Groundhog Thread Part Deux - P-39 Fantasy and Fetish - The Never Ending Story (Mods take no responsibility for head against wall injuries sustained) (2 Viewers)

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We were told to start our own thread. So, here it is. Since I have to say or show something in here, here's my drawing of an FM-2 Wildcat ... nee ... Martlet.



And it ain't no P-39 ... but it DID establish a pretty good combat record with the U.S. Navy / Marines.

The FM-2 flew 12,925 combat sorties with 62 losses to AAA, 13 losses to enemy aircraft, and 75 operational losses, for a total of 150 losses on action sorties. They lost 283 on ship or ground, 164 on other flights, for a total of 447 losses on non-action sorties. They scored 422 aerial victories. They dropped 148 tons of bombs on target. All in all, a pretty good little airplane. Being a typical early carrier fighter, there were no "power" controls. The wings folded and unfolded manually, there was to hydraulic assist for anything, and the flaps were operated by vacuum, so they would tend to deploy asymmetrically and partially retract if speed built up past flap operating speed. Not even the landing gear was power-operated. It was a manual crank on the right side of the cockpit with 29 turns up and down. Once you started cranking the gear up or down, you could NOT let go of the crank or it could easily break your arm of leg as it wound down due to air pressure from forward velocity.

All for now.
 
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All aircraft performance has a time component to it. The Martlet as it was known at the time was the first in service with British forces in UK in August 1940, when the BoB was still being waged. The P-40 started in British service in early 1941 while the P-39 was tried out and packed off to the USSR in late 1941.
 
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