Aluminium. Fuel tank which is inside the front fuselage and is visible from the wheel well openings is black.

Paints used on the model:

The first figure which indicates sheen level of a color on FS number is dropped off. Ak=Akan, X=XtraColor, LC=LifeColor, HU=Humbrol, R=Revell, WEM=White Ensign Models, Mr Hobby=Mr Hobby Aqueous. (Between brackets alternative paints).

AII Green	FS - 4095 (new)	Akan 73018 (HU150)	Upper sides camouflage
AMT-6 Black	FS - 7038 (faded)	Akan 73043	Upper sides camouflage
AII Light Blue	FS - 5550 (faded)	Akan 73042	Lower sides comouflage
AE-9 Light Gray	FS - 5630	WEM AC S14 (HU147)	Cockpit interior
A-14 Light Bluegrey	FS - 6187	WEM ACS05 (+ valkoista) (Ak A14)	Interior metal parts
Silver	FS -	HU 27001	Interior fabric covered areas
Light bluegrey	FS -	HU 147	Landing gear struts

Conclusion

In the box the kit parts looks quite promising but in a strict examination there can be found lot of faults from here and there. It is possible to build a qood Chaika model out of the kit but it require a lot of work. Luckily the kit main parts are accurate in shape and scale when compared to the scale drawings. Parts fitting is reasonable good but also putty is needed. Fabric covering looks good and panel lines are finely engraved. On the fuselage there are many raised panels in wrong places and many small parts are erroneous. Detailing level of the main components is insufficient and in many cases erroneous. Detailing is missing eg. from the fuselage, wings and rudder. Exhaust pipes are too small, wheel wells are wrong shaped, propeller hub needs to be corrected, windscreen is wrong shaped etc. Luckily none of these faults are not too hard to fix and with a little extra work and with aftermarket goodies it's possible to built a good looking model from the kit. And it's important to remember that the main parts of the kit are accurate in shape and scale. It's also good to remember that this is the best I-153 Chaika kit in 1/48 scale for now despite it's shortcomings.

Hold mouse cursor over a thumbnail for a while before clicking !

Konstantin Vladimirovich Solovyov

Source:

Håkans aviation page: Biplane Fighter Aces from the Second World War
Summary by Jari Juvonen

Konstantin Solovyov was born in 1914 in Gorodishchi, a settlement in the Moscow area. He joined the navy in 1934 and graduated from the Yeysk Military Air School for Naval Pilots. During the Winter War, he took part in the operations over Finland with the Air Force of the Baltic Sea Fleet (KBF). When the Great Patriotic War begun, he was flying Polikarpov I-153s in the 71 IAP-KBF operating over the Gulf of Finland, occasionally flying an aircraft marked ‘24’. (71 IAP-KBF operated mainly from Lavansaari in the Gulf of Finland, note by JJ). During the summer of 1941 this unit undertook many ground attack sorties but was subsequently employed for the night defence of Leningrad in 1942. On 22 September 1941, six I-153s from the 71 IAP-KBF, led by Solovyov, fought with four Ju 88s near Peterhof. Three of the German bombers were claimed shot down, one of them by Solovyov. In October 1941, he was promoted to command an eskadrilya. Solovyov was the first pilot of the 71 IAP-KBF who claimed a victory at night when he shot down a He 111.

On 27 March 1942, Finnish forces invaded Gogland. This resulted in some heavy air combats over the island. In the morning on 28 March, luutnantti Osmo Kauppinen’s five Brewsters of 3/LLv 24 fought against ten Chaikas claiming half of them shot down. It seems that the I-153s were from 71 IAP-KBF. Kapitan Solovyov claimed one individual enemy aircraft (claimed as a Bf 109).

Between 00:30-01:15 on 3 June 1942, four I-153s from the 71 IAP-KBF were up against He 111s raiding Kronstadt. At 01:10, kapitan Solovyov and starshii leitenant Aleksandr Baturin claimed one He 111 from a distance of 500-600m at an altitude of 800m. The burning bomber crashed into Lake Kopenskoe. They also claimed a second shared He 111, which they attacked and shot down near Shepelev lighthouse. It seems that these victories were recorded as one single victory each. Major Vladimir Koreshkov and kapitan Ivan Gorbachev claimed a shared He 111 at an altitude of 1000-800 m and from a distance of 100m, which crashed near Inoniemi. They also shot down a second He 111, which fell at Tyvola.

