WW2's Most Controversial Fighter - The P-39 Airacobra
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- Опубликовано: 5 сен 2022
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There was a time when some commercial airplanes were faster than those of the US Army Air Corps, and military flying tactics were still significantly based on obsolete practices from World War 1. However, such strategies would drastically change soon.
In the late 1930s, Bell Aircraft presented the organization with a sleek concept complete with a streamlined finish that made it look like a winner.
The P-39 Airacobra was unlike anything ever seen before and featured several innovations that marked a departure from conventional fighter design, heavily influencing future developments.
The aircraft made quite the impression and eventually became one of the most beloved fighters among pilots.
However, it was not with the Americans that the Airacobra truly shined…
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If you ask Gaijin nicely, I'm sure they'll give you Alexander Pokryshkin's P-39N-0 Airacobra. When I use it, I claim over 5 kills in almost every match.
I want a Dark Skies decal :)
Yay, a sponsor that isn’t raid shadow Legos or similar
pay to win, no thanks
@@Hammersteyn Poor people say what?
My Grandfather loved flying the P-39/P-63. He eventually authored the book, "OPERATION PINBALL" that detailed the secret gunnery training program the US used toward the end of WW2 to train aerial gunners. It was a fascinating program that highlighted the outside-the-box-thinking employed to increase bomber survivability. His name was Ivan L. Hickman. I wish he was still here so I could hear more about it. He sadly passed from cancer in 1994 just before I turned 19.
Sorry for your loss.
God Bless You & To Your Grandfather RIP & Thank You Sir For Protecting Our Country During WW2 🙏
Googled it and it's true!
I turned 19 the same Year and lost my grandpa that year too. A ww2 Navy vet... At least we have our memories
If it hadn't been hamstrung right from the beginning by removing the turbo supercharger and had a better wing with a more efficient airfoil like the later P-63, the Airacobra would have been one of the better all around performing Pursuit aircraft of it's time.
It does seem that NACA screwed the pooch on the Airacobra by having the turbo-supercharger removed. It is a wonder and sort of strange that once the degrade in performance was seen, that the turbo-supercharger wasn't placed back in the production models. This is where the politics of things get in the way of technological advances.
@@ernestpaul2484 "At a pivotal meeting with the USAAC and NACA in August 1939, Larry Bell proposed that the production P-39 aircraft be configured without the turbocharger. Some historians have questioned Bell's true motivation in reconfiguring the aircraft. The strongest hypothesis is that Bell's factory did not have an active production program and he was desperate for cash flow. Other historians mention that wind tunnel tests made the designers believe the turbocharger installation was so aerodynamically cluttered that it had more disadvantages than advantages" from wikipedia
I remember in his book General Chuck Yeager loved the P39 and P63. Once he learned its peculiarities. Imagine a supercharged Merlin and a 4 blade paddle prop! Probably could fight with a mustang no problems.
That's like saying if the P-39 had been a different aircraft it would have been good.
I'm from the government and I'm here to help...
I am glad to see that the P-39 is starting to get some of the recognition that it deserves in recent years. It was NOT the terrible fighter that it was labeled as by US pilots who just failed to employ proper tactics in its use.
Russians were given many of these via Alaska something like thousands were flow over to Eastern most Russian and then to the front many time zones west. My dad helped in this effort escorting with US Navy PBYs to help with navigational aids and so forth. He was a CPO Crew Chief flight engineer etc.
US pilots didn't fail, Bell failed to provide a plane which met their needs.
It was underpowered because they removed the turbo supercharger. It was inferior in almost every way to contemporary fighters.
@@grafixbyjorj Pilots failed to use it properly, some even admitted it later. Early in the war pilots were still learning and aggressive. it took time to learn how to be patient and use boom and zoom tactics, wingman tactics, etc. Even the P-38 pilots suffered heavy losses early in its introduction until they learned how to use it properly.
@@SoloRenegade Well, it's true that USAAC pilots didn't know anything about air combat when the P-39 was first issued, and their problems were not confined to this type. By the time they had the skills and operational requirement to exploit the strengths of the P-39, it was already outclassed in those roles by other types available to the then USAAF. I'm sure Russia would have preferred P-51Ds and P-47s too, but they weren't offered them.
