Krasnolutsky's I-15bis

Description

Krasnolutsky's I-15bis is a premium rank Soviet fighter with a battle rating of (AB), (RB), and (SB). It was introduced in Update "Sky Guardians".

This plane belongs to Hero of the Soviet Union medal-wearing ace, Mitrofan Petrovich Krasnolutsky.

General info

Flight performance

Details

Survivability and armour

Krasnolutsky's I-15bis does not have significant armour protection. All the important modules are located in the front half of the fuselage, but the large fuel tank is self-sealing. With all the important modules packed together, well aimed shots will have little trouble causing significant damage very quickly. As such, Krasnolutsky's I-15bis must rely on other factors, such as manoeuvrability, in order to increase its survivability.

• 8 mm Steel - Behind Pilot's Seat
• Self-Sealing Fuel Tanks

Modifications and economy

Armaments

Offensive armament

Krasnolutsky's I-15bis is armed with:

• 4 x 7.62 mm PV-1 machine guns, nose-mounted (1,100 rpg upper + 425 rpg lower = 3,050 total)

Available belts for 7.62 mm PV-1 machine gun:

• Default: T/Ball/AP-I/AI/AI/AI — 50% of the belt consist of incendiary bullets which deal more damage to the crew at a distance of 500 m and above than other bullets. On the other hand, this belt has almost 33% bullets without any additional effect, so this belt can be found useful against fighters;
• Universal: T/AP-I/AI/AI/API-T — The belt consists of the same amount of AI and AP bullets which makes it useful against all types of targets, but it still has one tracer bullet without any additional effect;
• Tracers: API-T — The whole belt consists of AP bullets, which deal most damage to the modules of aircraft and makes more damage to the crew at a distance lower than 500 m. The best choice against bombers;
• Stealth: AP-I/AP-I/AP-I/AI/AI — 60% of the belt consist of AP bullets. Recommended for unexpected attacks and may help new players get used to stealth ammunition. Quite universal, so can be used against all targets with the same efficiency.

Suspended armament

Krasnolutsky's I-15bis can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

• Without load
• 2 x 50 kg FAB-50sv bombs (100 kg total)
• 6 x ROS-82 rockets
• 6 x RBS-82 rockets

Usage in battles

Like other I-15 models, try not to go face-to-face against enemies and instead manoeuvre around and dogfight the enemy from advantageous positions. With 3,050 rounds in the four machine guns, greater firing time can be afforded to lead shots into the enemy. As such, the aircraft is quite friendly to beginners with low gun accuracy.

Keep in mind Krasnolutsky's I-15bis has a slightly slower turn time than the preceding I-15 models. As such, be wary of rival biplanes that could begin out-turning Krasnolutsky's I-15bis.

Krasnolutsky's I-15bis can also equip six rockets, which can be used to ground-pound targets like light tanks or light-skinned vehicles, or activate the timed fuses and try to down larger aircraft like bombers, or even time it to destroy a fighter in a head-on.

Simulator:

The I-15 can be used in turnfighting, bomber intercepting and ground pounding. Like in AB and RB, it is excellent in turning tightly and continuously, and it has lovely low-speed handling and low stall speeds (unlike its successor I-16), making it a great starter plane for sim. However it does have its drawbacks: the rather big nose blocks the visibility a lot, offering very poor over-the-nose visibility which is a disadvantage in a turn fight, because when leading a shot the enemy will always get obstructed by the engine, making the player guess the shot. Also its upper wings will get in the way when you look aside. Plus, it has an awful telescope-like gunsight, so when zoomed in the I-15's nimbleness is magnified, making the aim super wobbly. You cannot see anything around which greatly reduces your situational awareness.

Note: 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

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-15 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-15, these are the best options as they are quite slow and sluggish, and are a bigger target to hit. However getting hits on them doesn't mean good damage, so you must be patient. When dealing with fighters, it is way harder to aim. The elevator control of the I-15 is extremely sensitive, giving it good manoeuvrability, but at the same time, bad handling. The I-15 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-15 shines. Quite a bit of bullets are required to effectively damage the enemy so you must be patient. 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.

