Eastern Front 1941 Pt.11: Kyiv Aviation Institute KAI-11 - Done!

[comrade harps]

Designed and built in Ukraine, but in service with the Socialist Union Red Army Air Force, Moscow,  October 1941 and powered by the Klimov M-103.

[comrade harps]

Kyiv Aviation Institute KAI-11M
"Москва" ("Moscow") White 96, personal mount of Flight Leader Viktor Shishkin
183rd Escadrille, 180th "Moscow" Fighter Regiment, 324th Fighter Aviation Division (Guards), 6th Fighter Air Corps, Socialist Union Red Army Air Force
Kubinka, Socialist Union, 14th November 1941



The Kyiv Aviation Institute KAI-11 was designed in response to a 1936 Moscow Pact requirement for a fast, modern fighter with a good climbing speed and an armament centred on a 20 mm cannon. Designed and built by Kyiv Aviation Institute, 2,145 KAI-11s were manufactured in Ukraine before production switched to the KAI-13.




The -11 was an all-metal plane powered by the Klimov M-103, the -13 being a development of the -11 powered by the M-105 engine. The -13 was in production at the time of the Axis invasion of June, 1941, but due to German bombing and their rapid advance the factory was unable to be evacuated east. This, and the need to focus production on planes that used less metal, meant that the KAI-13 was abandoned, along with several promising prototypes and lines of development.




In 1941 the 183rd Escadrille (Guards) was resident at Kubinka and flying the modernised KAI-11M. The KAI-11M was an upgraded KAI-11, which brought together a number of improvements and sought to standardise the fleet to a single model. The M model can be identified by its long spinner, which was part of a fix for cannon vibration and poor reliability of the propeller's variable pitch mechanism. Being an elite Guards unit, and committed to the air defence of Moscow, the unit was awarded the privilege to take its pick of the best KAI-11Ms coming off the upgrade line located nearby at Chkalovsky.

Note that the heraldry ahead of the canopy is a unit badge and not a Guards one. However, the yellow inscription on the intake near the nose says Guards.

All KAI-11s were armed with a 20mm ShVAK cannon that fired through the propeller hub and four wing-mounted 7.62mm ShKAS machine guns. To save weight some pilots removed a pair of ShKAS, but this was unusual. They were rarely seen with air to ground armament.




This aircraft's pilot, Fight Leader Viktor Shishkin, was recruited for service with the Red Army Air Force Guards after a rigorous selection process. All Guards units are elite formations, with personnel selected from volunteers who were subjected to military and ideological testing. Two of the F/L Shishkin's 5 red star kills markings under the canopy of White 96 are from the Khalkhin Gol battles of 1939, both being Japanese Ki-27 fighters. It was these victories that caught the attention of Guards recruiters, who invited  Shishkin to enter the selection process. He joined the Guards in September 1940 and was assigned to the 183rd Escadrille, 180th "Moscow" Fighter Regiment, which (with other units) was responsible for the air defence of Moscow. He was credited with the destruction of a Luftwaffe Bf109E in October, 1941, and a He-111H on 6 November. On the 14th November, 1941, a fifth red victory star was added to White 96 after he shot down another He-111H.



He would go on to earn Hero of the Socialist Union status in 1943 and ended his combat career on 23rd June, 1945, with 56 confirmed kills. On that date he was badly wounded during an engagement with a Luftwaffe Me262A-1 while flying a BeSS-5 (see http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,42232.msg728394.html#msg728394).

[zenrat]

Another great camo job.

[comrade harps]

Another great camo job.

Thank you. I do appreciate it.

I do enjoy designing camouflage schemes.

[Librarian]

Gorgeous colours again. Not a fan of the D.520 but she looks good like that .

[sandiego89]

Nice.  Always like winter cammo.  Well done.

[Old Wombat]

Great camo! Great build! Great story!

You're on a roll here, comrade!

[NARSES2]

I really do like that scheme, lovely work 

You now have me thinking of a D520 with fixed undercarriage as a Romanian indigenous design.

[TheChronicOne]

Yeah!! Nice!! 

[Glenn Gilbertson]

Looks good in that scheme!

[Captain Canada]

That's some great looking camo !

[Tophe]

Congratulations!