On the other hand, the RAF did know how to fight when they accidentally go lumbered with some P-39s, and they thought they sucked too. Again, the OR where the P-39 might have proved usable was filled by the Typhoon by the time the need arose.
My uncle was in a P39 squadron flying out of Tonopah Nevada. Lockheed came out with the P38 Lightning and his group gladly transitioned to that. He didn’t like the Airacobra and one of the reasons besides those mentioned, was that the driveshaft went right between your legs.
Lmfao
ouch
p38 was the perfect plane for the south pacific
P-39 was an unacceptable gun platform when near the stall (according to Material Command). Horrible roll-yaw coupling, extremely light stick forces under g's and an airfoil (N0019) that exacerbated recovery from stalls and spins. Then there was the aft CofG problem when ammo was depleted. There were 3x as many accidents at P-39 training units. It was therefore the perfect export fighter to the communists.
Born and raised in Niagara Falls, NY, home of Bell aircraft I was privileged to see many, many P-39s 'strut their stuff'. One of the city's major tourist hotels had been taken over by the Army and used as housing, as well as a training facility for future mechanics, many of who shared a Sunday Dinner at my house, invited by my Mother or sister who spent time with the American Womens' Voluntary Service which provided USO type R&R facilities within a block of the Cataract House Hotel. One sister eventually married one of those P-39 mechanics (who spent the War in Bermuda repairing engines on transport and bomber aircraft). In retrospect, I think I saw more P-39s wearing the Red Star than the American insignia as they would make gunnery runs down along the banks of Lake Ontario. Great fun for an 11 year old back in '43-'44.
Years ago a neighbor of mine had flown 39's in North Africa out of Tunis. Man, he had some stories.
Hi i was reading through comments and found you mentioning my country Tunisia.. our love for warbirds truly unites us hahaha
@@sensi7593 Would have been quite a thing to see back in the day. The airfield my friend
was stationed at also had B-29's that were hitting Italy and southern Europe.
Haven't seen him since the late 80's, and he was in his mid or late 70's at the time, I'm sure he has passed on by now.
@@JFSmith-nb8hf May he R.I.P!
I'm surprised he survived flying those. Must've had good reflexes.
@bobsakamanos4469 A lot of his buddies didn't. Ended up as a Brigadier General. Had a Navion, flew with him many times. Still a hell of a pilot in his 80's.
Growing up I had an extensive collection of model airplanes from WW1 through Korea. The P39 was one of my favorites due to it's sleek appearance.
When I was building plastic models in the 1970s the P39 really captured my imagination. I loved the engineering of it, with the driveshaft and the cannon. Just one of the coolest planes, ever. If you ever go the the Air Force museum in Dayton you can see P39s, but they also have some fantastic p39 artifacts, including a complete P39 drivetrain and cannon. for the 1930s that design was unbelievable
I built that model too, it was my favorite, I love the tiger shark markings. Now I live next to the airfield where the 347th Fighter Squadron of Aircobras were 1945-1946 in Palawan, Puerto Princesa Philippines. Amazing.
Probably my favorite aircraft of World War Two, I always played with it in IL-2, and Pacific Fighters, right behind the Corsair. Difficult to fly, but packed a hell of a punch. Imagine if it had that Super/turbocharger. It would have been a game changer Early War.
The air cobra HAD a supercharger but it was a single speed one so had little to no high alt capability. But uf they had kept and turbo supercharger it originaly had it would have been a mid to high alt fighter with better turning and better speed at mid to low than any other fighter. Plus it also was heavily armored
I preferred to use the P-40 in IL-2
Agreed, by the time the Kingcobra came out other fighters had lobbied the military contracts and spotlight, so it was just mostly used by the Soviets.
It's cool to play an old school game with great aircraft aerodynamic physics, but also Digital Combat Simulator has almost the same rating of physics like IL-2 game series but in the modern days of Simulator gaming. Glad you've liked these types of nerve racking combat sim games, keep having fun and enjoy.
P-39: "I'm the most controversial fighter of WW2!"
Me163: "Excuse me?!!"
