Bell P-63 Kingcobra

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P-63C-5-BE 43-11490 soviet





P-63C-5-BE 43-11589 (7th FRG) force landed and w/o at Lesser Slave Lake, Alberta, Canada Apr 20, 1945

 
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I recall reading where a P-39 pilot was flying a ferry mission to AK for delivery to the Soviets. He brought along a ham sandwich and after a while took a bite of it. It tasted spoiled so he rolled down the window and threw it out. The sandwich entered the carb air intake and the engine quit, resulting in an emergency landing.

If you look at the P-63 pilot's manual (available at Aviation Archives and be sure to click on the ad at the bottom of the page, even if you don't need a boat) you will see that airplane has more alternate air sources than you can shake a stick at.
 
-What did removing all of the military gear do to the weight and balance of the bird? How fast were the stripped down P-63s?
 
-What did removing all of the military gear do to the weight and balance of the bird? How fast were the stripped down P-63s?
Considering we're talking about a P-63C, from what I have seen beating to death the P-39's weight and balance, removing the cannon, guns and armor would put the aircraft just about on it's @ss, even if you removed armor aft of the C/G. IMO you would have to ballast the aircraft to the factory C/G envelope. Between guns, armor, and other military equipment, I'd guess you're saving about 300-500 pounds, the P-63C had 200 pounds of total armor. Now, with the radios, it gets a little complicated. If the weight reduction is done in the post war years and you want to maintain a radio in the aircraft, you're looking at upwards up to 150 pounds if you remove the receiver, transmitter and IFF, but you're probably replacing that with at least 30 to 40 pounds worth of civilian radios. In today's world radios can be about 10 pounds with wiring and antenna. So consider that.

In the post war years, several P-63s "stripped down" were used for air racing. The fastest P-63 that I can find was "Crazy Horse" which had a course speed about 360 mph, not all that fast when you consider the top P-63 speed was advertised at 410 mph, BUT air race speeds are based on flying around a course, you're probably looking at at about a 20% increase in speed if you were to fly the aircraft on a straight away. In air racing, you need an aircraft that can accelerate and have excess power available. Having an aircraft tail heavy is a plus as tail heavy aircraft tend to fly a bit faster but are less stable when maneuvered. I would guess on a straight away, you're looking at about 420 to 430 mph, especially with some of the engine mods done to the P-63 air racers.

 


 
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Bell P-63A-9-BE 42-69562



 
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MAJOR TUCKER'S P-63 KINGCOBRA FIGHTER 1946 CLEVELAND AIR RACES



 
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