eBay: Bell P-39 Airacobra

[Snautzer01]

WWII Original P-39 Airacobra Fighter Plane 5th Air Force 71st Tactical Recon Gp | eBay
71st-TRG-110th-TRS-Tadji-New-Guinea

P-39Q-15-BE , 44-2449

 

[Snautzer01]

WWII Original P-39 Airacobra Fighter Plane 5th Air Force 71st Tactical Recon Gp | eBay

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Good shots!

 

[Snautzer01]

P-39 airplane rigged for towing on skids in the Aleutian Islands c. 1943. | The Digital Collections of the National WWII Museum : Oral Histories

P-39Q-20-BE

 

[Wurger]

 

[P-39 Expert]

P-39 airplane rigged for towing on skids in the Aleutian Islands c. 1943. | The Digital Collections of the National WWII Museum : Oral Histories

P-39Q-20-BE

View attachment 597078

All it needs is Santa Clause and some reindeer.

 

[Snautzer01]

All it needs is Santa Clause and some reindeer.

Baugher says it survived. Museum somewhere. Cant find it but he is almost always right.

 

[Csch605]

Or would they trash the bent prop and get a new one

 

[jmcalli2]

The Zoot Shooter, 7th Fighter Command

View attachment 353127

Impatient Virgin, 7th Fighter Command.

View attachment 353128

Miss Kay and Pat-Riot 7th Fighter Command

View attachment 353131

Never saw P-39s in 'desert pink' before! Cool!

 

[jmcalli2]

Org. Photo: P-39 Fighter Plane "221" Parked on Airfield!!! | eBay

strange number BW 164

View attachment 563878

Could be a P-400

 

[jmcalli2]

Hello P-39 Expert,

In trying to gather some information about the P-39C, I am coming up with some different conclusions.
From what I have been able to find, the Gross Weight of P-39C was 7180 pounds. Maximum Take-Off Weight was 7300 pounds.
There was no provision for external fuel or stores.
The interesting thing about Bell's "Gross Weight" is that they had a tendency not to list full fuel loads there. Full internal fuel loads were considered "Overload". In this case, it seems to fit with the 120 pound difference being explained by 20 Gallons less fuel.

Your addition of 15 rounds of 37 mm ammunition would only bring the total ammunition load to 30 rounds, not 60.
The P-39C only carried 15 rounds and the P-39D only increased that to 30 rounds total.

The big problem comes with the other changes you are proposing.
The changes in fuel load would not affect CG by much, but they are located a couple inches ahead of the empty CG of the aircraft, so it WOULD have some effect.
All the other major deletions are at the nose very far ahead of the CG.
The two .30 cal MG with their ammunition is probably a bit over 100 pounds but about 50 pounds was permanent.
The guns would not have been removed in flight.
The additional 15 rounds of 37 mm ammunition adds back 30 pounds of weight but that was likely to be expended in flight.
The 95 pound gear box armor was there probably as permanent ballast and removing that without something compensating would have been "interesting".
So, although the modified P-39C you are suggesting would certainly be light, it would also be pretty badly out of balance.

The idea that nose armour was permanent ballast is supported by the fact that the weight of this armour was reduced to 70 pounds in some models of Airacobra. I believe armour weights were used to balance the aircraft which explains all the different thicknesses for the same basic pieces of armour plate.

From a flying and handling standpoint, the best piece of armour to delete would be the 29 pound plate behind the oil tank.
The Soviets definitely did that in testing but I am not quite sure if they did that on their operational Airacobra. They also increased the ammunition load for their P-39D up to 270 rounds per gun to push the CG even further forward.

- Ivan.

I recently read that a Russian ace who scored 30 in the P-39 had his mechanics perform one important modification: he had them rig the machine gun trigger to fire the 37mm cannon too. He said that the position of the original cannon button made a pilot move the stick to fire it, thus throwing off aim. Maybe that's why US pilots complained the cannon couldn't hit anything?
Interesting.

Alexander Pokryshkin - Wikipedia

Look under "Aircraft Flown By..."

 

[Csch605]

Could be a P-400

Probably the cannon is definitely not a 37mm and it even looks to small with my eyes to be a 20 mm. I have never heard of anyone putting a 50 cal or 30 cal in the nose. But think of all that extra ammo.

 

[P-39 Expert]

Could be a P-400

Definitely a P-400, 20mm cannon and British serial number under the tail.

 

[Ivan1GFP]

I recently read that a Russian ace who scored 30 in the P-39 had his mechanics perform one important modification: he had them rig the machine gun trigger to fire the 37mm cannon too. He said that the position of the original cannon button made a pilot move the stick to fire it, thus throwing off aim. Maybe that's why US pilots complained the cannon couldn't hit anything?
Interesting.

Alexander Pokryshkin - Wikipedia

Look under "Aircraft Flown By..."

Hello jmcalli2,

I believe there is a slightly different explanation to this, but I need to look through a manual to confirm.

- Ivan.

 

[jmcalli2]

Probably the cannon is definitely not a 37mm and it even looks to small with my eyes to be a 20 mm. I have never heard of anyone putting a 50 cal or 30 cal in the nose. But think of all that extra ammo.

The barrel is the same shape as the 20mm used in P-400.

 

[Capt. Vick]

The Zoot Shooter, 7th Fighter Command

View attachment 353127

Impatient Virgin, 7th Fighter Command.

View attachment 353128

Miss Kay and Pat-Riot 7th Fighter Command

View attachment 353131

Do you know were these pictures were taken?

 

[Snautzer01]

Do you know were these pictures were taken?

No sorry.

 

[GrauGeist]

P-39 airplane rigged for towing on skids in the Aleutian Islands c. 1943. | The Digital Collections of the National WWII Museum : Oral Histories

P-39Q-20-BE

View attachment 597078

Interesting insignia on the wing - was this one that was being ferried to the Soviet Union?

 

[Gnomey]

Nice shots!