The Me-163 isn't controversial, it may look like a good idea on paper but in execution horrible
The American piolets in training were scared to fly this plane, Experienced piolets called it The Iron Dog because of the poor acceleration and the heavy controls. They sent trained piolets to the training fields to reassure the Air Cadets that it was safe to fly like the B-26. Some flew both. Tactically The use as a high altitude escorts exacerbated the poor qualities. An accepted use was close support of ground troops, It was adequate .
The P39 was a damn fine looking plane.
*It is an amazing looking aircraft that looks DECADES ahead of its time. I think it still looks modern even today!*
If you say so, Dr.Thrax, then it must be true(dont send stealth quads pls😬)
lol
Modern even today is a slight overstatement...
@@debraoneill4163 High Debra, almost outed your family nick name, It was Slick for its day. They built a Racing version of the P-38 and and P-39 around to all the air races. Happ Arnold needed those planes and [ulled out all toe stops, while Congress was out of session. By the time they got, Correct me if i am wrong, back, they were so famous as they went around the Air Race Circuit. I think GEN. Dolittle was a test piolet. that season.
Nowdays its used as Race aircraft, Acrobacy aircraft and used in Fly-By shows, maybe if put a Turbo prop on it can be used for Light attack like Brazilian A-29 Tucano that was heavily inspired on P-51 Fuselage
I noticed this plane in War Thunder. Definitely one of my favorites even though I was getting wiped by 109s
I've taken out a lot of 109s in the 39 and the P-400. I don't engage in turning fights though. I mostly BnZ and if I notice the other pilot isn't very good, that's when I engage in such fights. Otherwise, I just climb and try to hit anyone close by but don't go after them
Dude the 109 is like the only thing you'll see all the way through to rank 4 aviation. Seems like 50% of the playerbase uses it. Makes me want to delete the game.. but with 100s of hours in it.... and some hard earned cash spent on it.. I just cant seem to stop playing.
Wdym, getting kills with this in wt is easier than the mustang, climbs better too
@@camilorodriguez5602 true. I could finish an en enemy aircraft so fast in this. With the BnZ tactic, I can climb sooner and less chance of an enemy fighter closing in on me
The only plane that shoots me down in this garbage dumb. P39 is the most popular vehicle used by noobs and scrubs in this game
Fun fact, what they came up with to get out of a flat spin. Open the door. That would upset the airflow enough to recover the aircraft.
Wild, I gotta try that in war thunder lmao
Tumble and spin was common in Larry's birds.
One of my favorites in the game. That 37 in an in line configuration is ruthless.
I remember watching a documentary about the early war in the Pacific, and a veteran that was there said, "We use to say that the only difference between the P-400, and the P-40, was that the P-400 had a Zero on it's tail." A few years ago I read a book about the P-39 in the Pacific. On paper, it looked like a gamechanger, but the reality was far different. It was a twitchy airplane to fly. The other thing was that it seemed like they were always in short supply, because they were either being shot down, or being crashed because of mechanical failure. It was a solid platform. Most of the time, sometimes weeks after the fact, a pilot, who had been missing, would walk into camp. He had survived the crash, it just took that long to get back. It didn't have a good reputation among the American pilots, but the Soviets loved it! I'm a bit of a history buff, and I don't think I can remember a single time, when great American fight aircraft of World War Two is discussed, that the Airacobra is ever mentioned. Not one. It was a great idea, that just didn't work. If the original design had not been altered, or we had used it differently, who knows what it could have done?
The P39 Airacobra was the very firdt Revell model I built back in 1955. A very unusual plane.
It was in the Army Airforce brown colour. I still have it.
Chuck Yeager says that US pilots had made up a little poem about this aircraft:
"Don't give me no P-39
With an engine that's mounted behind.
I'll tumble and roll, and dig a big hole -
Don't give me no P-39."
Bell has a really cool RUclips channel. They are still doing really cool innovative things. I might be biased as I am an investor.
There was a song (or poem?) among USAAC pilots that went "Don't give me a P39, don't give me a P39. It will tumble and roll and dig a deep hole, don't give me a P39".
Exactly. Deemed not suitable for combat manouvers by Material Command.
This plane is so ahead of its time that it somehow looks modern. Definitely the coolest looking warbird ever.
