Groundhog Thread Part Deux - P-39 Fantasy and Fetish - The Never Ending Story (Mods take no responsibility for head against wall injuries sustained) (6 Viewers)

[33k in the air]

And with three different weapons having three completely different trajectories, you're bound to hit something.

And just think of the ease of the logistics in supplying three different types of ammunition! To say nothing of ground crews having to maintain three different weapon systems!

 

[Greg Boeser]

Why bother? The 37mm is unreliable. It's just ballast. The synchronized fifties fire too slow. And the wing mounted .30s are too weak to do damage. best remove them and fill the gun bays with beer so you can have a cold one when you land. Or maybe not. They tend to get shaken up when you tumble.

 

[wuzak]

And all the while holding down the trigger so you're hurling rounds at all the bad guys in all directions.

Sort of like a garden sprinkler.

But with bullets.

Those clever Bell engineers are SO misunderstood...

And hope your wingman is out of gun range?

 

[buffnut453]

And hope your wingman is out of gun range?

The groundhog was so good it didn't need no stinkin' wingman!

 

[GrauGeist]

Yep!

Plus, I don't think they had a syncronized flat-spin manouver in advanved training.

 

[BiffF15]

And with three different weapons having three completely different trajectories, you're bound to hit something.

The ground…

 

[ThomasP]

In case anyone is interested, I found this in my files the other day - no idea where I found it originally. I would assume this is the ~basis for the weight of 6690 lbs used in the Wright Field tests. As in most cases with USAAF useful load charts, the radio Command Set is probably included in the Weight Empty.

 

[GrauGeist]

Glad to see the pilot is considered a "useful load"...

 

[33k in the air]

Why bother? The 37mm is unreliable. It's just ballast. The synchronized fifties fire too slow. And the wing mounted .30s are too weak to do damage. best remove them and fill the gun bays with beer so you can have a cold one when you land. Or maybe not. They tend to get shaken up when you tumble.

I was going to suggest a flamethrower, but upon further reflection, how about a battering ram?

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Now I do realize that fighting normally took place at much lower altitudes but facts are facts and the reason for twisting them was to somehow support a flawed belief that the P-39N could leave 95 percent of it's competition in the dust. Utter nonsense.

BINGO!!!!!

 

[DarrenW]

Glad to see the pilot is considered a "useful load"...

I always thought 200 lbs was considered the 'normal' crew weight for a US single-seat fighter. Weren't P-39 pilots allowed parachutes?

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I always thought 200 lbs was the 'normal' crew weight for an American single-seat fighter. Weren't P-39 pilots allowed parachutes?

200 or 180 pounds depending if you were on weight watchers

 

[Just Schmidt]

Glad to see the pilot is considered a "useful load"...

Indeed he is, he can lean forward or back to ajust the cog.

 

[GregP]

And hope your wingman is out of gun range?

If he's a GOOD wingman, then he's in a spin right beside you, so you have to let go of the trigger and re-engage it once per revolution to avoid killing your wingman. The timing is sort of to the tune of Foggy Mountain Breakdown or a John Phillip Sousa march. Properly done, you sling bullets everywhere for a very short time since the round per gun weren't all that much ... 200 rpg for the two nose-mounted 50's and 300 rpg for the four wing-mounted 30's. The cannon had a massive 30 rounds. That assumes a P-39N.

Of course, you are then out of ammunition and the CG has migrated aft to the point where it is tough to recover from said spin, especially simultaneously in formation, with both of you headed in the same direction.

That was all made even MORE difficult if there happened to be four P-39s spinning in formation!

 

[SaparotRob]

What a sight that would have been. It would have been glorious.

 

[GregP]

But, improperly done, it was a sight to warm the Axis heart as the P-39s spun down into the ground. Hopefully, there at least a few parachutes in there somewhere.

 

[buffnut453]

This visual sprang into my mind:

 

[SaparotRob]

Trippy!

 

[GregP]

This visual sprang into my mind:

The only problem with this video is it lasts about 50 times longer than the ammunition in a P-39. Otherwise, it's spot-on.

 

[fubar57]

​

LIFE Magazine, 30 March, 1942