The Spanish Fuerza Aereas Republicanas (FARE) had to receive 93 I-15bis, shipped into three deliveries of 31 planes each through France. Though, only the first delivery arrived in time to take some part to the war.

As the I-15 Chato already in Spanish service, the I-15bis received the code CC (Caza Chato, snub-nose fighter) on the fuselage, and were nicknamed as 'Superchato'.

Two planes of the first delivery were lost into accidents, and the remaining ones were grouped into three squadrons of nine planes each, with the remaining planes held in reserve.

The formation became operative towards the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939; it was briefly employed in ground attack missions, and had not engagements with enemy fighters, nor losses in combat.

Before dawn of 5 February 1939, the planes escaped to Carcassonne airport in Southern France, to prevent their capture and use by Nationalists.

Other unassembled planes were returned to France for the same reason.

The painting, in general, looks still the standard Soviet one, with AII green upper and side surfaces, and silver-grey undersurfaces (AII aluminium on fabric-skinned ones, AE-9 grey on the metallic parts). The spinners are of an unidentified light color, probably yellow.

The Republican markings included red wingtips, a red band (incidentally, with non-parallel sides) around the fuselage, and white CC-091 code; the rudder was red, yellow and purple.

The dark triangle on the fin is merely due to a reflection, an can be seen on all glossy-painted I-15bis (not only Spanish ones) on some conditions of light.

Drawing by Tapani Tuomanen

CC-086.

The photo shows clearly the extension of the red zone under the wing tips.