The Polikarpov I-16 was a Soviet fighter aircraft of revolutionary design; it was the world's first low-wing cantilever monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear to attain operational status and as such "introduced a new vogue in fighter design."[1] The I-16 was introduced in the mid-1930s and formed the backbone of the Soviet Air Force at the beginning of World War II. The diminutive fighter, nicknamed "Ishak" or "Ishachok" ("Donkey" or "Burro") by Soviet pilots, figured prominently in the Second Sino-Japanese War,[2] the Battle of Khalkhin Gol[2] and the Spanish Civil War[3][4] – where it was called the Rata ("Rat") by the Nationalists or Mosca ("Fly") by the Republicans. The Finnish nickname was Siipiorava ("Flying Squirrel")
Specifications
Spotlights
- This craft has been featured
- MrSilverWolf 7.5 years ago
- FennVectorCWA 7.5 years ago
- AquaViT 7.5 years ago
- aseder 7.5 years ago
- SimpleFlow 7.5 years ago
- vonhubert 7.5 years ago
- SteveMoneyMan 7.5 years ago
General Characteristics
- Created On Windows
- Wingspan 35.8ft (10.9m)
- Length 21.1ft (6.4m)
- Height 12.3ft (3.7m)
- Empty Weight 3,517lbs (1,595kg)
- Loaded Weight 6,106lbs (2,770kg)
Performance
- Horse Power/Weight Ratio 0.327
- Wing Loading 16.5lbs/ft2 (80.6kg/m2)
- Wing Area 370.1ft2 (34.4m2)
- Drag Points 5792
Parts
- Number of Parts 222
- Control Surfaces 19
- Performance Cost 864
@EternalDarkness in theory - yes. But this was an actual feature of this plane (and later i-180/185 derivatives) - This was made on purpose to make it more agile, and indeed - it probably was the most maneuverable monoplane fighter in the world at the time. However, this also made it difficult to fly due to sharp controlls responce and worse - quite difficult to land and very succeptible to stall. It was OK when it was used in Spain by elite fighter pilots, but it proved a huge problem with mass not so well trained rookies in mainstream airforce units in the early ww2. Later Yak-1/3/7/9 and LaGG-3/La-5 fighters were a lot easier to fly. Only the huge MiG-3 interceptor was build to the same phylosophy, but it was necessary to counteract its weight and anyway, it was mostly used by experienced fighters.
I think cockpit and some parts looks somewhat wrong a bit. But the palne as a whole - is great. Landing gear - is freaking magnificent!
Lovely
Russian bias anyone?
(60% of the time I'm shot down by this plane and/or a lagg-3)
Great build!
One of my favorite planes in warthunder
@MrSilverWolf Agreed!
Awesome! This is probably one of the best I-16s on the site!
@mixy123
Its suppost to look like that here is some images
Its look too fat to be honest.
It looks great. However, it doesn't fly well. CoM and CoL should be further apart, and roll shouldn't be that sharp. Fix the nose drop by adding more lift.