Polikarpov I-153 Chaika

Polikarpov I-153 Chaika gull-wing biplane fighter flying with red star markings
Aircraft Museum · Fighter Biplane · I-153 Chaika

Polikarpov I-153
“Chaika” (Seagull)

The gull-winged biplane the Soviet Union sent into a monoplane war — a nimble, retractable-gear fighter that won over Mongolia in 1939, then was slaughtered in the skies of 1941 and reborn as a rocket-armed ground-attacker.

1938First flight · one of the last biplane fighters
~3,437Aircraft built · 1938–1941
4 × ShKAS7.62 mm machine guns
~440 km/hTop speed · M-63 engine
Photo: Alvesgaspar · CC BY-SA 3.0
RoleFighter & ground-attack biplaneEraWWII · late 1930sMotorShvetsov M-62 / M-63 radialOriginUSSR · PolikarpovStatusRetired · a few fly as warbirdsFly a real fighter jet yourself
A História

The I-153 Chaika: a biplane born a decade too late

By the mid-1930s the fighter world was going monoplane, but the Soviet Union still believed in the biplane. Combat over Spain seemed to show that a tight-turning biplane could out-dogfight faster monoplanes, and the VVS wanted a new machine that married that agility to modern features. Nikolai Polikarpov’s answer was the I-153 — a thorough modernisation of his earlier I-15bis, first flown in 1938.

Two things set it apart. It brought back the gull-shaped upper wing of the original I-15 — the feature that gave the type its nickname Chaika, “Seagull” — for better pilot visibility and cleaner airflow. And, remarkably for a biplane, it had a manually retractable undercarriage, the wheels cranked up by hand into the fuselage to cut drag. Powered by an 800 hp Shvetsov M-62 radial and armed with four fast-firing ShKAS machine guns, it was arguably the finest biplane fighter ever built.

It was also obsolete before it was finished. The Chaika first tasted combat against Japan over the Khalkhin Gol in 1939 and did well, and it fought through the Winter War against Finland. But when Germany invaded in June 1941, roughly 1,500 I-153s were still on strength — and against the Messerschmitt Bf 109 the biplane was hopelessly outclassed. It survived by changing jobs, hanging RS-82 rockets and light bombs under its wings and going to war against tanks and troops instead of fighters.

The best biplane fighter in the world, fielded exactly when the biplane fighter had become extinct.The Chaika paradox — superb, and already obsolete
01Why the Soviet Union built a new biplane fighter in 1938

The lesson Soviet planners took from the Spanish Civil War was ambiguous. Their monoplane I-16 was fast but tricky; the biplane I-15 could out-turn almost anything. Rather than commit fully to the monoplane, the VVS hedged — it kept developing both. The I-153 was the high-water mark of the biplane branch: gull wing, retractable gear, a more powerful engine and four machine guns. On its own terms it was excellent. The problem was strategic, not technical. While Polikarpov perfected the biplane, Germany was fielding the Bf 109, and the entire category the Chaika belonged to was becoming a dead end. By 1941 its virtues — agility, short-field performance — could not offset the brutal reality that it was 100 km/h slower than its enemies.

Design & Engineering

What makes the I-153 Chaika special

01

The gull wing that named it

The Chaika’s upper wing bends down to meet the fuselage in a gull shape — the feature that earned it the name Seagull. Beyond looks, the arrangement raised the wing roots clear of the pilot’s eyeline for better forward and upward visibility, and let the bracing struts be shorter and cleaner. It was a signature Polikarpov touch, carried over from the earlier I-15.

02

A biplane with retractable gear

Very few biplane fighters ever hid their wheels; the I-153 did. Its main undercarriage retracted by hand crank into wells in the fuselage sides, twisting flat as it came up. It was heavy, slow to operate and a workout for the pilot, but it cut drag enough to matter — a genuinely modern idea grafted onto an old-fashioned airframe.

03

Four guns, then rockets

The Chaika carried four 7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns, among the fastest-firing guns of their day, giving it a heavy volume of fire for a light fighter. When it was outclassed as a dogfighter it was re-roled for ground attack, carrying up to six RS-82 rockets or light bombs — one of the first fighters to fire air-to-ground rockets in anger.

02The I-153 Chaika’s engines: from the M-62 to the M-63

Most I-153s were built around the Shvetsov M-62, a two-row radial of roughly 800 hp derived from the American Wright Cyclone — the same engine family that powered the I-16. It gave the Chaika a top speed of about 425 km/h, brisk for a biplane but far short of a modern monoplane. A later batch of around 400 aircraft received the more powerful M-63 of about 1,100 hp, pushing speed closer to 440 km/h. No amount of extra power, though, could rewrite the aerodynamics of two wings and a fixed forest of struts and wires.

