Hey Merlin,
Beautiful I-16 ,I've got one ,maybe 2 questions! What is the line for thats going directly into the wheel hub? And if its what i think it is did they use it to manually hand crank the gear up with it?

Cheers Joe

You're spot on! The I-16 was very advanced for its time in introducing a retactable undercarriage, but the pilot had to operate a crank in the cockpit with a cable running down to the wheel hubs. Winding up the landing gear meant the I-16 "wobbled" in the air after take off - just like early Spitfire's, where the pilot had to "pump" up the gear with a lever.

All the best

Rowan

Ok I'm gonna close submissions now, but it's late so I will start the voting thread tomorrow.
Although I said that I would remove all posts other than the entries, I now think it to be prudent to leave them in. They contain some useful info
Mal