Drawing by Tapani Tuomanen

This photo shows R-5s belonging to the Zhukovskiy Flight Academy on the Khodynka airport near Moscow in mid '30s.

The planes look with the usual Soviet livery of that period, with a dark olive green finish on upper and side surfaces and a grey-blue on the undersurfaces. The engine cowling was unpainted aluminium.

The most interesting visual characteristic is the white tail of all the planes; many of them bear a (red?) number on the rudder, while one has a red star on it. None of the planes appear armed.