[Soviet Ace]

Originally Posted by Gilly

Having had 'the pleasure' of seeing an i16 fly at Duxford this year a couple of things stand out:
- You'd have to be brave or mad to fly this thing

Yeah, the most dangerous part about the plane was landing it. The pilot couldn't see very well when landing, and most of them did a nose over and just plopped into the ground. Lots of pilots who trained in them died that way.

- I'm sorry to say it sounds terrible! Almost tractor-esque. It's a pity we don't get the true recreation of the sound in BoP. What I thought would be quite a torquey engine did seem to lose speed quite quickly when climbing. Admittedly this was only an airshow but it did not impress me particularly especially as there were aircraft there from the same era.

Well by looking at it, I think it's obvious why it's not such a great climber (check out the nose! And the compact body in general. Same can be said about the Wildcat and Buffalo.) As for the sound... B-17, Buffalo, F3F, Hudson, C-47, FM-2 Wildcat, and some others all had the same engine as the I-16, I-15bis, and I-153. They do sound the same, just a bit more amped here and there for the respected planes (like the B-17s R-1820-97s were turbocharged and the FM-2 Wildcat's were just supercharged.) Personally, I love the sound of them, and the reason they sound like that is because of the pistons in the engine not firing all in an even succession like you'd get in say a 109 or Spitfire with their inline engines. If you ever hear something like a Gloster Gladiator or another radial engined plane, you see that they sound like a tractor as well.

And just so you don't flame me, here's a couple of pics to calm you down!!!!

Drop me a pm if you so desire and I'll happily email you the originals

So, would you like the Red Air Force/Army to come get you now, or later when it's more convenient?