Yakovlev AIR-16

This was another aircraft that, though it was designed and built, left behind few records. It was essentially an AIR-11 with a locally strengthened airframe to take a 220hp Renault Bengali 6 engine (almost certainly French-built, not the licensed MV-6 version) and a cabin enlarged to take four adults. One account says it was intended to compete in the 1937 Pravda-Osoaviakhim competition. Photographs appear to show that, compared with the AIR-11, the wing had less taper and increased dihedral. The AIR-16 was completed, painted white overall with red trim, and taken to the Central Airfield in 1937, but it was never flown. This was a time when Stalin's 'terror' had taken hold, and Yakovlev may not have wanted anything to go wrong; he may have discovered a design fault, or possibly the engine was never cleared for flight.