03Why the I-153 Chaika was obsolete against the Bf 109

The Chaika could out-turn almost anything in the sky — but in 1941 turning was no longer how air combat was won. German pilots flying the Bf 109 used energy tactics: dive from height, fire in a single fast pass, and climb away before the nimble biplane could bring its guns to bear. With a speed deficit of around 100 km/h, the I-153 could rarely force the turning fight it wanted. Thousands were destroyed in the opening months of Barbarossa, many on the ground. The survivors found a second life at low level, where their agility and rocket armament made them useful against ground targets.

Technical Data

Full I-153 Chaika specifications

Airframe & Performance

Equipe
1
Comprimento
6.17 m
Wingspan (upper)
10.0 m
Altura
3.0 m
Área da asa
~22.1 m²
Peso vazio
~1,350 kg
Max takeoff weight
~1,960 kg
Max speed
~426 km/h (M-62) · ~440 km/h (M-63)
Teto de serviço
~11,000 m
Faixa
~470–740 km

Propulsion, Armament & Production

Motor
1 × Shvetsov M-62 (or M-63) radial
Power
~800 hp (M-62) · ~1,100 hp (M-63)
Guns
4 × 7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns
Ordnance
Up to 6 × RS-82 rockets or ~200 kg bombs
First flight
1938
Built
~3,437 (1938–1941)
Unit cost
No reliable public figure (Soviet state product)
Cost per flight hour
No reliable public figure exists
04The I-153 Chaika’s cost: why no reliable figure exists

The I-153 was built in Soviet state factories and never sold on an open market, so there is no meaningful flyaway unit price and no credible cost-per-flight-hour figure in the public record. Wartime Soviet production was measured in plan targets and raw-material allocations, not dollars. Any precise price attached to a Chaika today is an estimate or a conversion exercise, not a sourced number — which is why we list both cost rows as unknown rather than invent a figure.

Timeline

From Spanish lessons to the Eastern Front

1934

The gull-wing ancestor

Polikarpov’s I-15 biplane, with its distinctive gull upper wing, enters Soviet service and later fights in Spain.

1937

Spanish lessons

Combat over Spain convinces Soviet planners that an agile biplane still has value — and prompts a modernised successor.

1938

First flight

The I-153 flies for the first time and enters production — gull wing, retractable gear and four ShKAS guns.

1939

Khalkhin Gol

The Chaika makes its combat debut against Japan over the Mongolian border, holding its own in fierce dogfights.

1939–40

The Winter War

I-153s fight over Finland; Finnish forces later capture and operate around 21 of the type themselves.

1941

Barbarossa

Roughly 1,500 Chaikas face the German invasion. Outclassed by the Bf 109, many are destroyed in the first weeks.

1941–42

Rockets and ground attack

Survivors switch to low-level ground attack with RS-82 rockets; China had already received around 93 aircraft.

1990s–

Recovered and restored

Airframes pulled from Russian lakes and swamps are rebuilt to fly — several in New Zealand — and put on museum display worldwide.

Stories & Eyewitnesses

From dogfight to ground attack: twelve I-153 Chaika stories

Origins

The biplane that refused to die

Spanish combat convinced the Soviets to build one more biplane fighter — the best one yet.

Read the full story
When most air forces were abandoning the biplane, the Soviet Union built the I-153 because combat over Spain suggested agility still mattered. Polikarpov took his proven I-15bis, gave it back the gull upper wing of the original I-15, added a retractable undercarriage and a stronger engine, and produced what many regard as the finest biplane fighter ever flown — arriving just as the type became obsolete.
The name

Why they called it Seagull

The bent-down upper wing gave the fighter its nickname: Chaika, the Russian word for seagull.

Read the full story
The Chaika’s upper wing is not straight — it curves down to meet the fuselage in a shallow gull shape. To Soviet eyes the silhouette recalled a seagull in flight, and the name Chaika stuck. The shape was not just decoration: it lifted the wing roots away from the pilot’s line of sight and allowed shorter, cleaner interplane struts.
Engineering

Cranking up the wheels

Unusually for a biplane, the I-153 hid its landing gear — by hand.

