I-153 n. 70 with green tail

Updated on March 18, 2016

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Drawing by Tapani Tuomanen

 

 

I-153 n.70 of 148 IAP, Libava.

This photo depicts an odd example of I-153 of difficult interpretation.

We could think to some aerobatic livery, but an alternative idea is that of a 'frankenstein plane' made with pieces of different planes: the fuselage from a grey/silver one, while empennages could be from a green/blue one. No images of the engine cowling are known, but we see that the pilot left his downed plane hidden with branches only the nose and the fuselage, and this encourages to think that they were light grey/silver, wile the wings and tail were painted green.

The number 70 on the tail looks much darker than the star; it could be black or any other very dark shade, as dark red that was sometimes observed on other types.