Combat aviation of the USSR: the DI-6 fighter. Developed in 1934. A two-seat fighter biplane with open cabin and non-retractable landing gear. Issued 222 aircrafts, including the DI-6SH as an attack plane.
A crew – 2 persons. Armament: a machine gun (7.62 mm SHKAS). The speed is 372 km / h. The practical ceiling is 7700 m. The flight range is 550 km. Power – 700 hp.
Museum of the Victory, Moscow.
Kochyerigin DI-6 was a two-seat fighter biplane produced in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. The DI-6 was a conventional single-bay biplane of mixed construction with cable-retracted main landing gear. The pilot and the tail gunner sat in tandem cockpits, the pilot’s open, and the gunner’s partially enclosed. To maximize the gunner’s arc of fire, the rear cockpit was set lower in the fuselage than the pilot’s.
The DI-6 was developed at TsKB as a fighter that would also be capable of ground attack when fitted with different armament. Originally intended to use a liquid-cooled V-12 engine, problems with its development led to the choice of the Wright R-1820 radial engine instead. The first flight took place on 30 September 1934, and testing began in earnest in early 1935, with State Acceptance Trials following between May and November. Despite a number of weaknesses discovered during testing, the type was ordered into production, and deliveries to the Soviet Air Force commenced in the spring of 1937. Problems including excessive vibration, and a poor field of fire for the gunner, were never adequately resolved, and the various fixes implemented to cure these and other problems eventually added around 160 kg (350 lb) to the aircraft’s weight. Production continued until 1939.
