Bell P-39

[V-1710]

I have been told that the AAF was indeed impressed with the P-63, but didn't want to have to support another fighter design in Europe. Nothing wrong with the plane, just a logistics issue. The P-63 did earn a certain amount of recognition as the RP-63 'Pinball' flying target. And, speaking of planes that were to be powered by turbocharged Allisons, how about the XP-37. Another adaption of the P-36 Hawk, it resembeled a P-40.

[Smokey]

A nice page about Curtiss failures
http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/qu...5/Curtiss.html


Curtiss XP 37


Curtisss XP 42


Curtiss XP 46


Curtiss XP 55 Ascender

[FLYBOYJ]

P-37 must of been hell to taxi because of the cockpit being so far back. I think the P-42 and P-46 was mentioned during the congressional investigation of Curtiss Wright after the war. I always loved the P-55, I think it was given up too early, but there was a war going on....

[V-1710]

The Japanese were working on something similar to the Curtiss P-55 Ascender, the Kyushu J7W1 Shinden.

[pbfoot]

the kyushu j7w1 shinden came out in 45 as a prototype but was much faster 466mph comp to 390 in the xp55 and a substantial difference in armament xp 55 had 4 x 50 cal the shiden had 4 x 30mm cannon but it also had a little more then 800 xtra hp but if one was to take the italian sai ss4 which flew 4yrs before the xp 55 in 39 was well armed with 2x 20mm and 1 30mm cannon with with only 960 hp could've been the dark horse of the canards

[Jabberwocky]

Originally Posted by Smokey

Of course the P 39 was replaced with the P 63 Kingcobra.

The specs of the Bell P 63 D Kingcobra are quite impressive:

Specification of Bell P-63D Kingcobra:

Powerplant: One Allison V-1710-109 (E22) water-cooled engine rated at 1425 hp for take off. Performance: Maximum speed was 437 mph at 30,000 feet (same as a North American P51 D Mustang), service ceiling was 39,000 feet, and an altitude of 28,000 feet could be reached in 11.2 minutes. Normal range was 950 miles, and maximum ferry range was 2000 miles. Dimensions: wingspan 39 feet 2 inches, length 32 feet 8 inches, height 11 feet 2 inches, and wing area 255 square feet. Weights: 7076 pounds empty, 8740 pounds gross, and 11,100 pounds maximum loaded. Armament: One 37-mm M9E1 cannon in the propeller hub with 48 rounds, a pair of 0.50-inch machine guns in the forward fuselage synchronized to fire through the propeller arc, plus a single 0.50-inch machine gun in each of two underwing gondolas

Performance is impressive, but remember that there was only 1 P-3D produced as a test bed for a bubble canopy and new Allison engine. Performance was as good as a P-51D, a plane that had already been in service for 12 months.

The first major production run was the P-63A (~1800 produced) and the heavier and more powerful, low altitude enhanced P-63C (around 1200 produced). Max speed for the P-63A and C was about 410 mph, not that impressive for a fighter introduced in late 1943/ early 1944. The P-38 amd P-51 both out-ranged it and the P-47 was far more suitable for G/A missions.

[book1182]

P-39 mismanaged from the start. Put a super charger on it and you have a winning airplane in a fighter and a GREAT ground attack aircraft.

[syscom3]

Originally Posted by book1182

P-39 mismanaged from the start. Put a super charger on it and you have a winning airplane in a fighter and a GREAT ground attack aircraft.

It was origionally planned to have turbochargers, but the lack of supply for them in 1939 and 1940 meant it was going to be a low altitude aircraft.

[book1182]

That is what I mean... It was designed to have a super charger and Bell didn't fight or "bitch" enough to keep it on their plane. The super charger was a very important part of the planes during that time. Look at the P-38 that was sent to England with out super chargers because they were considered top secret. They were passed on to training units.

[carpenoctem1689]

The air force was afraid of something so new and revolutionary as the P-39. With the shaft having to drive the propeller from a mid-mounted engine, the two centers of gravity, the car-style doors, the forward tricycle undercarriage, it was something very new. And then you mate a revolutionary aircraft, intended to be an interceptor with the oldsmobile M-9 37mm cannon, something that had a horrible arcing shot, and would in my opinion been much less useful against bombers than even a 20mm cannon with a good muzzle velocity. Foreign orders and red tape kept the turbo or super chargers out of the aircraft, making altitude performance pitifully under par. In the ground attack role however, the aircraft could be effective, but the cannon, later updated to M-10, was still not too powerful when compared to german or soviet cannon. Had the aircraft retained the super or turbo charger, one of the two, and deleted the M-9/M-10, and replaced it with a 20mm cannon, it could have evolved into a much better aircraft than it was. It was so effective with the soviets because its what they had, and they were in no position to complain or whine about anything. They used theyre P-39's in low level, ground attack missions, or covering IL-2 ground attack aircraft, not using theyre 37mm gun against tanks, lacking the muzzle velocity or the proper shells for the mission.

[carpenoctem1689]

Good site on the airacobra in the hands of the soviets.

http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/p39_19.html

[CharlesBronson]

Very underrated aircraft.

A picture of the few Cobras actually used by the british. This variant use a Hispano cannon instead the 37 mm M4 gun.






from: P-39 in action/Squadron Signal.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

there was an article in Flypast about 601's P-39s, terrible reliability problems.........

[CharlesBronson]

According to "p-39 in action" the P-39s in british service flew a couple of grouns strafing missions over the North of france and no more...that was all the use in western Europe.




Quite weird aircraft, so loved by russians and so hated by british and americans.

[Glider]

When the publicity photographs were taken she had already been removed from service due to the problems.