I-16 Chung 28 (China)

This page is about the fighter I-16 Chung 28 (China). For other versions, see I-16 (Family).

␗I-16 Chung 28

␗I-15bis

␗I-16 type 5

␗I-16 Chung 28

␗I-15bis

␗I-16 type 5

China

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.3	1.3	1.3

Class:

Fighter

Research:2 900

Purchase:700

Description

The ␗I-16 Chung 28 (忠28甲) was an attempt by the NRAF to built fighters domestically. After the outbreak of Sino-Japanese War and the retreat of military factories to safer provinces, Nanchang Central Aircraft Factory built some I-16 from spare parts provided from the Soviet Union and mated them with US piston engines in the caves of Chongqing. As the ongoing war proved the uselessness of earlier Soviet fighters with inferior performance in all aspects, these aircraft were soon used as trainer aircraft for their new pilots and they were likely dismantled by the end of war.

Introduced in Update 1.91 "Night Vision" as an unique variant of the I-16, unlike its Soviet cousins with full-Soviet equipment, Chinese aircraft engineers put together Chung 28 with Soviet airframes and machine guns, and a US-built piston engine. While the overall firepower is vastly decreased to only two 7.62 mm machine guns, the overall performance is on-par with the late series of I-16 and conserving ammo for close targets could still earn some unexpected victories even against more modern fighters.

General info

Flight performance

Max speed

at 2 700 m445 km/h

Turn time15 s

Max altitude9 100 m

EngineShvetsov M-63

TypeRadial

Cooling systemAir

Take-off weight2 t

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 2,700 m)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	428	420	9100	16.0	16.8	14.2	14.2	210
Upgraded	465	445		14.1	15.0	24.3	18.5

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
660	260	700	700	700	~12	~6

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< 200	< 240	< 280	> 250

Survivability and armour

Crew1 person

Speed of destruction

Structural0 km/h

Gear260 km/h

• No armour
• Self-sealing fuel tanks (1 in front of the pilot)

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference

AB103 → 128

RB161 → 201

SB113 → 141

Total cost of modifications2 970

895

Talisman cost190

Crew training200

Experts1 000

Aces20

Research Aces96 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

10 / 20 / 60 %

100 / 100 / 100 %

Modifications

Flight performance	Survivability	Weaponry
Fuselage repair Research: 200 Cost: 60 40 Radiator Research: 200 Cost: 60 40 Compressor Research: 330 Cost: 100 65 Wings repair Research: 250 Cost: 75 50 Engine Research: 250 Cost: 75 50 Engine injection Research: 480 Cost: 145 95	Airframe Research: 250 Cost: 75 50 Cover Research: 480 Cost: 145 95	shkas_belt_pack Research: 200 Cost: 60 40 pv1_new_gun Research: 330 Cost: 100 65

Armaments

Offensive armament

Weapon 12 x 7.62 mm PV-1 machine gun

Ammunition1 800 rounds

Fire rate750 shots/min

The I-16 Chung 28 (China) is armed with:

• 2 x 7.62 mm PV-1 machine guns, wing-mounted (900 rpg = 1,800 total)

While it is not uncommon to see only two machine guns at this rank, the I-16 Chung 28 still has weak armament compared to other aircraft it faces, many of which have four 7.62 mm (or similar) machine guns, or even 12.7 mm MGs in some cases. That said, the I-16 Chung 28 does have a lot of ammo for its two machine guns, however they are wing-mounted, so you will need to consider convergence.

Usage in battles

Simulator:

This model of I-16 can only be used in turnfighting. Its characteristics appear to be quite conflicting. It is excellent in turning tightly and continuously, yet when manoeuvring it easily gets into uncontrollable spins which isn't beginner friendly. Also the rather big nose blocks the visibility a lot, offering very poor over-the-nose visibility which is a disadvantage in a turnfight, because when leading a shot the enemy will always get obstructed by the engine, making you guess the shot. Plus, it has an awful telescope-like gunsight, so when zoomed in the I-16's nimbleness is magnified, making the aim super wobbly. You cannot see anything around which greatly reduces you situational awareness. More ever, there is no trim control available in a sim battle and the I-16 always pitch up and down. Although not a lot, it is still annoying when trying to get a precise aim.

It is recommended to set the convergence within 300 m, with vertical convergence on, because the majority of turnfights happen at that range or closer. Also, in a turnfight you must get used to shooting without zooming in, as you really can't see anything with its awkward scope when zoomed it. However when tailing a straight-flying plane that scope doesn't seem that bad.

Sim is different from realistic, so discard the habit of bringing the least fuel. Bring at least 30 minutes of fuel, although it decreases the plane's performance a bit, it prevents constant refueling which saves time for patrolling and fighting.

As your I-16 roars down the runway, you will notice that it shifts severely to the side, and the nose will tip down. If you don't correct it it will eventually strike the ground, causing a failed takeoff. Thus you must put rudder input as opposed to the side it's shifting towards, and apply positive pitch to keep the propeller off the ground. You do not want to use flaps anywhere except takeoff and landing, since they are very weak and will rip at more than 260 km/h, while the average speed during a battle tends to be around 300 km/h. Once one or both flaps are gone it creates an imbalance in the roll axis, making spins more common. It also makes landing harder.

