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Re: North American NA 16-15?
Mystery solved: NA-16-15 offered to Finnish Air Force in 1936 was indeed NA-16-5 as a single seat fighter version, equipped with Cyclone G-2 engine giving 840 hp at 1750 meters and armed with 4 x 7,62 mm or 2 x 12,7 mm machine guns in North American offer specification.
The promised performance in terms of max. speed:
364 km/h at sea level, 424 km/h at 3000 m - 439 km/h at 4000 m - 450 km/h at 5000 m.
Climb of rate: 6,65 minutes to 6000 meters (2000 meters approx. 2 minutes)
Other data: empty load 1540 kg and flight load 2060 kg, wing load 100 kg /m2, service ceiling 10 100 meters, no limits to diving speed, fuel capacity 250 liters.
+ reliable radio equipment.
+ reasonably cheap price (cheaper and clearly better performance at least on the paper than the chosen Fokker D XXI)
For a fighter plane of the year 1936 looks quite good on the paper. Maybe too good to be true? And would there have been about 40 NA-16-15´s with promised performance available for Finnish Air Force at the eve of Winter War (Nov. 1939) as there were Fokker D XXI´s?
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