Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
Added length makes an airplane less maneuverable, not more maneuverable, in turning flight.
I was in a hurry. So, now that I have the time, the following is concerning Aleksandr
Pokryshkin and his decision to stay with the Airacobra:
"Finally, in 1944, he found an aircraft that he was willing to convert to: the Lavochkin
La-7. One of his close friends, Soviet 50 kill ace Alexander Klubov, was killed in a landing
mishap while converting to the La-7. The crash was blamed on the malfunction of the
plane's hydraulic system. Pokryshkin subsequently cancelled his regiment's conversion,
and there are multiple reports that they instead began flying Bell P-63 Kingcobras."
I was wondering when another off-topic A/C (P-63) was going to be mentioned to
counter the off-topic Fw 190A-8 mentioned earlier. ...or even the Yak-9U...?[/QUOTE
...
aircrewremembered.com/pokryshkin-aleksandr.html
Another story concerning the VVS use of the P-63.
"Pokryshkin subsequently cancelled his regiment's conversion (to La-7), and there
are multiple reports that they instead began flying Bell P-63 Kingcobras."
"By the lend-lease agreement with United States, the Soviet Union was not allowed
to use P-63s against Germany; they were given only to be used in the eventual
battle with Japan. Thus it is quite understandable that no mention of this appears
in any official records. However, personal accounts of German pilots and flack
crewmen who encountered P-63s in the skies of Eastern Prussia as well as the
memoirs of one of the pilots in Pokryshkin's squadron appear to confirm that
claim. It is reported that 9th IAD was given some 36 P-63s but these were not
used while the fighting was in progress."
I am very much in agreement with Dimlee, that the Soviet government made
the truth a hard thing to find.
Also, after the war was over, the Soviets COULD use P-63s anywhere, and it is possible a P-63 wreck in the "wrong place" could be post-war. It is also possible the Soviets used the P-63 werever they wanted them. Tough to tell for sure.
Cheers.
IMHO without photos of P-63 wreck(s) from E Prussia I would not to put too much weight on German pilots or AA gunners accounts on what they saw in the skies of Eastern Prussia. Humans tended to saw what they expected, up to USN pilots seeing Bf 109s in the Pacific, was that in Coral Sea or Midway. Misidentifications of enemy planes were common. Much worse identification errors occurred than mixing P-39Q with P-63.
German pilots reported "Martin bombers" and "Boeing fighters" on the Eastern Front. Soviet and even post-Soviet/Russian historians wrote about He-113 in the Battle of Moscow. Alexander Yakovlev wrote in his memoirs about He-100 operated by LW in 1941. There was one Finnish pilot who claimed P-38 in 1943 or 1944 if I'm not mistaken.
Yes, Juutilainen claimed 2 I-153s and a P-38D on 10 July 1943 near Seiskari/Ceckap, according to him they were part of a big Soviet formation (c. 15 I-153s, 2 Pe-2s and 2 "P-38Ds"), VVS-KBF reported no losses, not even encounters with enemy planes but Soviet ground observers reported 7 enemy planes performing reconnaissance flights over Isles area during the day and 10 I-153s from 10 GvIAP KBF transferred from Seiskari to Kronstadt on that day. IIRC Intelligence had warned Finnish pilots of possibility of encountering Soviet Lightnings little earlier. So...
The following performance information for a mid-production La-7. It comes
from NII VVS graphs 0216 / 0217 Beginning 1945 located on the rkka.es site.
Information for the Fw 190D-9 comes from a graph in Dietmar Hemann's
"Long-Nose" book in which he states this performance is typical of the
Fw 190D-9 with MW50. The first MW50 powered Fw 190D-9 became officially
operational 18 December 1944. The figures are for a clean Fw 190D-9 minus
the ETC504.
Fw 190D-9 (La-7)
Altitude / Speed / Climb
Meters / MPH / FPM
S.L.........382 / 4429 ( 383 / 4410 )
1,000...395 / 4390 ( 398 / 4410 )
2,000...408 / 4125 ( 396 / 4054 )
3,000...412 / 4105 ( 401 / 3512 )
4,000...421 / 3985 ( 395 / 2959 )
5,000...432 / 3495 ( 400 / 2795 )
6,000...432 / 2990 ( 414 / 2474 )
7,000...426 / 2500 ( 409 / 2041 )
8,000...418 / 1990 ( 395 / 1608 )
9,000...408 / 1485 ( N.G. / 1175 )
Not at all spicmart. Be my guest.Hi Corsning. Do you mind if I use these stats for another page?
Greg,
I agree with that statement but wonder if the CG was moved or allowed to sit further aft, which would give the plane better initial pitch response, as well as a better ability to hold speed in turns?
Cheers,
Biff