The Soviet I-15 fighter was the brainchild of its time. Despite a number of shortcomings, the car proved itself well and even managed to make war in Spain during the years of the Civil War there. However, the I-15 had one extremely unpleasant feature, which eventually forced the pilots and mechanics to pull out the heavy battery from the fighter before each battle. What was the matter?
You can’t just take anything and add it to the plane. If only because the mass of the machine is calculated to the smallest detail. The Soviet I-15 fighter was generally a good aircraft. However, she had one serious drawback, which will be discussed a little later. To begin with, it should be mentioned that there was a 30-kilogram battery on the plane, which was needed to power the radio station. However, during the Spanish Civil War, radios on the I-15 were practically not used for a number of reasons.
The main drawback of the Soviet fighter was the lack of an armored back behind the pilot's seat. This made the fighter pilot extremely vulnerable to attacks from behind. It often turned out that in combat the flight of the I-15 ended without any serious damage. Machine-gun bullets or fragments simply pierced the fuselage of the aircraft through and through, along with the person sitting in it. The plane was in dire need of revision, but the problem was that it was no longer possible to simply insert an armored plate - the excess weight of the aircraft.
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And then the Soviet pilots and mechanics remembered the battery, which was actually useless in the realities of that time. Losses were too high, and the radio was rarely used anyway. Therefore, it was decided to remove the batteries from the I-15 aircraft before the battle and put in their place an armor plate 12 and 8 mm thick. It is noteworthy that after removing the battery and installing an additional (single) armor, the plane even became 2 kilograms lighter. This artisanal solution eventually saved the lives of many pilots.
In continuation of the topic, read about how much do different countries cost their best fighter planes.
Source: https://novate.ru/blogs/030222/62053/