Read the full story
A retractable undercarriage on a biplane was a rarity. The Chaika’s pilot had to wind a hand crank many turns to haul the main wheels up into the fuselage sides, where they lay flat. It was slow and tiring, and in a scramble some pilots simply took off and fought with the gear down. But retracted, it gave the old airframe a useful edge in speed.
Khalkhin Gol

Debut against Japan

Over the Mongolian steppe in 1939 the Chaika met the Japanese air force and gave a good account of itself.

Read the full story
The I-153’s first combat came in the undeclared border war with Japan at Khalkhin Gol in 1939. There the nimble biplane tangled with Japanese fighters in swirling low-level dogfights and performed respectably, its agility and heavy machine-gun fire proving effective. It was the high point of the type’s career as an air-superiority fighter.
A trick

The retracting-gear ruse

Soviet pilots are said to have baited enemies by lowering their gear like a slower, older biplane.

Read the full story
A story from Khalkhin Gol holds that Chaika pilots exploited the type’s resemblance to the fixed-gear I-15bis. By flying with their wheels down, they looked like the slower older biplane; when an overconfident Japanese pilot committed to an attack, the Chaika would retract its gear, accelerate and turn the tables. The tale is much repeated and hard to verify, but it captures the type’s reputation for cunning close-in fighting.
Winter War

Fighting over Finland

The Chaika flew against Finland in 1939–40, in a war that would later see Finns flying the type themselves.

Read the full story
During the Winter War the I-153 operated over the frozen Karelian front against a small but skilled Finnish air arm. The fighting foreshadowed one of the type’s stranger fates: Finland went on to capture and operate around 21 Chaikas, some bought from Germany, using them into the mid-1940s and claiming several victories in Soviet-built machines against their former owners.
1941

Massacre at dawn

On 22 June 1941 hundreds of Chaikas were caught and destroyed, many still on the ground.

Read the full story
The German invasion found roughly 1,500 I-153s in front-line service. In the first hours of Barbarossa the Luftwaffe struck Soviet airfields, and rows of Chaikas were destroyed before they could fight. Those that got airborne found themselves 100 km/h slower than the Bf 109s hunting them. It was one of the most one-sided air campaigns in history, and the biplane paid a terrible price.
Reinvention

From fighter to tank-buster

Outclassed in the air, the Chaika found a second career firing rockets at ground targets.

Read the full story
Unable to survive as a dogfighter, the I-153 was re-roled. Fitted with rails for RS-82 rockets and racks for small bombs, it went low, attacking German columns, tanks and troops. It was dangerous work at treetop height under heavy fire, but the agile biplane could operate from rough forward strips and hit targets other aircraft could not reach.
China

The Chaika goes east

Around 93 I-153s were supplied to China to fight the Japanese.

Read the full story
As part of Soviet military aid to China against Japan, roughly 93 I-153s were shipped east between 1939 and 1941. Flown by Chinese pilots and Soviet volunteers, they added the gull-winged biplane to the sprawling air war over China, where its agility remained useful against Japanese aircraft of comparable vintage.
Variants

Cannon, floats and more

The Chaika spawned experiments from 20 mm cannon to a turbo-supercharged high-flyer.

Read the full story
Polikarpov and the VVS tried many versions of the basic airframe: the I-153P with two 20 mm ShVAK cannon in place of the machine guns, turbo-supercharged high-altitude test aircraft, and even float-equipped examples. Most stayed experimental, but they show how hard the Soviets pushed to keep the biplane relevant as the monoplane era closed in.
Legacy

Buried in the lakes

For decades the Chaika survived only where it had crashed — at the bottom of Russian lakes and bogs.

Read the full story
After the war the I-153 vanished from the skies, and for half a century almost none survived intact. From the 1980s, wreck-hunters began recovering airframes from the lakes and swamps where they had come down — cold, wet graves that had preserved the metal remarkably well. These recoveries became the seed corn for the type’s modern revival.
Today

Seagulls fly again

A handful of rebuilt Chaikas fly at airshows, and museums preserve others around the world.

