I dunno, Russia's got nukes all over the place. Hidden here and there, supposedly destroyed and gotten rid of. But who knows, I can't give away Soviet secrets. :cool:

And to answer your question, the prototype I-16 up to the I-16 Type 4 had the Russian licensed version of the Bristol Jupiter, that was the M22. But the M22 had some faults (Couldn't stand up to the Russian Winters), so they went to the M25 (which the I-15bis was also powered with, because the I-15 was powered by an American Pratt&Whitney or an earlier Wright engine? (Can't remember off hand. But it was getting up there in age and reliability, so they changed to the Wright R-1820.) Anyway, so the Type 5 I-16 (which was used mainly in the Spanish Civil War) had the Wright R-1820 or the Russian licensed M25. Up until the prototype I-16 (which became the I-16 Type 18 ) all I-16s had the M25. After that, they got the better powered M62 which was another Cyclone but Russian licensed, and then finished at the M63. (Which the M62 and M63 are the exact same engine, just designated differently for some reason that I don't know of.) So the I-16 in BoP is powered with the M63 designation, but could be a M62 as well... depending on how technical and deep you want to get on the whole thing. :P

Landing
 

I have yet to have a hard time landing the I-16 in sim, on my first try I landed and received my achievement for it. So far in Sim I have tried and successfully land her 23/30 tries.

I like to keep logs and stuff for different things that I try or did.

One question about sim or realistic.

When you run out of fuel can you refuel if you land at a runway or do you just crash and burn every time?

i think some of the racing ac of the time like the Gee Bee influenced military designs...

Nope, there's not way to refuel. Once you're tanks empty, you're done for the day (or night) depending. As for landing, you've just got to keep your speed up and not suddenly drop down either right on the wheels like a stone being dropped, or by coming in too slow and having a problem. When I played it on Sim, I didn't have a problem landing if I came in with enough speed and burned it off as I landed.

You know, it just so happens that most American, Japanese, Russian, and French planes of the 30s were highly influenced by racing designs. Most of them (like the Gee Bee) were meant for high speeds with stubby planes... though the flat nose on the I-16 kinda restricts the speed, it's a good TnB plane... but for it's time it was a fast plane with 1,000hp engine compared to the American 970hp Wright Cyclones that were the same thing.

that only stands to reason...most of the racing was pylons. so tight turns were essential.

http://s763.photobucket.com/albums/x...t=DSCF2586.mp4

Heres from Duxford.......

Damn, hear that R-1820 rumble! Like beautiful music to my ears.