I-16 Polikarpov fighter in action

[glup2glup]

How this turkey can fly?

[blanikov7722]

i love this plane

I remember flying it in IL-2 Sturmovik <3

[noonsight2010]

I'd love to see the whole film, with English dubbing or sub-titles.

[micropope]

The sounds of the engines are so soothing.

[unab84]

Haha, the I-16 saved the train lol. Gotta love the propaganda of the time (from all sides)

[vvsector1]

@unab84

actually this scene is based on actual events. Stop looking for propaganda where there is none.

[tommiatkins]

Whats that you say Polikarpov? Timmys stuck in the well? "Dakka Dakka!!" Good boy Polikarpov

[gewerhmann]

Blooper! One minute we see the l-16 zooming past the train and the next we see the plane through the window going the same speed as the train. Who said movies were perfect anyway!

[YofterMofter]

@gewerhmann That, my friend, is what I call rock 'n' roll.

[christof139]

Service trials of the new I-16 fighter began in 3-1934. M-22 prototype reached 359 kmh/223 mph. M-22 powered TsKB-12 first took to the air in 12-1933 with the famous test pilot V. Chkalov.

[christof139]

The 2nd I-16/Cyclone engine & 3-bladed propeller flew in Jan. of the following year. Trials in 2-1934 revealed very good maneuverability but the aircraft did not tolerate abrupt control inputs - the plane was deemed dangerous & all aerobatics were forbidden. M-22 version was preferred due to vibration of the Cyclone version

[christof139]

The Bf-109 ever shot down in combat was by Frank Tinker, an USAer (American), flying an I-16 for Republican Spain in 1937 at the Battle of Brunete, & he got another Bf-109B later.

[igorwhite]

Класс! Что за фильм?

[kolbpilot]

Good footage of a fine, under appreciated airplane. Polikarpov fell out of favor with Stalin when Stalins' favorite test pilot was killed flying a later Polikarpov prototype. That's when Yak, LaGG, & MiG stepped in.

[frantiskan]

i think the body was inspired by GeeBee,speed record airplane

[jamesyak52]

lol the hero of the civil war in spain? the I-16 got its ass handed to it by the 109 Emils

[verbusen]

Wow that was a close one!

[madcapromanian]

If the polykarpov was a copy of anything, I would say it copied the Gee-Bee racers more than anything for it's short design and speed. However, the fact that it was the first plane to have retractible wheels, via a hand crank, still puts it ahead of the P-26.

[ichmalealsobinich]

Na da hat sich wohl einer die Blechmarke "Held der Sowjetunion" verdient. Aber mit der Rata konnte man tatsächlich so Kapriolen in der Luft machen.

[christof139]

The main reason Japanese planes had little or no armor during the early years was because they chose to keep the weight down to benefit manueverability & range.

[McLarenMercedes]

@christof139

also they knew they had little resources and little metal as it was. the navy ships took most of that. even Yamamoto said that Japan only had enough resources to fight effectively for little more than a year, if they hadn't conquered enough during that time the war would be lost.

[christof139]

I-16 copied from Boeing P-26 Peashooter & racers, & the engine was a copy of one of the Wright Cyclone radials.

[puchatekkubus123]

As everything in Russia; copy-paste.

[lumiiv]

Really?! Then where for example the I-16's retractable landing gear is copied from? Before you start googling - I-16 was the first ever mass-produced fighter with retractable gear.

[Erictheirritated]

@lumiiv  The later Polykarpov I-15 biplanes had retractable landing gear. I've seen both the I-15 and the I-16 (Wanaka, in New Zealand) and there is no doubt in my mind that, although it is a big step forward, the I-16 is a development of the I-15.

[christof139]

@lumiiv, The Dayton Wright RB-1 of 1920 and the Verville Sperry R-3 of 1922 had retractable gear. The I-16 was the first mass produced fighter with retractable landing gear. I-16 was great!!!!!!!!!!!!

[christof139]

@lumiiv, In 1923 the XPS-Dayton-Wright 1 was an American single-seat fighter interceptor aircraft built by the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company & it had retractable landing gear like the Dayton Wright RB-1 of 1920. XPS-Dayton-Wright 1 had a speed of 146mph but its performance was poor so it wasn't mass produced. Not bad for 1920 - 1923 though.

[shvaky]

@puchatekkubus123

Well, all morons from the greatest aviation country named Poland are better off with their mouths shut. Sometimes it's better to shut up than to speak - your case exactly. Go elect your clown...brrrhmmm.. President..

[McLarenMercedes]

@puchatekkubus123

bullcrap

[perlghost]

@puchatekkubus123 It's really pity that you was not successful even in that process. We all here in f. SU appreciate your sorrow, but not your malice against the people innocent in your difficulties.

[lumiiv]

"I-16 copied from Boeing P-26... "

Wow! What a discovery. How then you'd explaing this discrepancy:

"The [P-26] prototype first flew in 1932"

"Full scale work on the TsKB-12 [i-16] prototype began in June 1933 and the aircraft was accepted into production on 22 November 1933"

Or you think that it's possible to create fully flyable plane just in 6 months? Should I remind you also that P-26 was all-metall and I-16 was not?

They didn't even look similar.

And why copy s* P-26 not for example A6M?

[christof139]

@lumiiv. P-26 was state of the art when it was first produced, & the Soviets did indeed use copies of Wright Cyclone etc. engines & copied &/or were influended by designs from OPs just as everyone else does. Bothe P-26 & I-16 also had their design influenced by 1930's racing planes. Yes, 6-months is enough time to develope a prototype whether it is or is not influenced by or copied from another design. USSR developed the SU-152 in about 2-3 moths or so.