Before engaging a fight, it is better to have an altitude advantage first. When approaching the fight try to figure out which is your teammate and which is the enemy, to avoid going for a second pass, as the energy retention of the I-16 is rather slow. Also pick your target carefully. For easier aiming, you want to go for those unmanoeuvrable twin engine aircraft like Ju 88 or Ki-45, or bombers if there are any. Given the bad forward visibility of the I-16, these are the best options as they are quite slow and sluggish, and are a bigger target to hit. However getting hits on them tend to do nothing, as your MG has very bad damage. When dealing with fighters, it is way harder to aim. The elevator control of the I-16 is extremely sensitive, giving it good manoeuvrability, but at the same time, bad handling. The I-16 will respond in a very fast turn upon moving your stick/mouse by a little bit, which makes tracking nimble planes quite hard. But once you get used to it, try to lure every enemy into a turnfight, as that is where the I-16 shines. It requires lots of bullets to effectively damage even a fighter, so you have to be patient with this aircraft. If you find an enemy at your 6, utilise your great roll rate to do defensive manoeuvres like scissors to make them overshoot. Or you can simply do tight turns, most monoplanes won't be able to cut inside your turn and they might disengage. Do not put too much rolling and pitching input at once, as the I-16 tend to enter spins easily.

Just like the SB 2M, the I-16 can still fly when it's extremely slow, causing it to bounce up during landing which can lead to a fatal crash. The trick is similar: slow it down more than other aircraft. Make sure you are around 1 km from the start of the runway and is no more than 300 m high. When the runway fills up your gunsight, drop speed to around 210 km/h and deploy landing flaps. The good thing is, the I-16 will not pitch up drastically upon using its flaps so you don't need to counter the extra lift. Make sure that you extend landing gears early as they move very slow (takes around 15 seconds to deploy). When you are about to touch down you should be flying at around 140 km/h. You must control your rate of descent (I-16's gears are fragile) and make sure that you are slightly pitching upwards with the nose obstructing the horizon. This way the I-16 should land gently without having to brake for too long. Once you are sliding on the ground, fully deflect your elevators upwards to counter the momentum that can push the nose into the ground. You must release brakes once every 4 seconds, because if you only release them as the nose dips down, it's too late.

Enemies worth noting:

Ki-27, N1K1, He 51, Gladiator, etc. - Those commonly seen planes are equally good at turnfights and will be a hard target to down since they are very small and agile. To deal with them you need to practice leading and deflection shots, plus manoeuvres like barrel rolls and scissors. They still need plenty of bullets to get damaged, so these kind of targets are the hardest to kill and requires great skills from the player.

Sunderland Mk IIIa - This flying boat's huge fuselage is very spacious and can absorb lots of bullets and shells. It also has lethal defensive firepower: two 7.7 mm in the nose, four forward-facing, two on the top and four at the tail, so attacking from behind, in front or above aren't the best options. If you must attack it, dive under it and suddenly pull up to shoot its defenseless underpart. Aim at the large wings and engines, avoid shooting the fuselage. What will generally happen is that your bullets sprinkle sparks all over it bu they barely do anything.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Controllable	Not controllable Not auto controlled	Not controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Combined	Not controllable 1 gear	Not controllable

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Excellent turning ability- with combat flaps deployed it can out-turn He 112, He-100 and even turnfighters like the early Spitfire
• Extreme roll rate allows it to do offensive / defensive scissors easily, which is an advantage over the He 112 and He 100 as their roll rate aren't as good
• 2 x PV-1 machine guns have good fire rate, adequate velocity and accuracy, and plenty of ammo (900 RPG) for longer fights
• Suspended armament provides rockets and bombs which, to an extent, allows some ground attack ability
• Is a very short and small plane, offering the enemy a harder target to hit

Cons:

• Extremely poor level speed, climb rate, dive acceleration and energy retention- will get outran, out-climbed and out-dived easily by Bf 109 E, He-100, and sometimes even struggles to keep up with bombers
• Weak MG is useless against most aircraft like Sunderland and Do 17 Z, or even early Bf 109.
• Engine tends to overheat when diving at more than 500 km/h
• Control surfaces are unresponsive over 450 km/h
• Flaps are very weak and will break over 250 km/h, severely limiting its sharp-turning potential at higher speeds
• No manual trim controls in Simulator which makes it hard to handle
• Although manoeuvrable, it can still get out-turned by biplanes like Ki-10 or He-51
• Hard to fly in SB: very unstable in pitch, poor over-the-nose visibility and is prone to enter flat spins

History

The Chung 28 (忠28) is an unlicensed I-16 built from the spare parts of I-16s provided to ROCAF. There are few documents mentioning its existence; but most of the remaining documents still give some insight of this aircraft.

After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the Nanchang Central Aircraft Factory (now AVIC Hongdu) moved to caves in Nanchuan, Chongqing. Earlier in the war, the Soviets had provided parts of I-16s to ROCAF for further assembly. In the caves, an I-16 was put together using the remaining spare parts from the Soviets and mounted with an American piston engine and Soviet PV-1 machine guns, while some rumour that a pair of M2 machine guns could also be mounted. Originally built as a fighter, the I-16 had already proved useless against the IJAAS and IJNAS roaming across the Chinese skies, and thus only 3 of the fighter version were built and the remaining airframes were converted into trainers.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the I-16 Chung 28 (China) from live.warthunder.com.
• Skins and camouflages for the I-16 type 28 can be used for the I-16 Chung 28 (China).

See also

Related development

• I-16 type 28

External links

• Official data sheet - more details about the performance