Nimble, heavily armed, and full of character! Meet the legendary Soviet “Donkey”, arriving in Aces of Thunder. The I-16 Type 27 will appear in the game in one of the upcoming updates as a separate DLC!
The Donkey’s greatest strength is its maneuverability. In a horizontal turn, it can outfly most opponents: enter a turn and hold it, denying the enemy a good angle of attack. The horizontal fight is your ace card instead of a straight-line race, where faster fighters can easily outrun you. Watch out for boom-and-zoom attacks, as faster opponents will prefer to strike from above on a diving pass, and the Donkey isn’t exactly sturdy and can’t take much damage. So drag the fight into a turn as quickly as possible and don’t give the enemy a second chance.
As for armament, the I-16 Type 27 has two 20 mm ShVAK cannons and two 7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns. The cannons pack a solid punch but come with noticeable recoil, be aware that firing all guns at once costs you accuracy and speed, so short, deliberate bursts work better. For ground strikes, you’ll have FAB-100sv and FAB-50sv bombs, as well as unguided ROS-82 and RBS-82 rockets, which makes for a solid loadout for strafing ground targets.
But keep your guard up on the ground too! The Donkey is famous for its temper right from takeoff. The aircraft tends to pull to the left, and the pilot needs to counter it with the right rudder in time. Miss that moment, and you’ll be filing an incident report before you even leave the runway.
In addition to the standard livery, the I-16 Type 27 comes with a winter camouflage and a standard black-and-green camouflage, both unlocked immediately upon purchasing the DLC.
See you in the skies!