Polikarpov I-16 type 10, HQ Flight, 21st Group, Spanish Republic, Autumn 1938

[Old Man]

 

     Polikarpov's I-16 fighter was the first low-wing cantilever monoplane with retractable landing gear to go into squadron service, which it did in 1935 with the Soviet air force. The Spanish Civil War was the first arena in which the Polikarpov I-16 was employed in combat. Dubbed 'the fly' (mosca) by those who flew it, and 'the rat' (rata) by those who fought it, the I-16 proved an extremely effective weapon, and gained a period of aerial supremacy for the Spanish government in its struggle against insurgent forces.

 

 

      The Spanish Civil War began in July, 1936, when rightist officers mutinied against the government formed by leftist parties victorious in the recent elections. Their rebellion failed to secure at a blow control of either Madrid or Barcelona, due to opposition from militias quickly put into the streets by trade unions, to which many rank and file conscripts in the metropolitan garrisons belonged. By the end of the month, both Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany were assisting the insurgents, most importantly by air-lifting to Spain professional soldiers from Spanish Morroco. Under command of Gen. Franco, and beneath an umbrella of Italian and German aircraft, the hardened volunteers of the Spanish Foreign Legion, along with mercenary Morrocan units, struck northeast from Badajoz to Madrid in late September. Franco's soldiery reached the outskirts of the capitol early in November, and there the militiamen of the government managed to stand off the first assaults the professionals launched against Madrid itself.
      Soviet assistance to the Spanish government became a presence on the battlefield soon after that, as well-armed volunteers recruited to the International Brigades by various Communist parties outside Spain took up the defense of Madrid, and formations of Soviet aircraft appeared in the skies over the city. Italian and German biplane fighters, which had gained quick ascendance over the largely obsolete machines that equipped Spain's air force when the fighting commenced, found themselves over-matched by the monoplane I-16 and biplane I-15 fighters the Soviet Union provided the Spanish government in quantity.

 

 

      The check delivered to Franco's professionals at Madrid in November ensured Spain's civil war would go on a good while longer. The wholly Spanish social conflict being fought out so fiercely served both Axis powers and the Soviet Union as a natural experiment for testing equipment and doctrine without risk to the homeland. Soviet fighter doctrine held that fast monoplanes and nimble biplanes operating together could be as effective as a fast, nimble fighter of whatever configuration. This was on its face a sensible recognition of aviation engineering's limits in the early 1930s, which could not combine great speed and manouverability without accepting great fragility. Polikarpov's monoplane I-16 was no more a successor than it was a rival to his biplane I-15 --- they were designed and put into production simultaneously, with the intent they be committed to combat simultaneously.
      For half a year and more, the doctrine seemed to prove out, as Soviet equipment and aircrew gave aerial ascendancy to Spanish government forces. The German Heinkel biplane took such rough handling it was de-rated to a ground-attack machine, while Italian Fiat biplanes, out-sped by the I-16 and out-manouvered by the I-15, could when in trouble at least dive away to escape, for they could dive longer and steeper at speed than either Soviet fighter. In the spring of 1937, German pilots in Spain began recieving early models of the monoplane Messerschmitt Bf-109. Though not nearly so nimble as the I-16, these had sufficient advantage in speed and ceiling over the Soviet monoplane to negate its superior manouverability, and tilted the aerial balance back towards Franco's forces.

 

 

      A new version of the I-16, the type 10, began to arrive in Spain early in 1938. Relative to the I-16 type 5 originally supplied, the type 10 had a slightly more powerful engine, a strengthened structure, and an increased armament, with two synchronized machine guns added to the original equipment of two wing-mounted machine guns. Greater weight reduced the type 10's service ceiling and endurance aloft, and though it was slightly faster than the type 5, the I-16 type 10 was still not so fast as the new German monoplane.