Between 00:40-02:30 on 8 July, three I-153s and three I-16s from 71 IAP-KBF intercepted enemy bombers attacking torpedo boats near the northern forts of Kronstadt. Kapitan Petr Biskup and kapitan Solovyov attacked and claimed a shared destroyed Ju 88. The ground forces confirmed this claim. It is possible that this claim only was credited to Biskup since he is credited with a single victory in this combat. During the same raid, major Alexander Alekseev claimed an Ju 88, which crashed into forest on Björkö island.

In the summer of 1942, he had flown 417 sorties, 115 of them against ground targets. He had also claimed five victories and three shared. He was then promoted to kapitan and given the leadership of an eskadrilia, having claimed four victories at night during 30 interceptions. He was decorated with the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin on 23 October 1942. On 17 December 1942, he was transferred to the 13 IAP-KBF as deputy commander. Late in 1942, he was promoted to major. He was severely wounded in an air battle on 20 December 1942 but managed to return to base, dying in hospital from his wounds on 27 December. He was buried in Pestovo in the Novgorod region. During the war, he was also decorated with a second Order of Lenin and twice with the Order of the Red Banner.

At the time of his death, Solovyov had claimed 5 and 10 shared victories, all of them while flying Polikarpov I-153s. These victories were claimed during 427 sorties and 65 combats. According to some sources, he was credited with 12 victories but this score probably includes shares.

History

Source:

Wikipedia: Polikarpov I-153 (en)

The Polikarpov I-153 Chaika (Russian Чайка, "Seagull") was a late 1930s Soviet biplane fighter. Developed as an advanced version of the I-15 with a retractable undercarriage, the I-153 fought in the Soviet-Japanese combats in Mongolia and was one of the Soviets' major fighter types in the early years of the Second World War. Three I-153s are still flying.

Design and development:

In 1937, the Polikarpov design bureau carried out studies to improve on the performance of its I-15 and I-15bis biplane fighters without sacrificing manoeuvrability, as Soviet tactical doctrine was based on a mix of high performance monoplane fighters (met by the Polikarpov I-16) and agile biplanes. Early combat experience from the Spanish Civil War had shown that the I-16 had problems dealing with the Fiat CR.32 biplanes used by the Italian forces supporting the Nationalists, which suggested a need to continue the use of biplane fighters, and as a result, Polikarpov's proposals were accepted, and his design bureau was instructed to design a new biplane fighter. Polikarpov assigned the task to the design team led by Aleksei Ya Shcherbakov, who was assisted by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich (who would later set up the MiG design bureau).

The new fighter (designated I-15ter by the design bureau and I-153 by the Soviet Air Forces (VVS) was based closely on the design of the I-15bis, with a stronger structure, but was fitted with a manually retractable undercarriage to reduce drag. It reverted to the "gulled" upper wing of the original I-15 but used the Clark YH aerofoil of the I-15bis. The four 7.62 mm PV-1 machine guns of the I-15bis were replaced by four ShKAS machine guns. While still rifle-calibre weapons, these fired much faster than the PV-1s, (1,800 rounds per minute rather than 750 rounds per minute) giving a much greater weight of fire. The new fighter was to be powered by a Shvetsov M-62 an improved derivative of the Shvetsov M-25 that powered the I-15 and I-15bis with twin superchargers.

The aircraft was of mixed metal and wood construction, with the fuselage structure being based on chromium-molybdenum steel with duralumin skinning on the forward fuselage, and fabric covering on the fuselage aft of the front of the cockpit. The aircraft's wings were made of fabric covered wood, while the tail surfaces were of fabric covered duralumin.[9] The aircraft was fitted with a tailwheel undercarriage, with the mainwheels retracting rearwards, rotating through 90 degrees to lie flat in the wing roots, being actuated by cables operated by a pilot-driven handwheel. The solid rubber tailwheel did not retract, but moved in conjunction with the rudder.[2]

The M-62 was not ready by the time the first prototype was complete, so it was fitted with a 750 hp (560 kW) M-25V engine when it made its maiden flight in August 1938. The first prototype failed factory testing due to numerous defects, but this did not stop production, with the aircraft entering production concurrently with ongoing testing and development. Early production I-153s powered by the M25 engine passed state testing during 1939, despite the loss of one aircraft which disintegrated in a 500 km/h (311 mph) dive. In test flights, the I-153 (M-25) achieved the top speed of 424 km/h (264 mph), service ceiling of 8,700 m (28,500 ft), and required 6 minutes 24 seconds to reach 5,000 m (16,404 ft). This performance was well in excess of that demonstrated by the I-15bis.[2]