Mig29
No, me262.;)
Naw the Dornier DO335
I like the looks of the P-40 better, but in Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles video, he showed the early P-39 had superior performance to the early P-40.
LOL, ahead of its time? Well, it led the way in fatal accidents in training units. Deemed an unacceptable gun platform by Material Command.
One of my great uncles flew a P-39 and became an Ace in it in New Guinea!
Long time ago, I watched a documentary on this plane and it included some Russian pilot who flied the plane back in the day. He said that they liked it and in particular, one thing... Its 37mm gun. "If you managed to score at least one hit against a German fighter, it would simply disintegrate right before your eyes".
I was just looking for info on this plane and you upload this. Awesome!
My second favorite design of WW II-era aircraft, behind the P-38 Lightning. I guess I like trikes! Thanks for a thorough video!
The engine was put behind the pilot so the engine mount structure would be coupled with wing root structure in order to save weight. This also made the use of a tricycle landing gear much easier
Cause that had nothing to do with freeing up space in the nose to mount a 37mm cannon.
engine mounts were typically tied into the same structure that supported the wing spar, on fwd mounted engines as well.
The weight saving on the P-39 was done by eliminating the inappropriate turbo system.
The best thing about having the engine behind you is the bonus armor from the engine block.
Perfect timing. I recently bought a Airacobra model and thinking about preordering one from another company.
My mother and one of her brothers worked in that plant. She was there waiting outside after her shift as her brother got the car to take them home when an Airacobra out on test crashed into the plant, killing several workers. Years later she could still vividly remember the crash and the smell of charred bodies. Nothing is left of the plant now, just a plaque in the parking lot of Buffalo International Airport marks its existence. Nothing was said about the crash in the papers at the time, wartime news blackouts precluded that.
I just got the cobra and it’s really good, I like the cannon built into the nose of the prop really packs a punch and fast, only problem is the landing gear it’s so slow witch isn’t a surprise since aircraft like the spitfire used a crank to lower the landing gear instead of using mechanical landing gear like that of the newer fighters
Couldn't some exec or general have the initiative to re-equip the P-39 with that super charger even if it cost losing a machine gun? It seems they didn't try very hard to make this thing work, unlike the Soviets who persevered and made it work very well. One thing not mentioned here was the fact that pilots complained about engine fumes.
Interesting that the NACA people basically hamstrung the aircraft, and it was never re-configured with the 'correct' supercharger/turbocharger setup, which would have made it a much more competitive fighter... sad that such an innovative 'platform' ended up being so underrated. Thanks for your 'usual' insights!
Not true. Dark moron channel got nearly EVERYTHING wrong with this video. For the REAL information, go to Greg's Airplanes and Automobile channel.
Exactly
Actually, NACA did not tell Bell to remove the turbo supercharger, but to make it more streamlined to reduce drag. It's been raised that Bell removed the turbo since it would require a full redesign of the fuselage if they decided to go along with NACA's streamlining recommendations.
The original intake duct for the system was on the left side of the plane, aft of the cockpit and did protrude out a good deal.
@@miket2120 considering it had low speed, pppr climb rate and could only operate at low altitude, I think a bit of drag would have been a good trade-off for a 30-40% increase in horsepower
@@miket2120 Actually, before Lend Lease, it was ILLEGAL to export turbo powered superchargers. The hot turbine blade components specifically, not the superchargers which EVERYONE had... Then Britain showed up with effectively the same thing during Tizard mission and this aspect vanished ASAP, not that anyone was directly thrilled with turbos on anything other than bombers at the time... Yes, Bell was having drag problems with the turbo to begin with, just like all other turbo charger designs initially of trying to place in a fighter(P38 teething problems and P47 teething problems).
The P-39Q was excellent against the Luftwaffe. Why? Soviet pilots found out that below 15,000 it was a match for the BF-109G and the FW-190. Also, the P-39 had tricycle landing gear. That means the aircraft didn't try to kill you in a ground loop on landing or take off. BTW, a solid 5% of all tail draggers in WWII were lost to ground loops. The P-39 was a good aircraft. The P-63 was an extremely good aircraft. The P-47, P-38, and P-51 had better high altitude performance and far better range.
