Calling Red Airforce Guru's.

[KgB]

Great Britain............$31 billion which later was redused to 5.2 billion plus interest.
Soviet Union.............$11 billion
Three times as much for UK but Russians took most of the bullets, not praising him but i can understand Stallins frustration.

[cp101]

well the U.S. supplied  p-39 aircobras

[KgB]

well the U.S. supplied  p-39 aircobras

Aircraft so horrendous Brits refused to fly it.

[Brooke]

Aircraft so horrendous Brits refused to fly it.

The Soviets thought is was a great plane and used it effectively as an air-superiority fighter.  Of course, they were typically flying at 15k or lower on the Eastern front.  Several of their top aces (including 2nd ranking allied ace of WWII) flew it.

A good book on the P-39 from the Soviet perspective:

Attack of the Airacobras, by Loza

http://www.amazon.com/Attack-Airacobras-American-Against-Germany/dp/0700611401/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266448299&sr=8-1

[KgB]

The Soviets thought is was a great plane and used it effectively as an air-superiority fighter.  Of course, they were typically flying at 15k or lower on the Eastern front.  Several of their top aces (including 2nd ranking allied ace of WWII) flew it.

A good book on the P-39 from the Soviet perspective:

Attack of the Airacobras, by Loza

http://www.amazon.com/Attack-Airacobras-American-Against-Germany/dp/0700611401/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266448299&sr=8-1

Are you saying Soviets were better pilots than Brits or you'd like to get into flying characteristic of p39 dear:)?
Soviets used it because there was nothing else at the time.

[Brooke]

Are you saying Soviets were better pilots than Brits or you'd like to get into flying characteristic of p39 dear:)?
Soviets used it because there was nothing else at the time.

Heh! 

Every nation had some great pilots.  (Although in victories, no one comes close to the Germans, of course.)

What I mean is that the P-39, when used below about 15-20k or so, was a decent and effective fighter.  It wasn't because they had nothing else.  Here are the production numbers of fighters the Soviets had:

Yak-9, 16769
La-5, 9920
I-16, 9004
Yak-1, 8720
Yak-7, 6339
LaGG-3, 6258
La-7, 5753
P-39, 5007 (from US)
Yak-3, 4848
MiG-3, 3120
Hurricane, 2952 (from UK)
P-63, 2421 (from US)
Spitfire, 1331 (from UK)

As you can see, the P-39 is far from the most numerous.  They had more Yak's and La's by far than P-39's.  So if the P-39 were a horrible fighter, I doubt that you would have seen 3 of the top 5 aces having flown it (#2, 3, and 4 flew P-39's).  They all would be Yak and La pilots (or maybe some Spitfire pilots, as the Russians had 1300 of those).

I flew the P-39 quite a bit in AH when it came out.  I thought it was a decent plane below about 13k.  It isn't the best turner, but it turns reasonably well (better than some), handles wonderfully at speed, and is reasonably fast down low.  Not a bad plane at all.  I looked back at my scoring in it from 2008-05-01 Late War and see I did 16 kills in it and 6 deaths, and I wasn't flying it in any particularly special way (fighting only when I had 3:1 odds in my favor or something like that).

[KgB]

Now try looking up what was available and in what quantities for Soviets when P39 was delivered. What a shocker, they preferred P-39 over I-16 or MIG-3 while moving factories away from the front line.

[MiloMorai]

Now try looking up what was available and in what quantities for Soviets when P39 was delivered. What a shocker, they preferred P-39 over I-16 or MIG-3 while moving factories away from the front line.

From this link shows what fighters the Soviets were using, http://avia-hobby.ru/publ/soviaps/1_50iap.html, I can only find 3 Soviet units that exchanged their P-39s for other fighters. Only one converted to a Soviet design and the other 2 to Spitfires.

One would think that Guard units would prefer Soviet a/c.

