BELL P-39 airocobra

[GREENTENERAL]

I was just reading about the P-39 and was wondering if there was ever a decent model of this plane made.

The reason i was wondering, is because the lit i have read describes an endless list of modifications and failures, and hot potato games and so forth, but then i read that the soviets actually liked them as bottom feeders.

Did the soviets modify them, or something? or were they just better at that role than some other planes they had?

Is this even the same plane?  Some of the lit throws P-39  around so much, it makes it hard for me to understand what version they are talking about, or what version had what.

Anyways, the story was interesting and very enigmatic. It just left me wondering whether the plane ever culminated into something good or not.

[spitfiremkv]

it was a decent plane, a slong as it flew at treetop level....

[Guppy35]

Yep, as long as it was doing low level work, it did just fine.

It served in the MTO with the 350th FG into August 44 and held it's own fine in it's engagements with LW fighters down low.

It was in the Pacific with the USAAF for about the same length of time.

If it had to go up high, it couldn't cut it.

An old Airwarrior friend of many of ours was a P39 pilot with the 345th FS, 350th FG and he enjoyed flying the 39.

Check the following thread for some photos and info on Earl and his 39

http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=130900&highlight=Earl+Miller

Dan/CorkyJr

[humble]

The P-39 is the most maligned plane in the game. In reality if it had been produced as originally designed it would have been the dominant "early war" fighter in the world. Even so it was an outstanding plane if employed correctly. It actually had the best K/D ratio of any allied plane in the ETO. In the east it was flown by more russian aces then any other plane. In the right hands it was a match for any plane on the eastern front right up till the end of the war.

http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/articles/romanenko/p-39/index.htm

[MOSQ]

Do a BBS search for P-39, there are several great threads here on it.

[Ack-Ack]

The P-39 would be a good addition to both the  US and Soviet plane sets.


ack-ack

[bunch]

Originally posted by spitfiremkv
it was a decent plane, a slong as it flew at treetop level....

I loves to fly at treetop level

[GREENTENERAL]

I've never seen such mixed reviews for one aircraft.  All the stuff I read on the other threads say basically the same..keep it low, it's great. or they hate it. They cant even agree on weather it looks good. Well, I'll tell you all that I am not an aircraft authority, but I am a master renderer and draftsman and master sculptor in all medium and I say.. it looks good!....thats final!...lol.

I guess the only question I have now is, How would it fare against other bottom feeders? and does it have any great advantages over them?

I haven't seen much info on it's munuverability and handling other than it was good at low levels. I'm thinking that it had to be a bit different than most, with that design.

[agent 009]

Yes it looked good. It was a ***** to work on. Rall shot down 50 of em. Didn't think much of it. Russians liked it. I think it was Yeager that said P-63 could outturn Mustang & thought it was better, even bought one for racing at Reno after war.

[niklas]

outturning a mustang wasn´t difficult in reality, doesn´t say much ....

niklas

[agent 009]

It does say much that he thought it was a better airplane. I'm sure his assesment was based on more than just the turn.

[Squire]

Squadron Signal  has a good book on the P-39, so does Osprey. It has a somewhat complicated technical and operational history, but its a fascinating airplane to read about. Well worth reading up on. It was one of the early mounts in the Pacific and Med for the USAAF, and the Soviets (their greatest exponent) took delivery of more than 4000 of them during the war, in all varients.

There is so much more to WW2 than P-51s.

[agent 009]

Yeah for sure. here is the XP-40Q.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Here is some data on that plane
http://www.pioneeraero.co.nz/xp-40q_version.htm

Here is a three view
http://www.fronta.cz/index.php?sekce=1300&clanek=125

Here are some pics
http://www.pmc-thueringen.de/Modelle/Luft72/BBXP40.htm
 
Looks much cooler than old P-40's with redesigned scoops. Wonder how fast it would have gone with later merlins, 66-70

[Oldman731]

Originally posted by Guppy35
Yep, as long as it was doing low level work, it did just fine.

Except in the Pacific, where it was routinely slaughtered by Zekes.

- oldman

[MiloMorai]

Originally posted by GREENTENERAL
I was just reading about the P-39 and was wondering if there was ever a decent model of this plane made.

The reason i was wondering, is because the lit i have read describes an endless list of modifications and failures, and hot potato games and so forth, but then i read that the soviets actually liked them as bottom feeders.

Any a/c with a single stage supercharger was a 'bottom feeder'. P-40, P-51, Spit Hurrie,........

Oldman, every a/c was 'slaughtered' by the Zeke in the first 6 months or so in the Pacific. When the tactics changed to use the advantages of your a/c, instead of the enemy's,  the Zeke was 'slaughtered'.

In the first engagment by the 8th PG with P-39Ds near Lae on Apr 30 1942, they claimed 4 Zekes for the loss of 4 P-39s. Lt Col Wagner claiming 3 of the 4. By the end of 42 the P-39/P-400 of V FC had claimed 80 a/c for the loss of simular number of a/c. Osprey's P-39 Aces book has a nice evaluation vs the Zeke. 'Comparitively speaking, in performance the P-39 is believed to be about 10% better in every respect than the P-40, except in manueverability, in which the P-40 is slightly better.'