I-16 Type 24
 

Is it just me or is the I-16 Type 24 a little squeamish when it comes to performing a loop based manouver. As soon as I approach vertical the thing wants to depart. It rolls like a dream and turns well but man is it hard to loop. Did the real I-16 Type 24 have this type of performance? From what I understand the Soviets made some good planes but the quality/reliability was a major factor.

From Wikipedia:

A 1939 government study found that I-16 had exhausted its performance potential. Addition of armor, radio, battery, and flaps during the aircraft's evolution exacerbated the rear weight distribution to the point where the aircraft required considerable forward pressure on the stick to maintain level flight and at the same time developed a tendency to enter uncontrolled dives. Extension and retraction of the landing flaps caused a dramatic change in the aircraft attitude. Accurate gunfire was difficult.