 

 

      This model represents an I-16 type 10, shipped from the Soviet Union in July of 1938. In Spain, it was serialled CM-225, and assigned to the headquarters flight of the 21st fighter group, where it arrived early in August. There it became the favored mount of the group's recently posted commander, Capt. Manuel Zarausa, who flew it throughout rest of the climactic Ebro campaign, then already underway. Manuel Zarausa had been a nineteen year old private in the ranks when the insurgency against Spain's government began. By November, 1936, he held the rank of sergeant, and had been accepted for pilot training. In February, 1937, Sgt. Zarausa completed his training at Fighter School, and was assigned to 2nd Squadron of 16th Group where he flew an I-15 biplane. By July, he had been picked out for the High Speed School, where he learnt to fly the I-16. Before the end of the year, he was a lieutenant commanding the 4th squadron of 21st Group, flying in defence of Madrid, and over the winter's battling at Teruel, where he was promoted to captain.
      In June of 1938 newspapers featured a biography of Capt. Zarausa, which credited this young rising star among the Spanish government's airmen with twenty-three aerial victories to date. No confirming records seem to survive, and no official statement by either side of Spain's civil war can be considered trustworthy, but the young man's long survival and rapid promotion do suggest he was an exceptionally effective fighting pilot.
 

 

 

      When in late July Capt. Zarausa took command of 21st Group (which amounted to command of every I-16 fighter flying for the Spanish government), he was only twenty-one. The Spanish government was launching four infantry corps into an offensive across the Ebro River, and when Franco's troops began their counter-attack, Capt. Zarausa's 21st Group were greatly outnumbered in the air. They fought to good effect just the same, and Manuel Zarausa was promoted major in September. By mid-November the Ebro campaign had ended in catastrophic defeat for the Spanish government, that made its collapse not only inevitable but imminent.
      Maj. Zarausa and his pilots escaped to France as Franco's forces took Catalonia whole. Manuel Zarausa was interned in France for a year, then allowed to leave and travel to the Soviet Union. When war between Hitler and Stalin was at last commenced, Manuel Zarausa joined the Red Air Force. He was given command of a fighter regiment, and died in a mid-air collision while defending Baku in 1942, not long before he would have turned twenty-five.
 

 

      This model is made from an ICM late-service I-16 kit in 1/72 scale, boxed variously as a type 24, type 18, or type 28. Some modification is needed to build this into an I-16 type 10. These are concentrated on the underside of the nose. There is an oil cooler intake tunnel which must be removed. This will lay bare a small hole, which must be filled, as must recesses for retraction of a ski undercarriage. Two exhaust outlets must be put in (the type 10 had eight of these, the type 24 had six). Much of this must be done where cowling cheekpieces mate with the center section piece of the wing. I assembled the cheekpieces to the wing center, but this was mostly to be sure the thing could be done before putting in any time on the bulk of the model. Having done so, I think it would be possible, and likely preferable, to assemble the rest of the model, put the cheekpieces in place, and then do the sanding and filling and piercing necessary. A few detail tasks will remain, but those things are the gist of the conversion. A small 'T' shaped intake must go on the cowling front, the scribing for a radio hatch must be filled, the exhaust outlets must be made a little longer and more pointed at the rear.

 

 

 

      The markings of Maj. Zarausa's CM-225 are backed by a photograph.

 

 

     Neither the extended black at the nose, nor the red tail surfaces, are usual. Both make eye-catching sense for a group leader's aeroplane, particularly when its pilot is a flambouyant youth. Soviet aircraft were often given fresh paint in Spanish government service, usually a more yellow, olive shade of dark green on upper surfaces, and a sky blue on under surfaces. The photograph of CM225 shows a portion of its fuselage under surface, which seems to be painted in something other than the aluminum paint its factory finish in the Soviet Union would have used.

Conversion steps can be seen in some detail here:


http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/ ... pic=2123.0

 

 

Edited April 2, 2021 by Old Man

[VolkerR.]

Thanks for the story and for showing us a very good model.

[Josip]

And an exceptional fighter pilot. 

[Gary Brantley]

Very neat little model, and a wonderful backstory!   Thanks for posting this!  Well done sir. 

[Toryu]

That's a a nice Mosca! I love the colours and the little vignette. Interesting backround info, too.

[Old Man]

9 hours ago, Toryu said:

That's a a nice Mosca! I love the colours and the little vignette. Interesting backround info, too.

 

 

Thank you!

 

It is an attractive scheme. I had no idea of the background when I took this machine for my subject.

 

I use colored grout powder for soil, dribbled onto a surface brushed with dilute white glue. Came across the stuff in little packets in the doll house section my old (now alas no longer) local hobby shop.

[Old Man]

11 hours ago, Gary Brantley said:

Very neat little model, and a wonderful backstory!   Thanks for posting this!  Well done sir. 

 Thanks, Gary!