Analysis after the war showed the Luftwaffe lost more Bf-109s to collapsing landing gear than combat.
The test pilot reports from Wright Field strongly disagree with your claim. The P-39 had a host of problems and was deemed an unstable gun platform for manouvers near the stall. It also killed many lads in the training units, either spinning in or on landings.
The P-39 had the same problem that the P-40 did, it did not have a mechanical supercharger in addition to the turbocharger which the Merlin had. It was a great idea that was not executed correctly.
Both the P-40 and P-39 had mechanical superchargers, but they were not good at high altitude like the late model merlin mechanical superchargers.
@@SmedleyDouwright Agreed, the rear engine placement and space restraints of the svelte air frame prevented use of a larger supercharger or compound FI and the aerodynamic impacts of the additional air inlets needed hadn't been worked out. Even the P-51 had somewhat similar lackluster performance until the USAAF realized they needed a high altitude escort fighter with much better range than the P-47 and started using Merlin engines since a comparable (power/size) FI Allison wasn't made until later in the war.
@@SmedleyDouwright I thought they had turbochargers but as you said they were weak.
All warbird engines had at least one supercharger.
@@bobsakamanos4469 True but it took what was called Turbo Supercharging to give planes the performance needed above 20,000 feet.
Coolest-looking plane of the war.
I think I still prefer the P-80 or the P-51
P-38
F4U-1
I might be mistaken, but I believe they are restoring one of these amazing aircraft at the Chino Air Museum, in Chino, California. We used to live next to the museum some years ago and saw some of the early progress. It’s a really good museum with intent on getting their planes in the air.
About 5 years ago, they lifted a P-39 out of San Carlos Bay, near Ft. Myers, Fl. Crashed during target towing for Gunners who trained at the Buckingham Field from about 42 to 45.
I've been hoping for this plane since the channel started. Thank you for covering it.
It would have been nice if ANYTHING the idiot channel said was actually true. Kudos, this moron got nearly everything wrong. For the actual history, go to Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles channel on YT.
A lot of p-39 content has been coming out on RUclips lately, although maybe I've just been getting recommendations for it. I know that Ed Nash and Greg's airplanes and automobiles both recently released episodes about it and I think one other channel did as well. Analytics will eventually homogenize all content on RUclips.
Aircobra week, great! :) I love this bird since I was a little kid, it's strange and beautiful in the same time. :)
It's the war thunder sponsored videos, anytime a new ad campaign starts
Some good P-63 content has been coming out also!
The 37 mm was amazing and a good tank hunter!
I liked the light hearted war thunder advertising, a little of comedy now and then doesn't hurt
Ive read a lot about the P39. One of its biggest innovations was moving the engine behind the cockpit and using a propeller shaft with a gear reduction box mounted forward of the cockpit. This is what allowed the 20mm Hispano to fire through the prop hub and not require propeller synchronizers for a gun to fire between the prop blades, also allowing for much better weight distribution and a super sleek forward section. Had they not foolishly removed the forced induction this would have been the greatest WW11 fighter. Kneecapping it to 15,000 feet was just foolish. Though that cannon is a monster when strafing tanks and airfields from a few hundred feet. Coupled with Armor Piercing rounds the Hispano made the the P39 a true tank buster. Had they allowed greater speed and altitude nothing in the sky at that time could touch it, short of the ME 262, which just wasnt made in great enough numbers and came out too late in the war, when Germany didnt even have proper fuel reserves to mount a successful defense of German airspace. Had Hitler been successful on the Eastern front and put more resources into defensive fighters and not offensive bombers WW11 could have cost even more lives than it did, though I doubt once Germany was looking at invasions from 3 fronts they could have stopped the allies with anything short of Nuclear weapons.
A statement very well said,brother.
Only it wasn't designed for the 20mm but the Oldsmobile 37mm M10. The 20mm was mounted in the Airacobra Mk.1 for Britan, because the US, neutral at the time wouldn't allow the 37mm for export. These models were not liked by the British and were send to the USSR via lend lease and the ones built but not shipped to the UK were kept by the US as the P-400.
Sorry, M9 cannon.
