Planes in Russia

TISO · Dec 31, 2006

Airacobras were used as fighters.

here you have a good article daling with early Aircobras in The SSSR (Aircobra Mk I and P-39D):
http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/articles/romanenko/p-39/index.htm

Recovery of Bell P39Q-15BE 44-2911 (lots of pic's):
http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/articles/sheppard/p39/index.htm

Monumemt to Soviet and US pilots flying the Sybirian route in Faibanks (Alaska):

Ome_Joop · Dec 31, 2006

The now deceased father in law of a friend of mine who flew P-39's and p-38's had some comments about the 39:

He used to say those @#$@% slow, lousy handling planes with the $@#@#%^ noisy, smoking, vibrating engine right behind you and that $#@@%^% shaft between your feet was terrible.

You can read more about it on :
http://members.tripod.com/warbirdlover/index.htm

So i wonder how usefull was it in aerial combat even at low-medium altitudes?

TISO · Dec 31, 2006

From my first link about early cobras in the VVS:
About Aircobra Mk I:

While completing the account of the Airacobra I in Soviet aviation, the following conclusions can be drawn. Despite a number of design deficiencies of this first model of the air frame (undercarriage weakness, engine seizures, inadequate rate of climb, tendency to flat spin), it was a threatening weapon in the hands of skilled aerial warriors. As was written in the summary of the commander of 153d (28th Guards) IAP regarding the combat work in the Voronezh and West Fronts in July-August 1942, "The Airacobra aircraft is considered by the Germans to be the most dangerous enemy and should be engaged in combat only when they [the Germans] have numerical superiority and the advantage in altitude and surprise." Therefore, the decision by the VVS command regarding preliminary serious study of the aircraft and its testing and subsequent delivery to units that had combat experience turned out to be correct. Combat tested and experienced pilots were able to master the correct tactical employment of the airplane in a minimal period of time. They learned to compensate inadequate vertical maneuver with good formation flying, echeloned by altitude (pair above pair with 100-200 meter interval). Mutual fire support also made possible minimal losses and maximum damage to the enemy. The most clear example of this was in the 19th Guards IAP, where group kills were almost three times greater than individual kills. A year later A. I. Pokryshkin, the creator of the celebrated "Kuban' bookshelf", arrived at this same "group" tactic independently and in more complete form. The conclusion regarding whom the Airacobra engaged-slow-moving transports and aging bombers, or Messerschmitts and Focke-Wulfs of the latest models, can be drawn from the statistics presented above.
Click to expand...

canambridge · Dec 31, 2006

I've always been surprised by Chuck Yeager's endorsement of the P-39 as a good airplane, when almost every other account reads like Ome Joop's post.

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