[perlghost]

@christof139 The argumentation of those western "experts" which are specialized on the choosing of western prototypes for any soviet machinery is very impressive. It seems that not only the suggested "prototype" doesn't need to have anything in common with "copy", but the time reversing and pressuring is allowed and arguments by analogy could be borrowed from any other area of human activity: e.g.,it's legal to compare the creation of revolutionary aircraft with the routine tank modification.

[christof139]

@perlghost, Ha ha ! Western experts = Soviet experts! Everyone copies form everyone else. However, the fact is that the I-15 & I6 & older USA P-26 were derived form the Bee-Gee type racing planes, & the Wright Cyclone etc. series of engines were used & copeid & modified by many nations. USA Chritie tank was the grandpa of the BT series, & from the BT series came the T-34 series, with the later BTs, T-34s, & KVs using a fine aluminum block etc. German BMW engine. Variety is the spice of life

[christof139]

@perlghost, " While working on the Polikarpov I-15 biplane, Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov began designing an advanced monoplane fighter. It featured cutting-edge innovations such as retractable landing gear and a fully enclosed cockpit, and was optimized for speed with a short stubby fuselage (similar to Gee Bee R-1) and a Wright Cyclone radial engine in a NACA cowling. " From the same source you used. Everyone copies things to some degree, & I use 'copy' to = influence.

[christof139]

@perlghost, Yes a plane can be designed & flown in 6-months.

[Rikki0]

I would appreciate it if one of our Russian friends would translate the conversation after the pilot landed. Thanks most kindly.

[PlantNr30]

Thank you for your interest. This film reminds me of my childhood, when I learned what humain courage could look like... After landing - pilot of #10 to his mechanic: "Comrade technician! Why you have shutters moving tightly? This is no good! Watch it over!". Pilots are leaving and then - mechanic of #1 to mechanic of #10: "Comrade Chashin! Shutters are moving with difficulty! You should watch it over!".

[PlantNr30]

Shown fighters are all of I-16 type 5. Its M-25 engine has a cowlflap with 9 frontal holes for its 9 cyllinders cooling. And 9 shutters united in a second disc were turned by the pilot from the cockpit to set the suitable temperature conditions for an engine.

[PlantNr30]

That shutters can be clearly seen at 0:14

[Rikki0]

Thank you kindly for your translation, my friend.

[oryginalus]

sowiet gee-bee :)

[xenophobephoto]

The Russian equiv to a Lassy movie...

[juzzi07]

why do the I-16's sound like bees crossed with some creepy keyboard note while in flight?

[Stalin111]

wow that guy who pulled the emergency stop looked like Voroshilov. Wonder if it really was him^^

[hecatonkheir]

THE TRAIN KICKS ASS!

[DH2pilot]

I like how the plane was flying right alongside the train (at a 3/4 view no less) and the passengers were waving to the nice pilot. So the train was either suddenly going over 100 mph or the plane was going under 40. Great effects. Seriously, though- these were cool little planes and I love to fly them in the IL-2 series of PC simulators.

[Sacto1654]

What made the I-16 a surprisingly good plane for its time was it could fight on equal terms with the Mitsubishi A5M and Nakajima Ki-27 fighter, an amazing feat considering how amazingly maneuverable the Japanese fighters were. The I-16 was strongly built and the Japanese fighter pilots found the I-16 hard to shoot down for this reason.

[mizukami999]

My grandpa fought on one of these against the Ki27s. I16 was superior once the pilot mastered its advantage of speed and refused to play the horizontal maneuver game.

[Sacto1654]

In fact, I-16's flown by the Nationalist Chinese in the late 1930's often bested the A5M and Ki-27 simply by just out-zooming them and getting into a "vertical fight." Also, the Japanese planes were quite vulnerable to the 20 mm ShVAK cannons, too. The Japanese got their superiority back with the A6M "Zero," which was much faster than the I-16.

[mizukami999]

Yes, the zeros were superior, but their speed advantage was only 57 km/h against the late i16s. Maneuverability and armament were comparable but i16 could survive more hits. According to Wiki, Zero of 1940 had the top speed of 525 kmh at 4550 m, i16

[Sacto1654]

In fact, the biggest problem with most Japanese warplanes during World War II was that they had inadequate armor protection and fuel tank protection, which mean if the plane gets hit it was a goner. That's why the A6M Zero often lost to the supposedly inferior F4F Wildcat because the Wildcat had more firepower and would withstand the firepower of a Zero a lot longer.

[hpmasta]

hey the F4F Wildcat, didnt had more firepower because a couple of 20 mmm nad other two 7mm machineguns are a better firepower than 4-6 .50 cal machine guns, and if u mention the later versions of zero (A6M5c-A6M7) had threee machineguns and two canons

[SteveSpicerPortsmuth]

the main reason the japanese fighters had inadequate armor was because throughout the war there was a great shortage of steel and other natural resources in Japan

in fact with their limited resources at their disposal I am amazed how long the japanese held out as they did

by 1943, nazi germany was getting short on fuel too

[whizbang47]

Much better than nothing and an exotic look, alright. The fascists swore they were made in the U.S.A.("Boeings.")

[luxurycat]

some cool CGI!!

[Tuckie]

Thanks a lot for sharing this very rare footage!!!!

[21StCenturyWarfare]

that was a great plane

[Brooklyn83]

That train did'nt seem to have any trouble stopping instanly!

[sever576]

My too

[clicclic99]

thank you for posting this! This is one of my favorite planes.