It's a myth. It was not used to bust up tanks.
@@edxcal84 I knew about the P400, but I did not know about the original 30mm cannon.
I think this verse from a contemporary USAAF drinking song says it all as regards the feelings of American pilots towards the Airacobra:
“Don’t give me a P-39,
With the engine mounted behind,
It will tumble and spin and then auger in,
Don’t give me a P-39.”
I personally always liked it....although I’m terrible in it in “Il2:GB”!
I've always loved quirky designs, so of all WW2 planes, planes like the P-39, the Pe-3 heavy fighter and the Boulton Paul Defiant turreted fighter are my favorites.
In his book , Chuck Yeager writes about training pilots in the P-39 and flying "local" missions over the Mojave desert and out to Muroc , before Muroc became Edwards AFB ....He spoke highly of the planes ability and relates several stories of him shooting Antelope from the air! ... Great book!
Its truly amazing how many great planes there were. And some you've never heard of. The P39 could have been great if they left the turbo supercharger on there but it found its niche and was a capable fighter in its own right.
Those car-type doors (on both sides) must have been very much appreciated if a pilot ever had to parachute from a damaged P-39.
The original Hawker Typhoon design had the same door design, and the were a problem on roll overs often trapping the pilots in the cockpit.
@@chuck.reichert83 this would be very bad, especially if the plane also happened to be on fire!
I don't know about that. Try opening your car door at freeway speed. The onrush of wind would want to keep it closed. I couldn't imagine trying to get it open at 150+ mph. If it could be lifted off, like a Jeep door, it would be great, though.
Ever tried to push a 4 sq ft panel against 300mph wind? It is IMPOSSIBLE. Many pilots DIED due to those doors.
the doors could be jettisoned to bailout, or if a crash landing was anticipated.
So glad you put the cirkel and arrow in the thumbnail. I've would never have seen the aircraft without it
Video exactly on point, on a interesting story . Well done!
Another great vídeo !! 👍🏻👍🏻
👉🏻 The Dark Skies' most uncommon feature, which makes It one of a kind, is the tragic-like fast forward speech of Its announcer. Keep up with this channel's trademark. 👍🏻👍🏻
4:17 Saying "two point five inch, and two point three inch Browning machine guns" just like that is very confusing, even for a viewer like me who's familiar with the P-39's design and warbird armament in general.
I had to rewind twice before I understood what he meant LOL.
Proud to learn all this! My grandmother worked in the Buffalo factory that built them.
I only get a few minutes of free time at work..love these videos on break. Keep up the good mini documentarys!
That was a wonderful documentary thank you. If anybody's interested the Yanks air museum in Chino Valley airport has a wonderful example one of these aircraft.
Very good program , always a pleasure to learn more.
Great plane in the air racing circuit.
That gun coming out middle of prop was a really neat invention!! 👍
Good video. Some great clips and the story is well narrated.
The cobras are my favourite planes in war thunder. Awesome 37mm cannon!
Heroes of the Pacific has a PBY flying boat with a 75 mm. cannon in the nose. it doesn't fire quickly but if you hit a Japanese airplane it just goes >poof
The P 39 is one of my favorite aircraft of WW2.
Interesting. As an Englishman, I knew absolutely nothing about this WW2, fighter aircraft.
More...Hurricanes, Spitfires, Messerschmitts, Focke-Wulfs, P51s, Mitsubishi Zeros, etc etc
Mid-Engined, too?... Fascinating. Thanks for creating and uploading this video
I love this plane. Apparently so did Yeager. I believe this plane was meant to attack bombers, while the P-40 was meant for dogfighting.
The P-40E's reliability was pretty trash but others were great until the P-51D came in the late coming of World War 2.
You are correct. the original spec was for a point defense interceptor. thus the short range.
USA: "This fighter's no good, it's only ok at low altitudes"
Soviets: "Heated cabin?! This is the best plane ever!"
LOL, ... and a radio !
Thanks for this. I've long been fascinated with this aircraft and this video has been very informative.
You deserve that WT sponsor my dude. Keep up the good work.
Why did NACA remove the supercharger? This is not the only time NACA almost ruined a fighter design - they nearly did the same thing to the Mustang, and I've never been able to figure out why!
