VEF I-15
Role Advanced trainer
National origin Latvia
Manufacturer VEF
Designer Kārlis Irbītis
First flight 1939
Primary user Latvian Air Force
Number built 2

The VEF I-15 was a Latvian advanced trainer aircraft of the 1930s. Two examples of the I-15, a small, single-engined monoplane were built by the VEF to the designs of Kārlis Irbītis and were used by the Latvian Air Force

Development and design

In 1938, the Latvian aircraft designer Kārlis Irbītis, working at the Valsts Elektrotehniskā Fabrika (VEF) at Riga commenced design of a single-seat advanced trainer as a follow on to his earlier, similar VEF I-14 aircraft. The I-15 was a low-winged monoplane of all-wooden construction, powered by a single de Havilland Gipsy Six air-cooled engine, and fitted with a fixed tailwheel undercarriage.[1]

In April 1939,[2] the first prototype, the I-15a, powered by a 200 hp (149 kW) Gypsy Six I driving a two-bladed fixed-pitch wooden propeller, made its maiden flight, while a second prototype, the I-15b, was powered by a 220 hp (167 kW) Gypsy Six II engine driving a variable-pitch propeller, and armed with a single synchronised machine gun followed, this demonstrating improved performance.[1]

The two I-15 prototypes were transferred to the Latvian Air Force for use as advanced trainers,[1] while a further two aircraft, to be designated I-15bis and powered by Hispano-Suiza 6 Mb engines were ordered by the Air Force, but on 17 June 1940, the Soviet Union occupied Latvia, ordering all aviation related work to be stopped.[3]

Specifications (I-15b)

Data from Air International, January 1979 [1]

General characteristics

  • Crew: 1
  • Length: 7.10 m (23 ft 4 in)
  • Wingspan: 8.00 m (26 ft 3 in)
  • Height: 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) [4]
  • Wing area: 10.77 m2 (115.9 sq ft)
  • Empty weight: 750 kg (1,653 lb)
  • Gross weight: 960 kg (2,116 lb)
  • Powerplant: 1 × de Havilland Gipsy Six Series II six-cylinder inverted air-cooled inline engine, 160 kW (220 hp)

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 331 km/h (206 mph, 179 kn)
  • Cruise speed: 300 km/h (190 mph, 160 kn) (max continuous cruise)
  • Range: 610 km (380 mi, 330 nmi)
  • Service ceiling: 7,000 m (23,000 ft)

Armament

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Air International January 1979, pp. 45–46
  2. ↑ Vercamer,Arvo. VEF IRBITIS I-15 (I-15a and I-15b) Archived 2005-12-17 at the Wayback Machine. latvianaviation.com. Retrieved 13 December 2009.
  3. ↑ Davis 1992, p.62.
  4. ↑ VEF I-15. SAMOLOTY WOJSKOWE ŚWIATA 1935-1945. (In Polish). Retrieved 13 December 2009.

References

  • Davis, Chuck. "Latvia's Little Hawk". Air Enthusiast, Forty-eight, December 1992 to February 1993. ISSN 0143-5450. pp. 58–64.
  • "Plane Facts:Latvian lightweight". Air International, January 1979, Vol. 16 No. 1. pp. 45–46.
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