During 1939, production switched to a version powered by the originally planned M-62 engine, with an M-62 powered prototype undergoing state testing from 16 June 1939. While speed at sea level was virtually unchanged, the new engine improved performance at altitude. A speed of 443 km/h (275 mph) at 4,600 m (15,100 ft) was recorded, with a service ceiling of 9,800 m (32,100 ft). This performance was disappointing, and caused the aircraft to fail the state acceptance trials, although this did not disrupt production. While it was recognised that the I-153's performance was inadequate, the over-riding requirement was to not disrupt production until more advanced fighters could enter production.

While numerous improvements were proposed, many were too radical to be implemented since the aircraft was already in production. Desperate to improve performance, Polikarpov tested two I-153 with the Shvetsov M-63 engine with 820 kW (1,100 hp). However, the results were disappointing and it was becoming painfully obvious that the biplane airframe was incapable of higher speeds.

One of the rarely mentioned characteristics of the I-153 was its poor performance in a spin. While the Polikarpov I-16 had gained notoriety for entering spins, pilots found it easy to recover from a spin. In contrast, while the I-153 was difficult to spin, once it lost control, recovery was difficult to the point where intentional spinning was forbidden for some time. A spin recovery procedure was eventually developed but, while effective, it required flawless timing and execution.

By the end of production in 1941, a total of 3,437 I-153s were built.

Operational history:

The I-153 first saw combat in 1939 during the Soviet-Japanese Battle of Khalkin Gol in Mongolia. The Japanese Army Air Forces' Type 97 Fighter (Nakajima Ki-27) Nate proved a formidable opponent for the I-15bis and I-16, but was more evenly matched with the I-153, which retained agility inherent to biplanes while featuring improved performance.[12] While the overall I-153 performance was satisfactory, some significant problems were revealed. Most troublesome was the absence of a firewall between the fuel tank mounted in front of the cockpit and the pilot. Combined with strong draft coming in through the wheel wells, fuel tank fires invariably resulted in rapid engulfment of the cockpit and severe burns to the pilot. In addition, the M-62 engine suffered from a service life of only 60–80 hours due to failures of the two-speed supercharger.

The Polikarpov I-153 Chaika never flew with any Spanish Air Force units during or after the Spanish Civil War. Two earlier variants of this aircraft, the I-15 and the I-15bis, did fly with the Republican Air Force during the conflict and, later, captured examples of both types were used by the Fuerzas Aéreas till the early 1950s.

Variants:

While attempts to improve performance proved largely fruitless, Polikarpov had some success in upgrading the armament. The I-153 series underwent trials with two synchronized 12.7 mm (0.5 in) TKB-150 (later designated Berezin BS) machine guns, and about 150 aircraft were built with a single TKB-150 in the fuselage and two ShKAS in the wings (a single TKB-150 was used because of the shortage of this weapon which was shared with I-16 Type 29). Late in production, about 400 aircraft were modified with metal plates under the wings to accommodate RS-82 unguided rockets.

Other variants included:

I-153DM (Dopolnityelnyi Motor – supplementary engine
On an experimental basis, the I-153DM was flown with gasoline-burning ramjet engines under the wings. DM-2 engines increased the top speed by 30 km/h (19 mph) while more powerful DM-4 engines added as much as 50 km/h (31 mph). A total of 74 flights were undertaken.

I-153P (Pushechnyy – cannon armed)
Two synchronized 20 mm (0.79 in) ShVAK cannons, added firepower was offset by the increase in weight and tendency of gunpowder to foul the windscreen.

I-153Sh ja USh
Ground attack versions with underwing containers with ShKAS machine guns and 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) bombs

I-153V (Vysotnoi - height)
A single aircraft fitted with the definitive Schyerbakov "minimum leak" pressure cabin.

I-153V-TKGK
A high-altitude version with a turbocharged engine and a pressurized cockpit, top speed of 482 km/h (300 mph) at 10,300 m (33,793 ft), 26 built for air defence.

I-153UD
Rear fuselage completed as a wooden monocoque rather than fabric-covered steel and wooden frame to save metal, did not enter production.