NACA did not remove the supercharger; they had only an advisory role. That was a Bell decision to expedited production.
@@timgosling3076 I assume that's true in other situations like the Mustang lack, too. At least that one didn't get away!
@@wesdowner5636
The eatly Mustangs/Apaches were built with Allisons because that was what was available at the time. The later Mustangs used the British Merlin built in the U.S. by Packard (the Apache was a successful dive bomber and didn't need the altitude).
Only the turbo was eliminated. All warbird engines had a supercharger.
Gotta love that car door on the cockpit.
My father joined the Army Air Corps to be trained as a fighter pilot in 1942. He was trained to fly P-39s at a dirt airstrip just north of Charleston, SC. From there he was sent to the Aleutian Islands to fly against the Japanese who had occupied two of the Aleutian Islands. He hated the P39 for one reason. Some of his fellow pilots died because the plane's heater design was defective and allowed carbon monoxide to enter the cockpit causing the pilot to lose consciousness and crash. The only option was to not use the heater and, as he stated, damn near freeze to death on every mission. He made it through, though and ended up flying a total of 350 combat missions in three wars, and logging over 13,000 flying hours. I grew up on USAF bases and could tell a fighter plane flying over just by its sound. I had dreamed of following in my dad's footsteps but the USAF said otherwise when I took my flight physical and failed because of a scar I had inside one eye.
I have to say since I've gotten back into flying RC one of the first birds was/is the p-39. E flight Horizon hobby.. probably the best flying one in the hanger honestly!!
'The P-39 sure was a different plane' - P-51 ace Bob Goebel
AWESOME. Thank you for making this one. My neighbours Grandfather flew in one of them while serving.
My uncle was a USAAF Bell p-39 Air Cobra pilot in the Aleutian campaign. He flew over 400 missions in an Air Cobar and never had any aircraft related problems. He was even landing on runways flooded with 12" of water.
I always thought that the P39 was the Volkswagen Beetle of the air because of the engine placement.
It might not have been the greatest design for the Western Allies, but it was good for Australian and Russian air forces….
Glad you mentioned the King Cobra, only I wished you talked about it more since it was the improvement of the Air Cobra.
Excellent video though
The P-39 was mid-engined. The Volkswagon was rear-engined, like the Porsche 911.
Vw beetle was rear engined, p39 was mid engined
Its the C8 Corvette of the skies
Mid engined, right behind the driver (pilot)
Wonder how that 37mm, with the autoloader, would have worked with the M-3 Stuart light tank.
It probably wouldn't had fitted the turret alongside the crew, I'm afraid.
It wouldn't be too useful. It was a much shorter barrel and used much smaller casings with less powder and fired shorter shells than the 37 AT gun.
Specifically the 37×145mmR vs the 37×223 mmR. A bit like comparing a .22LR to a .223. It would be a bit like asking why don't snipers just use the lighter and faster firing guns that fire 300 blackout instead of 308.
At some point your tank would be better of with the much faster firing 20mm cannons, or a 40 mm, which interestingly enough was tried and it wasn't effective against anything but infantry, which a few M2's did well enough anyway, so was dropped fairly quickly.
The P-39's cannon did find a good home on patrol boats in the pacific though, which is neat. M2's didn't quite have the blow big holes in it power you need to destroy enemy PT boats, but the 37 did, and there were plenty of crashed P-39's around to salvage them from. Late in the war the cannon was fitted from the factory.
It worked great against large wooden or fiberglass boats, with it's fairly decent HE shell, but it's fairly light and slow AP round wasn't up to infantry carrier armor, lot alone even light tanks. The 37mm AT gun was actually sort of ok against light tanks at least, and had 3 times the mass in it's HE shells, so was much more useful in land combat where targets are either unprotected fleshy things, in which case M2 or even .303 it, or hardened more than even WW2 destroyers were. The 37mm AT gun was already struggling enough to have a home, cutting it's shell size to 1/3rd isn't going to do anyone any favors, regardless of rate of fire.
