On 2012-06-09 09:23:01 -0700, Alan Browne
said:

On 2012-06-09 12:05 , Savageduck wrote:

The P-39 was the Bell AiraCobra. They last provided some service for the
USAAF in combat on Guadalcanal & New Guinea in 1942. A truly nasty
aircraft we managed to dump on the Russians via Lend Lease. For some
perverse reason they seemed to like them. Most of those we kept were
used as target tugs or "Flying Pinball Machines".
http://educationviews.org/wp-content...012/04/P39.jpg

You're overstating its bad rep.

Part of the Guadalcanal problem where the P-39 is concerned was that
they were delivered with different oxygen charging equipment than the
Navy (Marines) aircraft. So the Marines could not supply oxygen to the
P-39's and there was no Army Air Force support to do it either. (The
P-39 was designed as a high altitude fighter - w/o O2 that was a bit
hard...) It fired IIRC a 20mm canon through the center of the propeller
hub - reputedly making it very easy to aim canon fire.

The P-39 never worked as a high altitude interceptor, not because of a
lack of pilot O2, but because of a lack of a turbosupercharger which
was added to the P-63 Kingcobra. High altitude performance was abysmal.
The center line hub cannon was a 37mm, not a 20mm. The drive shaft ran
between the pilot's legs and it had a tendency to snaproll off the
ground. That killed quite a few US & Russian flyers. My understanding
and prejudice with regard to the P-38, comes from my father's first
hand experience.

My father flew the P-39 in 1942 and briefly flew a P-63 in 1944. He
also flew P-40's, P-47's, & P-51D's but his favorite fighter was the
P-38L. He flew in two tours with the 49th Fighter Group, 9th Fighter
Squadron, from New Guinea, through Leyte and Okinawa, and was among the
first tactical units in Japan before the surrender to fly escort for
the Japanese surrender negotiators.
Here he is in a P-47D (1943) and P-38L (1944) in New Guinea.
http://db.tt/xVMqhUIt
http://db.tt/f4P4s6pZ



Despite the oxygen issue the Army pilots used the P-39 to good effect
in ground support of Marines and Army grunts on the 'canal. (They also
fought air to air but nearer the island and at low alt). This free'd
up the Marine pilots for patrols and air defense.

Fortunately, on Guadalcanal the ground attack role suited the P-39, as
they had to do the best they could, along with some very tired F4F
Wildcat's, until the 5th AF got P-38's into Henderson Field.


The Russians also used the P-39 (and P-63) in a ground support role. It
was not perverse at all. The Russians put them to the best use
possible along side their own aircraft.

It was perverse in that the USAAF never got the P-39 to meet initial
expectations, but the Russians certainly wrung the best out of it, but
never at altitude.
The Russians only got a few of the P-63s. It was the P-63 which ended
it's life as the notorious "Flying Pinball Machine" in USAAF hands.


--
Regards,

Savageduck