If you are not very experienced in sim, you can also go for even bigger targets (bombers) for easier aiming. However you want to be more careful when hunting bombers, since with the Sim control (whether it be mouse joystick or a real stick) the plane will manoeuvre much more gently, making itself a great target for the bomber's gunners. Do not follow behind a bomber's 6 unless you are sure that its tail gunners are unconscious. Chasing behind a bomber makes yourself stationary for the tail gunners, and you will be showered with bullets. Your big radial engine will usually get damaged. Instead, before attacking, get an altitude advantage over the bomber by flying around 2 km above it. The bomber should only fill up about 1/6 of your gunsight. The best position for an attack is at the bomber's high 6 so you can adjust the lead much easier. Dive at the bomber, but not directly at it, try to predict where you two will crash by imagining yourself as a missile, that's where you should aim at (deflection shooting). To maximise the damage it is better to aim for their wings and engines, as the fuselage usually soaks up quite some bullets. Only fire when the bomber passes in front of your guns. This short window might seem inadequate to do anything, but with a accurate burst on the engine the 4 MG can at least damage it. With an engine damaged most bombers cannot go far.

Ground pounding ability is average as there are only few bombs and rockets. The 6 rockets, with accurate aiming, can destroy 3 targets, whether them be tanks or pillboxes. The small 50 kg bombs can be used on light pillboxes. Once the suspended armaments are gone, the 4 MG are good for killing soft targets like trucks, artillery and AA cars.

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.

• Do 17 Z-2 - This early twin engine plane always shows up as an AI controlled recon aircraft that you have to down, which is a good news as AI won't manoeuvre aggressively. However this plane is extremely durable for the I-15's weak MGs. When it shows up as an AI, deflection shots are not recommended as the small shooting windows really does nothing. Instead, try disabling its 2 gunners first, then just sit behind it and burst on its wings and engines. When attacking the gunners try to not get your engine damaged by pulling evasive manoeuvres as soon as the bullets come close, since the Do 17 can outrun the I-15 in a level flight. Another solution is to mount the devastating RS-82 rockets which will down the heavy Dornier with relative ease.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Decent firepower: 4 x 7.62 mm PV-1 MG has good destruction; with 3,050 rounds fire saturation is great even with low beginner's accuracy
• Amazing turnfighting capacities at almost all speed, making it one of the best turnfighters in-game
• Able to perform ground pounding: can carry 6 x rockets to destroy light tanks or even aircraft with timed fuses, or 2 x 50 kg bombs
• Lovely low stall speed and low speed handling, meaning it performs well in manoeuvres like spiral climb
• Fixed gear means that the player does not have to worry about extending/retracting gears in RB/SB
• Good rate of climb
• Small silhouette meaning you are harder to hit
• Very short take off distance
• Open cockpit allows you to easily hear nearby aircraft in Simulator
• Nose-mounted MGs means no need to worry about convergence distances
• Good manoeuvrability combined with fast rockets makes this aircraft lethal against both ground and air targets

Cons:

• Very slow speed: cannot keep up with early monoplane fighters (e.g. He 112) or even some bombers such as Do 17 E-1
• No combat flaps which limits its sharp-turning potential
• Awful gunsight for SB: too much zoom makes aiming very wobbly and frustrating
• Bad over-the-nose visibility makes turnfighting and leading hard in SB
• I-15bis's turn time is relatively higher compared to previous I-15s
• Will quickly lose speed gathered in a dive
• Average roll rate
• Side views are obstructed by the upper wings and supporting structures
• Very wobbly with Simulator controls, making it hard to aim precisely

History

Mitrofan Petrovich Krasnolutsky is a Soviet fighter pilot, a Hero of the Soviet Union, and a Major-General of aviation since 1955. He participated in the Winter War and The Great Patriotic War. In 1941, he was commander of the 1st squadron of the 65's AAR. On 12th August 1941, a group under the command of Krasnolutsky with 5 planes in the echelon took a fight against four Finnish MS.406C-1s. M.P. Krasnolutsky rammed one of the enemy planes with his I-15bis. However, having only damaged wings, both planes managed to return to the airfield.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Krasnolutsky's I-15bis from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Related development

• I-15 (Family)

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.'