@@ASDeckard Another Dream, shot down in flames! (Seriously: Excellent write up with first class argumentation)
i never heard of this plane before, thank you
So some bureaucrats ripped out the supercharger and killed its performance.. Brilliant idea. :|
I've been really into WW2 aircraft since the 70's and it wasn't until RUclips in the past year that I realized it was "AirAcobra" and not "Aircobra".
The episode I’ve been waiting for!!!! Seriously hands down the coolest airplane ever built
In my tops for props for sure. Cheers
In my tops for props for sure. Cheers
one of my favorite warthunder fighters... that nose mounted cannon is quiet useful.
Leave it to NACA to screw up an amazing plane. Great video mate, love all your content!
How could a long barrel 37mm auto cannon not be popular
Holy cow! Those are some of the biggest red arrows and circle I have ever seen! Daaaamn!
US pilots didn’t like the rear mounted engine or the crankshaft passing through the cockpit. But the Russians adored it, and that big ol 37mm cannon. As a tank killer it was superb. Chuck Yeager started out in the P-39. He got a chance to hangout with some Russian pilots, and when they found out about him flying in one, they were best buds.
Bud Anderson did too. Fellow 357th FG'r.
Amazing that they would decide to remove the supercharger and turbo and not expect a performance drop. How many successful fighters in WW2 didn't have forced induction?
Probably radials mostly I would guess.
I think they neutered the Mustang the same way. Initially.
@@gibbo1112 a lot of ww2 era radials had superchargers, and in latter models a two speed supercharger and/or turbo
@@malcolmapplet4313 yes didn't it have a different engine at first and it was underpowered until they put the Merlin in it?
It was mostly because it was designed pre-war, like one or two steps up from bi-plane pre-war. The high altitude and high horsepower performance didn't really become a thing until after the initial air battles and the BF-109 and Zero performance gap was realized. Also the incorporation of FI as is with the available Allison would have required a redesign of the airframe, a complexity which really didn't get worked out properly until the mid-war P-63.
I saw one at the Palm Springs Air Museum. Interesting stuff.
I dont know why I love this plane so much
One of my favorites.
They have one at the air museum in Edmonton, Alberta . It is being rebuilt I believe. I was going to see if they need more volunteers for the project!
Holy crap 2.5 Inch and 2.3 in guns its a flying destroyer
The P-400/P-39 was used as a US training aircraft for up and coming fighter pilots (there are WW2 military training videos here on RUclips about it), and while it had a relatively short range and hamstrung by its engine design, it was generally well liked and the tricycle landing gear likely prevented dozens if not hundreds of deaths as the safety and training margins of the early to mid 20th century aviation were terrible. The "tendency to stall in tight turns" is somewhat inaccurate as all prop planes had this issue in one direction due to prop torque. What was really going on is the CoG shifted when expending the 37mm ammo. The P-39 was NOT ever used as a primary ground attack craft.
The P-39 was exceptionally unstable near the stall with a horrible roll-yaw coupling. the airfoil also caused it to not recover from stalls very quickly and the stick forces were unacceptably light. Wright Field Material Command deemed it an unstable gun platform for ACM.
Very nice video!! Highly appreciate the information! Warthunder is 1 of the greatest video games! Nothing out there compares to the graphics and gameplay. Very unique!
War thunder is garbage
@@MattKearneyFan1 lol yeah it's not for everyone, you gotta actually use your brain with a little luck to be good.
@@arthursanchez107 it has cheaters in it and the cross play between pc and consoles was a joke. Gaijin fucked this game up
I had a P-39 model when I was a kid. I liked the looks of the plane.
Same. Beautiful aircraft
Ironically I use the P-39 as a tank buster. That 37mm cannon wreaks havoc on ground targets
The cobra has gotta be one of my favorite aircraft. The engine design is just *mwah* chef's kiss.
Hell yea! I’ve been waiting for this video since the Yak vid.
P 39 was way ahead of her times in term of design. She looks like a formula 1 version of plane, while having a front landing gear like modern jet while she was in 1940s
And it typically overheated.
Best Air War Channel.
I got to sit in an example that was recovered in Canada and wound up in Chino, Ca. I built a model of it when in the 6th grade and thought it a cool looking airplane!
That engineer with the pipe really got around. First with Grumman, then with North American, now with Bell....