Grigorovich I-Z

what is it?

The Grigorovich I-Z was a fighter aircraft developed in the Soviet Union during the 1930s. Advances in aircraft survivability thanks to all-metal construction and self-sealing and inert gas-filled fuel tanks led to experimentation with large-caliber weapons to shoot them down. In Soviet Union, Leonid Kurchevsky developed a series of recoilless rifles in various calibers and in 1930 was decided to adapt the 76.2 mm (3 in) weapons for aircraft use.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · low wing · 11.5 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 259 km/htop speed
• range 600 kmwithout refuelling
• size 1,648 kgmax take-off weight
• built 73made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 95 years ago, in 1931.
• 🏎️Top speed is 2.0× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 11.5 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1931

number built

73

role

fighter

origin

🇷🇺 Soviet Union

makers

Moscow Aviation Plant № 39, KhAZ

engines

1× Shvetsov M-22 / Bristol Jupiter

crew

1

length

7.7 m

wingspan

11.5 m

max take-off weight

1,648 kg

top speed

259 km/h

range

600 km

ceiling

7,000 m

wings

low wing

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.