FORTRESS STALINGRAD - SP scripted campaign [I-16 type 24]

[Vendigo]

DOWNLOAD CAMPAIGN (version 6.107b)

Attention, tovarisch!

The enemy is at the gates of Stalingrad! There is no land for us to retreat any further!

The invaders must be stopped here - no matter the cost! 

Required: "Battle of Stalingrad" and "Battle of Moscow". 

This is a 29-mission single player scripted campaign covering end of August – beginning of October 1942, where the Player flies an I-16 over what would be named the decisive battle of the Eastern front. 

Installation guide: simply unzip the Campaign file to the Game root directory. Do not rename the folder containing the Campaign files!  

The Campaign is up-to-date and should run as good as it did when it first came out back in 2018 (or even better); the latest addition is the I-153 type that you will occasionally see in some of the missions. 

 

Special thanks go out to -DED-olaff (for helpful tips on the Full Mission Builder and for providing the tactical map files), Hamaha15 (R.I.P.) for collaboration on the outro briefing, @JollyJack for many skins used in this Campagin.  

 

Edited December 31, 2025 by Vendigo

[sandmarken]

This is one of my favorite campaigns! I actually never managed to do all 29 missions, so this is a good reminder that I need to keep playing it! 😁

[jokash]

Is the unit fictional or historical...Are missions based on any similar missions performed by I-16 - or similar planes, or is it total fantasy in terms of deployment?

[Vendigo]

3 minutes ago, jokash said:

Is the unit fictional or historical...Are missions based on any similar missions performed by I-16 - or similar planes, or is it total fantasy in terms of deployment?

629th IAP PVO was a real unit equipped with I-16 and I-153, active at Stalingrad at the time. Here’s a short passage about it from the Career mode:  

"In July-September 1942, the 629th IAP was involved in intense combat. In addition to performing air defense missions, the regiment was also involved in reconnaissance and ground attacks in the interests of the Army command."

The missions are based on history, sure.    

[jokash]

Might give it a try then...but i have bad experiences dealing with 109's, when i tried I-16 in Moscow career...it was like i was standing in place against them.

[Vendigo]

10 minutes ago, jokash said:

Might give it a try then...but i have bad experiences dealing with 109's, when i tried I-16 in Moscow career...it was like i was standing in place against them.

That sounds like the way it should be! All the more fun when you manage to kill one!

But you will not have to deal with the "skinnies" in each and every mission of this campaign. What's more, you don't have to return to your homebase to proceed to the next mission. Just making it to the target area is enough. 

Anyway, if the 109's are giving you a hard time, you could dive to the ground level and start evasing maneuvers, at low speed (that's what I usually end up doing in the first mission).

[jokash]

I just completed the first mission...me and no6 were the only survivors. I almost got a 109 that was circling around but i ran out of ammo trying to shoot from too far away (did land some hits in him).I thought that I-16 had no radios,i remember in Moscow career i had no radio traffic coming or going.

[Vendigo]

12 hours ago, jokash said:

I just completed the first mission...me and no6 were the only survivors. I almost got a 109 that was circling around but i ran out of ammo trying to shoot from too far away (did land some hits in him).I thought that I-16 had no radios,i remember in Moscow career i had no radio traffic coming or going.

So you survived, at first attempt - that's the most important thing! Your first kill awaits you in one of the next missions for sure!  

About the radios, there is no way to turn them off (I'm actually surprised that the I-16 career has no radio chatter), so we must suppose that all the I-16 are equipped with them. The I-16 model does have an antenna, after all. 

I think, historically the flight leader's I-16 could have the radio unit (transmitter and receiver) while the wingmen had only the receiver radio device.      

  

Edited December 30, 2025 by Vendigo

[jokash]

well no kills on second mission either...after we crossed paths with huge Ju88 formation he went on to attack and got immediately killed, like he hit a wall just overturned on his back, right wing had huge part come off and he was gone...the number 2 somehow got one of the Ju88 and set him on fire,but also got good return fire and don't know what happened to him afterwards didn't see him attacking again...i tried to not have the same thing happen to me so i was trying to get into better position but alas the 88's are too fast for the donkey and they got away before i could get one bullet out.

[Vendigo]

Yes, in that mission the bombers don't lose time waiting for the Ratas so it's better to attack quickly, also sometimes your comrade damages a Ju-88 which starts to lag behind and you can finish it off.

Overall, whenever I managed to shoot down a Ju-88 in that mission, it was when I did a swift attack as soon as we crossed paths with them, hoping the gunners won't get me.