The Fuselage Holds

Major Karpukhin died in the sky—and woke up in the cramped cockpit of an I-16.

June 1941. Another world, another war, another aircraft.

No air-to-air rockets.

No radars. Only a roaring engine, two machine guns, plywood, metal—and German aces in the sky.

To those around him, he’s a young Soviet pilot who was simply lucky to survive. But Karpukhin knows too well what lies ahead for the country. He knows the cost of mistakes. And he knows how terrifying it is when a hit aircraft starts burning, when the fuselage is already barely holding together.

But changing the course of the war isn’t enough.

He has to survive in 1941 himself.

And every new sortie may be the last.