 

This is a very old project, and lapsed for five years on the Shelf of Doom (actually an open kit box in a cupboard) in near-complete condition, owing to finish problems. These came from the Soviet Union in standard Red Air Force finish, which was a dark green olive topside, and under-surfaces painted with aluminum dope unless metal, when they were painted a pale grey. I had failed to find a good substitute for my good silver acrylic, which had run out before I began this. If I had looked further on Massimo's Soviet Warplanes' forum, I would have seen by 1937 the Spanish government repainted Soviet equipment, in a more yellow olive and sky blue scheme.

[Old Man]

13 hours ago, VolkerR. said:

Thanks for the story and for showing us a very good model.

 

You're welcome, Sir.

 

The Spanish Civil War remains a delicate subject --- it was far more than a sort of rehearsal for the Second World War. The tale of the machine cannot be separated from the events it arrived in, and operated in. I have done my best to keep the material at a 'just the plain facts' level.

[Old Man]

11 hours ago, Josip said:

And an exceptional fighter pilot. 

 

Whenever possible, Sir, use a verb. They are stronger words than nouns or adjectives. He's a pilot. He fights. He's a fighting pilot.

[VG 33]

Hello

 

This is a very nice kit and I love the story as well.

I had the opportunity to meet Angel Sanz a former I-16 pilot and at the time I made one of the aircraft he fought on "CM-262". He was always smiling as he assumed to be lucky enough and passed away very old when he was one hundred.

 

Patrick

[RidgeRunner]

She is gorgeous and deserves heaps of praise :). Very nice!

 

Martin

[RidgeRunner]

5 hours ago, Old Man said:

 

Whenever possible, Sir, use a verb. They are stronger words than nouns or adjectives. He's a pilot. He fights. He's a fighting pilot.

Sorry but I’m with Josip on this. We have too much talk of fighting in our world. He was a fighter pilot and, seemingly, a good one. Josip’s description is apt (in my view). 
 

Martin

[Wulfman]

Very nice build on the Mosca, lovely work !

 

Wulfman

[Old Man]

11 hours ago, VG 33 said:

Hello

 

This is a very nice kit and I love the story as well.

I had the opportunity to meet Angel Sanz a former I-16 pilot and at the time I made one of the aircraft he fought on "CM-262". He was always smiling as he assumed to be lucky enough and passed away very old when he was one hundred.

 

Patrick

 

A fighter pilot making it one hundred years of age is something and a half!

 

Nice of you to model on of his machines for him.

 

I enjoy it when I stumble onto a nice story like that. I just wanted something looked flash, but off to one side of my main interests in case the conversion didn't pan out.

[BKirwan]

Wow James great model again and lots of background information. I am going to have a good read of this. 

 

Hope you are feeling better and I presume you recieved  my email during the week? 

regards 

Brian 

[Epeeman]

Lovely model I-16, OM and a great background story.

 

The Spanish Civil is an interesting conflict and saw some terrible massacres committed on both sides but far worse from the Nationalists.

 

Regards

 

Dave

[Old Man]

11 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

Sorry but I’m with Josip on this. We have too much talk of fighting in our world. He was a fighter pilot and, seemingly, a good one. Josip’s description is apt (in my view). 
 

Martin

 

A question of style, Martin. I acknowledge I can get a bit waspish at times. I stand by the point of more vigorous words being preferable.

 

Here is a bit of extra-curricular reading you might enjoy:

 

http://strangebeautiful.com/other-texts/twain-coopers-prose-style.pdf

 

I will say this, though. I agree there is far too much fighting in this world. But it is the fighting machines we focus on here. The 'civil aviation' section hasn't even a tenth of the posts the 'military aviation' section can boast.

 

As far as men flying fighter planes go, ever since its beginnings in The Great War, the essence of their art has been to take a man unawares and shoot him in the back.

[Old Man]

44 minutes ago, Wulfman said:

Very nice build on the Mosca, lovely work !

 

Wulfman

 

Thank you, Sir. The scheme gives the model a leg up on looking good. Glad you liked it.

[Old Man]

5 minutes ago, BKirwan said:

Wow James great model again and lots of background information. I am going to have a good read of this. 

 

Hope you are feeling better and I presume you recieved  my email during the week? 

regards 

Brian 

 

Thanks, Brian!

 

I will get a note to you off today. I'm as well as I'm going to be, and in good spirits (must be to arguing points of literary style).

