| Made by Bell Aircraft Corporation, the P-39 Airacobra | | | | was the P-39Q with 4,905 being built. |
| was produced from 1939 until 1944 and it might be | | | | In summer 1939, the first orders for the P-39 was |
| called the most controversial US fighter plane of | | | | placed by France, but none were delivered because |
| WWII. It was embraced heartily by the Soviets and | | | | France fell too quickly to the Germans. Britain |
| equally shunned by both the USAAC and the RAF; it | | | | accepted the French order but the RAF pilots hated |
| was hounded by myths and falsehoods that added | | | | the Airacobra mainly because of its now poor |
| to the controversy to this day. | | | | performance over 20,000 ft and a tendency to spin, |
| It was off to an auspicious start when the first unit, | | | | with a marked difficulty to recover from a spin. Also |
| the XP-39 was unveiled at Wright Field on April 6, | | | | they complained that the M4 cannon had a tendency |
| 1939 to the gasps and ahs of the assembled | | | | to jam, but they did concede it was an effective |
| dignitaries. One could see at first glance the | | | | fighter below 15,000 feet. They eventually returned |
| innovations and peculiarities incorporated into Bell's | | | | the aircraft back to USAAC who used them in the |
| new Airacobra. The P-39 was the first fighter plane | | | | early days of the Pacific war, in places like |
| to use a tricycle landing gear configuration, later | | | | Guadalcanal. |
| adopted by all aircraft of all makes. One feature that | | | | The US pilots had the same complaints as the RAF |
| didn't catch on was the car-like door by which the | | | | and were soon requesting transfers to the P-38 |
| pilot entered and exited the cockpit, instead of the | | | | squadrons. In fact there was a standing joke about |
| usual sliding cockpit canopy. | | | | the P-39; the RAF had renamed the model the P-400 |
| Basically, the Aircobra was designed around a gun, | | | | and the story was that a P-400 was a P-39 with a |
| the Colt M4 37mm cannon. To make room for the | | | | Zero on its tail. As the P-38 Lightning was phased in, |
| cannon in the nose, the powerplant, an Allison V-1710 | | | | the P-39s were ferried to Russia as part of the Allied |
| was installed mid-fuselage behind the pilot. It was | | | | assistance to the Eastern front. Of the 9,585 P-39s |
| fitted with a B-5 turbo-supercharger and rated at | | | | built, 4,500 were given to the USSR. The P-39 was |
| 1,150 hp. This was essentially the same engine that | | | | fast gaining the reputation of being the worst fighter |
| was so successful in the P-38 Lightning. The power | | | | plane of WWII. |
| was transmitted to the propeller via a drive shaft | | | | Here the P-39's luck changed for the better. The |
| that ran under the pilot's seat. The unarmed and | | | | Russian pilots loved the Airacobra, nicknamed it the |
| unarmored prototype could reach a then stunning | | | | "Britchik" (Little Shaver, from the Russian slang for |
| speed of over 390 mph and climb to 20,000 ft in five | | | | strafing - "shaving") and began to have great success |
| minutes. | | | | with it. From 1943 until the end of the war, the "Iron |
| This is where the first bad decision was made | | | | Dog" (the official Soviet designation) saw extensive |
| regarding the P-39, a mistake that would haunt it for | | | | action. Although the Russian pilots had the same |
| all its fighting days. Despite its admirable performance | | | | problems with spin recovery, their early problems |
| during test flights, the Wright-Field engineers felt it | | | | centered around the use of the radios; for most it |
| had too much drag, so to streamline the design the | | | | was the first aircraft they had flown with radios! |
| canopy was lowered, the wingspan cut by two feet | | | | They liked its low altitude speed and maneuverability, |
| and the fuselage lengthened by one foot. Most | | | | excellent structural integrity and heavy armament. |
| importantly, the turbo-supercharger inlet was reduced | | | | Soviet pilots regularly mixed it up with and won over |
| in size and moved from the side of the fuselage to a | | | | German fighters. In fact five out of ten of the |
| position directly behind the canopy. This meant that | | | | highest scoring Russian pilots were P-39 jockeys. |
| the turbo-supercharger had to be replaced with a | | | | Pokryshkin was second with 59 victories, Gulaev was |
| single stage supercharger with the entirely predictable | | | | third with 57 and Rechkalov fourth with 56, this with |
| result that the high-altitude performance dropped | | | | the "worst fighter plane of the war!" It must be said |
| dramatically as did the maximum speed and rate of | | | | however that the Eastern front was a different kind |
| climb. | | | | of war in many ways. For fighter planes there was |
| The P-39D was the first mass-produced model in | | | | no long range, high altitude strategic bombing escort |
| 1941, with all following models being quite similar. The | | | | duty, instead it was low-level tactical bombing and |
| D-1 temporarily replaced the 37mm cannon with a | | | | dog-fighting which was where the P-39 excelled. |
| 20mm cannon. The P-39D did have an updated Allison | | | | So there you have it. The P-39 was a failure with the |
| engine, which produced an additional 175 hp. The | | | | USAAC and the RAF, a howling success with the |
| basic specs of the P-39D were: Max speed of 360 | | | | Soviets. The experts say it was because the |
| mph at 15,000 ft, Climb to 20,000 in 11.7 min. Range: | | | | western allies were fighting a different kind of air war |
| 600 miles at economical cruise, Armament: one 37 | | | | than the Russians. Whatever the reason, it's the saga |
| mm nose cannon, 2 50 calibre nose guns, 2 30 calibre | | | | of a fighter plane that was "different" from the day |
| guns in each wing. It was a light aircraft with an | | | | it first rolled out onto the tarmac in 1939. |
| empty weight of 6,300 lbs and max weight of 9,200 | | | | Of the number built, 9,558, only 2 are known to be |
| lbs. The final and most numerous production version | | | | still airworthy. |