VEF I-16

The VEF I-16 was a prototype Latvian fighter aircraft designed by Kārlis Irbītis and produced by VEF in 1939. Development was halted by the Soviet occupation of Latvia and subsequent purges of VEF personnel. In the spring 1940 Latvian air force pilots made the first test flights with VEF I-16. An already obsolete Latvian fighter was of little value to the Soviets and so only one was built. Following Operation Barbarossa, the single example was captured by German forces and tested by the Luftwaffe. The VEF I-16 was used as training aircraft at an aviation school in Torun until 1942.

Description
The I-16 was of conventional monoplane layout with a Walter Sagitta supercharged air-cooled V-12 engine of Czechoslovak origin, a two-bladed propeller, a blown canopy, and a low set wing with rounded wingtips. The prototype had fixed undercarriage with aerodynamic fairings, but production models were to have retractable landing gear. While unarmed, there were provisions for two Browning machine guns in the fuselage, along with the ability to carry one additional gun under each wing.