 

I am doing more monoplanes than biplanes at present --- they're a bit easier, and though I do love the old ones best, there are later types I do want to have.

 

I'm working on a Skua and a Fokker D.XXI at present, along with one more Polikarpov, an I-15 biplane.

[Old Man]

8 minutes ago, Epeeman said:

Lovely model I-16, OM and a great background story.

 

The Spanish Civil is an interesting conflict and saw some terrible massacres committed on both sides but far worse from the Nationalists.

 

Regards

 

Dave

 

Thanks, Dave.

 

It is quite an episode. My introduction to it as a serious matter (as opposed to a 'look at all this neat equipment getting used' level) was Orwell's 'Homage to Catalonia'. One of the things that makes it interesting is that Spain preserved into the twentieth century political currents once common throughout Europe in the early nineteenth century. Anarchism remained a major force. Some leaders of the armed forces wanted modernization of society as a means to greater military efficiency, and so were opposed to many traditional features of Spanish society. For some generals, the question of 'Fascism or Communism' boiled down which he thought had done a better job of building modern military power. One of the first things insurrectionist officers did was shoot 'red generals' in their offices.

[JWM]

Beautiful I-16! I was thinking on doing the same scheme, so CM-225 as the perhaps  the most colorful Mosca.

May I t ask - why you did the semi-gloss finish?  I do not see many light reflection on the photo of real thing, it looks rather just flat mat for me...  

 

Interesting short info on Spanish Civil War

On 4/2/2021 at 12:18 PM, Old Man said:

recruited to the International Brigades by various Communist parties outside Spain

I think not all volunteers on side of  Republican Army were communists, I would not call that way both the most well recognized: Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell/Eric Blair. The "Homage to Catalonia" is a moving essay and tells directly on this - that communists wanted (and finally did) to take the power in Republicans, but there were many people  with simple liberal background. BTW -  I've read it in an illegal underground printed book  in 1980s, so still  when Poland was under communist power....

It happened that I had many friends in Spain, I was even working there for short time twenty years ago and spoken with them on some historical subjects. The most striking was to learn, that till the abdication (or escape) of Alphonse XIII and proclamation of Republic in the most traditional or simply feudal parts or Spain like Extremadura the ius primae noctis (Droit du seigneur, right of  lord) was still the law...  

Regards

J-W

 

Edited April 3, 2021 by JWM

[Old Man]

On 4/3/2021 at 12:41 PM, JWM said:

Beautiful I-16! I was thinking on doing the same scheme, so CM-225 as the perhaps  the most colorful Mosca.

May I t ask - why you did the semi-gloss finish?  I do not see many light reflection on the photo of real thing, it looks rather just flat mat for me...  

 

Interesting short info on Spanish Civil War

I think not all volunteers on side of  Republican Army were communists, I would not call that way both the most well recognized: Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell/Eric Blair. The "Homage to Catalonia" is a moving essay and tells directly on this - that communists wanted (and finally did) to take the power in Republicans, but there were many people  with simple liberal background. BTW -  I've read it in an illegal underground printed book  in 1980s, so still  when Poland was under communist power....

It happened that I had many friends in Spain, I was even working there for short time twenty years ago and spoken with them on some historical subjects. The most striking was to learn, that till the abdication (or escape) of Alphonse XIII and proclamation of Republic in the most traditional or simply feudal parts or Spain like Extremadura the ius primae noctis (Droit du seigneur, right of  lord) was still the law...  

Regards

J-W

 

Thanks, J-W.

 

The finish is flat except under the lamps in the light box, at certain angle. It got a good coat of Tamiya rattle-can matte. New Soviet machines would have had a gloss finish, and the Spanish paint probably started out gloss, at least. But I  wasn't trying for any effect.

 

I agree many volunteers in the International Brigades were not themselves Communists, though recruited through Communist parties, and serving under Communist control. That sounds like quite a way to read Orwell....

[exdraken]

Wow!

Need to first read through all that info!

Great Mosca( Moscow in cyrillic on the crates ) 

[Old Man]

Thank you, Sir.

 

Your derivation had never occurred to me, and I can see how such stenciling might have contributed. The proportion of wing to fuselage, and the machine's manouverability, certainly do suggest a housefly....

[stevehnz]

Lovely model & thoroughly interesting story to back it up.

Steve.