P.11c - The Courageous Bird

[Laurelix]

P.11c
Courageous Bird is a unofficial Nickname by me since it was a fighter which was outdated by the outbreak of WW2 and was up against overwhelming numerical odds as well as having to go up against arguably the most potent fighters in 1939, the BF-109's. Against staggering odds, the Polish Pilots managed to shoot down more enemy planes in their P.11c's than their own losses. I think Courageous Bird fits this plane perfectly.
No wonder the Polish pilots kicked some serious butt when they were able to fly the Hurricanes and Spitfires for the RAF.

Loaded Weight: 1650kg
Wing Area: 17.90m2
Wing Loading: 92.18kg/m2
Engine: Skoda Mercury V S2
Power:
590hp at Sea Level (Take Off Power)
555hp at 3800m (100%)
595hp at 4700m (100%)
-
Max Speed: (100% Power)
276km/h at Sea Level
295km/h at 1000m
315km/h at 2000m
334km/h at 3000m
355km/h at 4000m
375km/h at 5000m
337km/h at 6000m
-
Rate of Climb: (100% Power)
Time to 1000m: 1:07
Time to 2000m: 2:29
Time to 3000m: 3:40
Time to 4000m: 5:06
Time to 5000m: 6:54
Time to 6000m: 9:23
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Stall Speed: (Sea Level, no flaps)
Roughly 117km/h IAS
-
Turn time:
Roughly 13 Seconds
-
Firepower:
2 or 4x 7.92mm wz.33
-
Maximum Safe Dive Limit:
600km/h IAS
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NOTES:
• I'm not 100% sure if this is the correct power curve of the Mercury V S2 (595hp) engine
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FURTHER INFO:
• The first 50 out of the total 150 built used the Mercury V S2 595hp engines. The other 100 built after used a better engine, Mercury VI S2 rated 620hp at 4500m

• Only 50 out of 150 were equipped with 4 machine guns. The rest only had 2.

 

[Wurger]

Just a note.. the firepower should be 2x 7.92mm wz.33. It was the basic armament and not all of planes had the four MGs attached.

 

[Laurelix]

Just a note.. the firepower should be 2x 7.92mm wz.33. It was the basic armament and not all of planes had the four MGs attached.

Yes I just added it in further information.

 

[Wurger]

 

[nuuumannn]

Rather stunning painting and fitting title. The Poles had cojones and it is well known that the squadron during the Battle of Britain that achieved the highest kill-to-loss ratio against the Luftwaffe was 303 Squadron, RAF. Dowding even went as far as to say that had the Poles and their outstanding gallantry not been available, the outcome might not have been the same.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Way back when, I managed a custom-framing shop, hand-building frames for art.

One day an old, pale guy comes in with a photo reprint. Clearly a squadron reunion, old guys posing in front of a Spitfire. He spoke accented English, so I asked where he was from and what was the print about?

Turns out he'd flown PZL 11s in Poland until their defeat, then got to the UK through the Balkans route. He started training in Hurris during the BoB and I think he said he got one kill there, then the squadron transitioned to Spits the next year or so and they did rodeo-type stuff for the next couple of years.

That got me to reading about those guys, and damned if they weren't some fightin' fools. You meet some cool folks that way, in retail, especially in SoCal. Also met and got to know a 1st Marine who'd been on Bloody Ridge, that way.

 

[Laurelix]

P.11c performance from Polish Manual