EAW Polikarpov I-152

One of a number of I-152's in China 1938, flown by Russian "volunteers". This force was sent by Stalin to support Chang Kai Shek against the Japanese.

The Polikarpov I-152 was a further development of the I-15 fighter. It had a larger and more powerful engine and the airframe was built to be considerably stronger than the I-15. But because it weight had gone up so much from the changes, it was not as good as the I-15 for maneuverability. Nevertheless, it was put into production in 1937. 

Some examples reached Spain just prior to the Republican government collapse. Another batch was sent to China to help Chang Kai Shek fight the Japanese. The Russians alos used this plane to fight the Japanese in the Nomonhan incident that saw Russia and Japan in a full scale, but undeclared war along the Mongolian border. By the time the Germans invaded in 1941, the I-152 was decidedly obsolete. So urgent was the Soviet Union's need though. the type was pressed into the ground attack role, often at night. In this role, the prop spinner and the wheel pants were almost always removed by the VVS.

I developed this model originally for the Spanish Civil War Campaign and to develop a model that would solve the upper wing graphics issues of the earlier EAW pioneer biplanes that Woolfman developed by utilizing Moggy's stick on hardpoint technique. I shared this model and technique with several other 3dz designers in the very early part of 2002, and a new generation of biplanes has resulted. Now it is time to go ahead and finish the resolution of the numerous bsp rendering problems and release this plane. Moggy graciously helped with a new rendering sequence patch, which went a long way towards solving dome of these problems.

Please note that each version of the I-152 that I have released has unique 3dz and graphics files. The models are NOT interchangeable. This was necessary to produce the markings for these planes, as they required several different stick on panels carrying markings.

I hope you have fun with it.

Cheers


Captain Kurt Oct., 2002


