P-39... Any news?

[Guppy35]

Originally posted by ATA
Oh please guys! We all now that USAF sold them to Russians because p39 were extremely crappy,Russians bought them because there were relocating factories to the east and had nothing else to fly.
After 1942 p39"s and P40 were given as punishment to squads  that didnt  "perform" too well.
Life time for p39 and p40 motor (as you know they had same engines) was 250 hrs.
They were lucky to "live" 60-70% of that.

Where the heck did you read that?  350th FG in the MTO had 39s until August 44.  They did their job fine.  THey didn't get them as punishment.  

The key here, again is the AH environment.  THe wartime P39 suffered because it was not a high alt fighter.  When employed down low it did just fine.  Read "Nanette" or "Angels Twenty" by Edwards Park about his P39 flying in the Pacific in 43.  They loved how the 39 performed down low 'in it's element".

The AH airwar is a tac airwar, down low, right where the 39 could do the job.

Our old Airwarrior buddy Earl Miller next to a P39 on Corsica 1944, and in flight in his 39 on one of his 200 combat missions in the MTO.

DFC and Silver Star, finishing up in Jugs which the 350th converted to in late August-early September 44.  Only Medal of Honer to a Jug pilot in the ETO went to a 350th pilot.  Hardly a unit getting punished.

[Bronk]

I'd think 1 of the main reasons to add this plane is that it fills 2 plane sets.
Thats my 2 cents.


Bronk

[mussie]

ATA.... Please tell me you not that Git I ran into in the MA Mouthing off about the LA7 being better than the P51...

I say Mouthing cause he said that this was true based upon one dogfight between two p51's and an LA7... some half arsed story about a russian pilot who got jummped by two american pilots (friendly fire incident) and beat them in his LA-7..... Sounded a little like Pony Envy To Me....

Later

[humble]

Originally posted by mussie
ATA.... Please tell me you not that Git I ran into in the MA Mouthing off about the LA7 being better than the P51...

I say Mouthing cause he said that this was true based upon one dogfight between two p51's and an LA7... some half arsed story about a russian pilot who got jummped by two american pilots (friendly fire incident) and beat them in his LA-7..... Sounded a little like Pony Envy To Me....

Later

That particular story is true, but the russian pilot was a top ace and the americans were very inexperienced. Down low the La-7 is a match for just about anything (except a P-39 of course:aok ). The issue with the La-7 vs P-51 is similiar to the P-51 vs luftwaffe iron one. The La-7 simply doesnt have the range versitility or high altitude capability. So even though the la-7 can certainly hold its own or even slightly outperform the pony down low it cant even perform the ponies primary task at all. Had the Americans and Russians fought the la-7 would have faired no better vs the pony then the 109/190's did....

[mussie]

Sorry to bring up an old post here but I just wanted to clear this up a bit.

My comment about the LA vs the 51 was not about the capabilities of either plane.

It was about this "individual" in the MA who ranted on about the LA7 being far superior to the 51 (I dont care for either BTW)

After a few minutes of trying to wade through his crap I finally found that he based this statment (a statment he made over and over again) on one incident (the one I mentioned)

Later

[Saxman]

Quick point of order as the thread's already been revived (not a bad idea, tho, I'd LOVE to see the 39, although I wouldn't be pulled away from my Corsair):

The Americans ALSO made use of the P-400. The USAAF squadron on Guadalcanal (67th Pursuit Squadron?) was equipped with that variant.

[Krusty]

Oh, let it die, with all the other "I want a P39" threads! We know it's been requested, leave it at that.

[Bullethead]

Krusty said:

News on the P39? News is it's still in WB. Nobody used it much then and nobody would in AH, either

The P-39 in WB (at least HT's WB) was a porked uberplane.  Its cruising speed in that game was over 300 IAS below 10k, which was considerably faster than anything else, it didn't bleed much in the vertical, and it got whatever it lost right back, plus lots more, as soon as you lowered the nose.  No problem maintaining high 400s IAS for a long, long way after a brief dive.  Couldn't turn without falling outta the sky, but otherwise it was a great ride.  But nothing like the real thing, from all accounts I've heard.

