Many intelligence sources came to believe that the VVS was operating a
fighter aircraft like this one as the "I-17". Its existence was widely
reported in German, British, Japanese, Romanian, Italian, and other
sources, and thus it would not be fair to criticise FM 30-34 for doing
likewise.
The inability of the compiler of the section to recognise the
retractable landing gear, on the other hand, is typical of this document. But, most
distressingly, why is the spurious total of "40" available aircraft
cited in the report? From whence could such specifically incorrect
data (date and number, to precision) have emerged? Note the confusion
over the alternate names given, with it seemingly not understood that
"ZKB" is the Czech (or even German) language transliteration of "TsKB".