Drawing by Tapani Tuomanen

Drawings and photos represent an I-153 of ???? ?????? Nebo Moskvy, Moscow Sky, of 1943-44.

There is some historical discussion here, in Russian: http://scalemodels.ru/modules/forum/viewtopic_t_6048_start_320.html

The movie shows a lot of real planes of some unit, probably on Kuybyshev air base. the most of the planes are MiG-3, but there are I-16, Yak-1 and an interesting I-153.

The I-153, survivor in 1943 and probably utilized as liaison plane in the real unit, shows many unusual and interesting characteristics:

• unusual half-elliptical reinforcement plates on the fuselage sides, probably to reduce the wearing of fabric skinning due to pilot's access;
• unusual reinforcement plates behind the cowling;
• unusually long exhaust pipes (except the one in lower-right position, it seems);
• unusual wire aerial arrangement, with wires between the tail and the fuselage but without the mast on the right wing;
• black-green camouflage with sharp outlines, whose pattern is probably the one to be fully known on an I-153, and probably executed with AMT -4 and 6 paints, with AMT-7 blue lower surfaces;
• stars on the tail and probably under the wings; photos show vaguely a star overpainted in black on the fuselage;
• trim tabs on the elevators, painted with some light color, perhaps white and red;
• the cowling looks fully green, apparently including its lower side;
• apparently no shutters plate in front of the engine.

Some screenshots showing the right side of the plane.

The red star appears very light, probably due to the use of a red filter. This makes light blue nearly as dark as green, and there are some uncertainties about its presence below the cowling and the tail.

Drawing by Tapani Tuomanen

Here are two images putting into evidence the unusual reinforcement plates and the long exhaust pipes. The upper one looks cut obliquely, while the mid and lower ones are cut parallel to the plane sides.

The lower one, on the other side, doesn't seem particularly long.