P-39 Expert
Non-Expert
Again, you are citingWhat about a 56" P-47 instead of that 70" one I used
http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/p-47/p47d-44-1-climb.jpg
Slightly over 2000ft/min at 25000ft.
Again, the P-39 significantly out-climbs the P-47 at low altitude, but stop saying it outclimbs P-47 at an altitude the P-39 is suffering from its single-stage supercharger.
We are back to the magic P-39N that could outclimb (by hundreds of feet per minute) any other P-39 of any model.
Of course it did this (in part) by flying hundreds of pounds lighter than any other P-39 model.
You can't have it both ways, you either have the good climb of a light P-39 and not enough fuel to get home or you have enough fuel and the less than steller climb.
A P-39Q-5 using the same engine as the P-39N was climbing at 1570fpm at 25,000ft. The early P-47s with tooth pick props and no water injection could climb around 1800fpm.
a late war P-47D using an experimental fuel not even available yet. P-39N outclimbs any contemporary production P-47 at all altitudes.
Now they have about the same ceiling, so the difference in climb is greater at lower altitudes and narrows as you go higher, but at 25000' the N outclimbs any contemporary production P-47. Compare models that were available at about the same time, or we're debating whether a SPAD is better than an F-22. The P-39N had already completed it's production run of 2000 planes before the P-47 got into combat in May '43. Thunderbolts were good planes but they did not want to climb much at all.