The Tupolev I-4 was a Soviet

sesquiplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a ...

single-seat fighter. It was conceived in 1927 by Pavel Sukhoi as his first aircraft design for the

Tupolev Tupolev (russian: Ту́полев, ), officially Joint Stock Company Tupolev, is a Russian aerospace and defence company headquartered in Basmanny District, Moscow. Tupolev is successor to the Soviet Tupolev Design Bureau ( OKB-156, design off ...

design bureau, and was the first Soviet all-metal fighter.

Design and development

After the first prototype (under the development name Andrei Nikolayevich Tupolev fighter 5 , ANT-5), the I-4 was redesigned with a new engine cowling to decrease drag, with added rocket launchers on the upper wing and a larger tailfin. The lower wing was predominantly an attachment for the wing struts; it was almost removed in the second series, the I-4Z (where the lower wings were greatly shortened), and totally removed from the I-4bis, thus transforming the aircraft from a sesquiplane into a parasol-wing monoplane.

Operational history

The I-4 was used as a

parasite fighter A parasite aircraft is a component of a composite aircraft which is carried aloft and air launched by a larger carrier aircraft or mother ship to support the primary mission of the carrier. The carrier craft may or may not be able to later rec ...

in experiments with the

Tupolev TB-1 The Tupolev TB-1 (development name ANT-4) was a Soviet bomber aircraft, an angular monoplane that served as the backbone of the Soviet bomber force for many years, and was the first large all-metal aircraft built in the Soviet Union. Design and ...

bomber. The aircraft was in Soviet service from 1928–1933. A total of 369 were built.

Variants

* ANT-5 : Prototype. * I-4 : Single-seat fighter aircraft. * I-4Z : Single-seat fighter with span of lower wings greatly reduced. * I-4bis : Monoplane version (lower wings totally removed). * I-4P : Floatplane version.

Operators

; *

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...

Specifications (I-4)

References

Bibliography

External links

{{aviation.ru Tupolev aircraft, I-04 Biplanes Sesquiplanes 1920s Soviet and Russian aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1927