Read the full story
Several recovered I-153s have been restored to airworthy condition — a number of them rebuilt in New Zealand — and a few now fly at airshows, red stars gleaming, the only chance to see a Chaika in its element. Static examples are preserved in Russia, France and the United States, including one recovered from a swamp near Murmansk.
Gallery

The I-153 Chaika in pictures

A restored I-153 Chaika in flight the gull-winged biplane with its wheels tucked away.
A restored I-153 Chaika in flight — the gull-winged biplane with its wheels tucked away.Photo: Alvesgaspar · CC BY-SA 3.0
A Chaika restored in Soviet Northern Navy markings recovered from a swamp near Murmansk.
A Chaika restored in Soviet Northern Navy markings — recovered from a swamp near Murmansk.Photo: Tomás Del Coro · CC BY-SA 2.0
A wartime I-153 of the Soviet Northern Fleet taking off, photographed by Yevgeny Khaldei.
A wartime I-153 of the Soviet Northern Fleet taking off, photographed by Yevgeny Khaldei.Photo: Yevgeny Khaldei · Public domain
An I-153 fitted with RS-82 rockets the ground-attack role that gave the biplane a second life.
An I-153 fitted with RS-82 rockets — the ground-attack role that gave the biplane a second life.Photo: Unknown author · Public domain
An I-153 documented in the Finnish wartime archive Finland captured and flew the type.
An I-153 documented in the Finnish wartime archive — Finland captured and flew the type.Photo: SA-kuva · Public domain
A preserved Chaika on museum display at Le Bourget, France gull wing and all.
A preserved Chaika on museum display at Le Bourget, France — gull wing and all.Photo: Stéphane Gallay · CC BY 2.0
Watch

The I-153 Chaika in motion

A short history of the Polikarpov I-153 Chaika — its gull wing and retractable gear, its combat debut against Japan, and its hard war on the Eastern Front.

Operations

Where the I-153 Chaika flew

Combat Record

The I-153 Chaika’s combat record

The Chaika’s war splits neatly in two. As a fighter it peaked early — holding its own against Japan over Khalkhin Gol in 1939 and fighting through the Winter War — then was overwhelmed in 1941 by faster German monoplanes. As a ground-attack aircraft it soldiered on, one of the first fighters to fire salvoes of rockets at ground targets.

Khalkhin Gol 1939Combat debut against Japan — a genuine success
~1,500Still in front-line service at Barbarossa, June 1941
RS-82 rocketsSecond life as a ground-attack aircraft

Compare the combat record of every military aircraft. Contemporary loss figures for 1941 are estimates and vary between sources.

Questions & Answers

Everything people ask about the I-153 Chaika

Can I fly in a Polikarpov I-153 Chaika?
Not through MiGFlug — we do not offer flights in the I-153, and there is no two-seat passenger version. A handful of restored single-seat Chaikas (several rebuilt in New Zealand) do fly privately at airshows, but they are not available for public rides. If you want to actually fly in a historic military jet today, see migflug.com/flights-prices/.
What does “Chaika” mean?
It is the Russian word for “seagull.” The nickname comes from the gull shape of the upper wing, which bends down to meet the fuselage — a silhouette that reminded Soviet crews of a seagull in flight.
Was the I-153 any good in combat?
As a biplane fighter, yes — it did well against Japan at Khalkhin Gol in 1939 and fought through the Winter War. But by the German invasion of 1941 it was obsolete against monoplanes like the Bf 109, roughly 100 km/h slower, and was largely re-roled for ground attack.
Why did it have retractable landing gear?
To cut drag and gain speed. It was unusual for a biplane, and the gear was raised by a hand crank rather than hydraulics — slow and tiring to operate, but worth it for the extra performance.
How many I-153s were built?
Around 3,437 were produced between 1938 and 1941, most with the 800 hp M-62 engine and about 400 with the more powerful M-63. That made it one of the most numerous biplane fighters ever built.
Who else flew the Chaika besides the USSR?
China received roughly 93 aircraft from 1939 to fight Japan, and Finland captured and operated around 21 of them — some bought from Germany — during the Winter War and Continuation War, claiming several victories in the type.
Are any I-153s still flying today?
A few. Airframes recovered from Russian lakes and swamps have been restored to airworthy condition, several of them in New Zealand, and a small number fly at airshows. Static examples are preserved in museums in Russia, France and the United States.
The part of the collection you can touch

You can’t fly the I-153 Chaika.
These, you can.

Some legends only live in museums — others are fuelled and waiting. MiGFlug has put civilians in real military jet cockpits since 2004.

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Related Aircraft

Continue the tour

The StablematePolikarpov I-16The Chaika’s monoplane sibling from the same designer — the two fought side by side in Spain, over Mongolia and across 1941.Read the I-16 storyThe SuccessorMiG-3The high-altitude Soviet monoplane interceptor that pointed the way past the biplane era the Chaika belonged to.Read the MiG-3 storyThe War-WinnerYakovlev Yak-9The mass-produced monoplane fighter that eventually gave the VVS the edge the Chaika never could.Read the Yak-9 story
Sources & Further Reading

Every fact, checked