The most delivered P-39 was the P-39Q which ended production in Aug 1944. How many I-16s and MiG-3s still in service with the Soviets then?

[Brooke]

Now try looking up what was available and in what quantities for Soviets when P39 was delivered. What a shocker, they preferred P-39 over I-16 or MIG-3 while moving factories away from the front line.

That does not mean that the P-39 was crappy.  The Soviets thought throughout the war that the P-39 was a good fighter, used them throughout the war, kept them in service even once they had a lot of Yaks and La's, and had several top aces who flew them throughout the war.

Also, in AH, the P-39 is a decent fighter.  Not the best, but decent -- as long as you are at about 15k or less.  That's where the Soviets fought.

If it is being used to fight at 20-30k, yes, it is going to suck up there.

[KgB]

You deflecting my question, how many domestic fighter were available when p39 was delivered? Listen i know its difficult to even imagine but that's how it was. Country was in ruins, in total war. Every male was sent to front line. 12-14 years old were working 18-20 hours a day, 200 grams of bread a day was the salary.
Women fought along with men in the air and on the ground. Do you really believe they would refuse any aid available? Why scrap squadrons of aircobras if you can use them.
 

[KgB]

By the way in AH the only chance to score a kill in p39 is only if your opponent is newb:)

[Krusty]

KgB, you should try flying it before knocking it.

P-39Q is quite a nimble dogfighter as modeled in AH. A bit too docile in stalls and instability IMO (lacks some vices the real deal had) but it is fast, has a small turn radius, and can dive like nobody's business. You get behind somebody, you're there to stay (unless they're a spit5 or a zeke!).

Only problem is you'll stay there till you run out of taters, if you can't aim! As soon as you try to disengage they come around and bite (shoot) you in the butt!

The flaws are not so much in the plane as in the weapons and how well individual pilots fly them.

I've landed numerous 7-10 kill sorties in a P-39Q in a late war arena, and a number of 4-5 kill sorties in a P-39D in the late ware arena (using the 37mm, not the 20mm -- I consider that EZ mode!).

[KgB]

KgB, you should try flying it before knocking it.

P-39Q is quite a nimble dogfighter as modeled in AH. A bit too docile in stalls and instability IMO (lacks some vices the real deal had) but it is fast, has a small turn radius, and can dive like nobody's business. You get behind somebody, you're there to stay (unless they're a spit5 or a zeke!).

Only problem is you'll stay there till you run out of taters, if you can't aim! As soon as you try to disengage they come around and bite (shoot) you in the butt!

The flaws are not so much in the plane as in the weapons and how well individual pilots fly them.

I've landed numerous 7-10 kill sorties in a P-39Q in a late war arena, and a number of 4-5 kill sorties in a P-39D in the late ware arena (using the 37mm, not the 20mm -- I consider that EZ mode!).

Krusty you'd land multiple kills in p39 even if it had hub mounted sling shooter. But then again you wont stand a chance with equally skilled opponent in lets say historical enemy of aircobra 109, any model.

[Brooke]

By the way in AH the only chance to score a kill in p39 is only if your opponent is newb:)

I disagree.  I think the P-39 is a decent plane.  Not the greatest -- but decent.

[Brooke]

You deflecting my question, how many domestic fighter were available when p39 was delivered? Listen i know its difficult to even imagine but that's how it was. Country was in ruins, in total war. Every male was sent to front line. 12-14 years old were working 18-20 hours a day, 200 grams of bread a day was the salary.
Women fought along with men in the air and on the ground. Do you really believe they would refuse any aid available? Why scrap squadrons of aircobras if you can use them.

No, I'm not deflecting anything.  I'm saying that the Soviets thought that the P-39 was a good fighter, which is true, and that several of their top aces flew the P-39, which is true.

You are trying to imply that the P-39 is crappy because the Soviets wanted all of the fighters they could get.  That is incorrect logic.  You could substitute the word "Spitfire" for the word "P-39" in those same points.