Which is why nobody flew it in the old WB.  The WB community back then was mostly the old DOS AW community, paying by the hour.  A small, dedicated group, the vast majority of whom felt it was beneath their dignity to fly something like this.  Anytime you saw anybody in a P-39, he was always being cussed for a dweeb needing a porked plane for a crutch, by players on all 4 sides, even his own.  That usually got folks to quit flying the P-39 very quickly.

Today, of course, all the kids out there would fly nothing else if we had a similar P-39 in AH.  So while I want the P-39 myself, I hope HT gets it right this time .

[Spongebob]

Like a Phoenix the thread arose from the ashes.....

[Saxman]

Originally posted by Bullethead
[


Anytime you saw anybody in a P-39, he was always being cussed for a dweeb needing a porked plane for a crutch, by players on all 4 sides, even his own.  

How's this any different from the ElGay 7 and Spixteen we got now?

[humble]

Originally posted by Bullethead
Krusty said:


The P-39 in WB (at least HT's WB) was a porked uberplane.  Its cruising speed in that game was over 300 IAS below 10k, which was considerably faster than anything else, it didn't bleed much in the vertical, and it got whatever it lost right back, plus lots more, as soon as you lowered the nose.  No problem maintaining high 400s IAS for a long, long way after a brief dive.  Couldn't turn without falling outta the sky, but otherwise it was a great ride.  But nothing like the real thing, from all accounts I've heard.

Which is why nobody flew it in the old WB.  The WB community back then was mostly the old DOS AW community, paying by the hour.  A small, dedicated group, the vast majority of whom felt it was beneath their dignity to fly something like this.  Anytime you saw anybody in a P-39, he was always being cussed for a dweeb needing a porked plane for a crutch, by players on all 4 sides, even his own.  That usually got folks to quit flying the P-39 very quickly.

Today, of course, all the kids out there would fly nothing else if we had a similar P-39 in AH.  So while I want the P-39 myself, I hope HT gets it right this time .

Actually that sounds very much like an accuarately modeled Q25;)

[Hien]

I know I would love to see this plane, and I've voted for it every time.  

Earlier today I was playing Good Ol' IL2 FB, farting around in it to see what it could do.  Now, I am far from a good pilot.  But the P-39Q-1 (I think it was the Q-1)  Was so forgiving and agile I couldn't believe it.  The plane murdered a few Zeros with me at its controls (A truely amazing thing!)

But, I would like to note something about the "Flat spin" problem.

I read somewhere, in a book (Yeah, sources suck when you lack them) that when the 37mm gun ran out of ammo it was more likely to enter a spin.  Because of the weight offset, but I remember that from the same source they fixed it by simply adding a little ballast and not ejecting the shell casings from the plane. (the source was a book I checked out from the Library a few weeks ago, just recently turned it in... I hate fines...)

I know this tour I've been using the F4U, and Fw190, and I would switch instantly if we had the P-39Q.  That, and I can't complain about spiffy doors. ._.

Just a quick question though...  Would it be possible to give the 37mm the horible reliabilty that it actually had?   I think it could be, but it makes me wonder....

[Masherbrum]

IN!

[Puck]

Originally posted by Hien


Earlier today I was playing Good Ol' IL2 FB, farting around in it to see what it could do.  Now, I am far from a good pilot.  But the P-39Q-1 (I think it was the Q-1)  Was so forgiving and agile I couldn't believe it.  The plane murdered a few Zeros with me at its controls (A truely amazing thing!)

Just a quick question though...  Would it be possible to give the 37mm the horible reliabilty that it actually had?   I think it could be, but it makes me wonder....

Comparing the flight modeling in IL2 to AH2 is like comparing the relative significance of prions to the color blue.

HT has said he will not model failures, which makes very good sense in a game.

[Murdr]

Dear anti-P-39 wishlist thread jumpers,

Go pound sand...

sincerly,