50 I-153 were equipped with larger oil tanks and plumbed to accept external fuel tanks under the wings which doubled the combat range. These were primarily used by the Soviet Navy.

I-190
An experimental version powered by an 820 kW (1,100 hp) M-88V radial piston engine with two ShVAK cannon and four ShKAS machine guns. First flight 30 December 1939 but crashed 13 February 1941 and variant discontinued.

I-190GK
The second I-190 prototype completed with a pressure cabin and turbo-charged M-90 engine fitted with a ducted spinner.

I-195
Strengthened I-190 with enclosed unpressurised cockpit, powered by an M-90 with a ducted spinner and identical armament to the I-190. The prototype was not completed.

Operators:

Soviet Union
Source: VVS AIR WAR, The Soviet Air Forces at War

Though it is perhaps not the most well-known Soviet aircraft, the Polikarpov I-153 Chaika (seagull) was one of the pillars of the VVS’ arsenal in the late 1930s/early 1940s. Seeing extensive action against the Japanese at the Battle of Khalkhin-Gol in 1939, the Chaika proved to be obsolete by June of 1941 at the time of the German invasion. Nevertheless, until the Soviet aviation industry could be evacuated to locations far from the frontline and more advanced fighters and bombers could be produced, outdated aircraft such as the I-153 Chaika, the I-16, and the I-15 were tasked with both providing close air support for the Red Army and engaging the Luftwaffe, which had at its disposal some of the best aircraft in the world at the time, including the notorious Messerschmitt Bf-109. Though the Chaika biplanes were no match for the sleek German fighter, the I-153, serving in a multitude of roles, was able to contribute to the slowing of the massive German advance, buying enough time for the VVS to both receive more advanced aircraft from the UK and US via the lend-lease program and to receive the latest La-5s, Yak-9s, and Il-2s from Soviet factories.

Finland
Source: Suomen ilmavoimien historia 7: Venäläiset hävittäjät. Keskinen, Stenman
Summary by Jari Juvonen

Finnish air force had total of 21 planes of which 11 were captured during the Winter war and the Contunation war and ten planes were bought from the German war booty depots. The planes were mainly used for reconnaissance and ground supporting duties with machine guns and bombs on the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland. Planes from the 3/LLv 6 took part to an operation in March of 1942 when Finnish forces invaded Suursaari (Gogland) island. The planes attacked with their machine guns and bombs against the soviet troops. Finnish I-153 pilots got six air victories and destroyed four torpedo- and / or patrol boats.

China
Chinese Nationalist Air Force had 75 I-153 planes on the battle against Japan.

Germany
Luftwaffe had in use several captured planes. 10 planes were sold to Finland.

Surviving aircraft

There are four complete survivors of this plane, three of which can fly. In the early 1990s, New Zealand pilot and entrepreneur Tim Wallis' Alpine Fighter Collection organised the restoration of three I-153s and six I-16s to an airworthy condition, this project being completed in 1999 as the third and final I-153 arrived in New Zealand. These aircraft were equipped with AZsh-62IR geared radials instead of the M-62, which were non-geared. The reason is that AZsh-62IR is just a version of M-62, with absolute equality in all instead of a frontal gearbox and weapon synchronizer absence. Also, none of original engines from recovered wrecks could have been brought to life.

Engine	1 × Shvetsov M-62 radial engine, 850 hp
Dimensions	Wingspan 10,00 m; lenght 6,17 m, height 2,80 m
Weights	Empty 1452 kg, Normal flying 1960 kg, Max. takeoff 2110 kg
Performance	Max. speed 444 km/h, cruising speed 297 km/h
Ceiling / Wing area	10700 m / 22,14 m²
Climbing speed	15 m/s
Armament	4 × 7.62×54mmR ShKAS kk, 2600 rounds totaly
Designer	Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov
Range	470 km
Production number	3437

Sources:

Sovietwarplanes pages: Massimo Tessitori
Håkans aviation page: Biplane Fighter Aces from the Second World War
Wikipedia: Polikarpov I-153 (en)
VVS Air War: The Soviet Air Forces at War
Suomen Ilmavoimien Hävittäjät II (Kari Stenman @ Karolina Holda), KOALA
Suomen Ilmavoimien Historia 7 (Kalevi Keskinen, Kari Stenman)
Red Stars (Carl-Fredrik Geust, Kalevi Keskinen, Kari Stenman), AR-Kustannus Oy

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