What do you think of the bell p-39 was it a good dogfighter

[FLYBOYJ]

I think we agree to agree!

When I was looking up information on the P-39 I found that aces Yeager and Anderson really liked the airplane. I always felt it got a bad rap. I thought the P-63D was the Bell answer to the P-51, but too little, too late.

I'll try to find the site I got some of this data from...

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Ah the Weight and Balance Sheet! I hate it, I hate it, I hate. So important yet so tedious!

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Yep!

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

We have to update our 365-4 and -17's every 90 days and it can be a real headache.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I found on www.zenowarbirdvideos.com a sample P-39Q W&B chart. This aircraft calcualtes horizontal AND vertical CG. The page is difficult to read but it looks like the horizontal CG envelope is about 1 inch (133.56/ 134.22 from what I could read)

 

[wmaxt]

I found on www.zenowarbirdvideos.com a sample P-39Q W&B chart. This aircraft calcualtes horizontal AND vertical CG. The page is difficult to read but it looks like the horizontal CG envelope is about 1 inch (133.56/ 134.22 from what I could read)

Thats terrible.

Just looking at the chart and from comments made earlier taking out the armor is probably benificial in all regaurds (except getting shot in the back).

wmaxt

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I found on www.zenowarbirdvideos.com a sample P-39Q W&B chart. This aircraft calcualtes horizontal AND vertical CG. The page is difficult to read but it looks like the horizontal CG envelope is about 1 inch (133.56/ 134.22 from what I could read)

Thats terrible.

Just looking at the chart and from comments made earlier taking out the armor is probably benificial in all regaurds (except getting shot in the back).

wmaxt

- MY GOD! HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL CG - WORSE THAN A HELICOPTER! And if I had to fly this in combat, I think its safer to risk getting shot in the back!

 

[wmaxt]

[quote="FLYBOYJ]

- MY GOD! HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL CG - WORSE THAN A HELICOPTER! And if I had to fly this in combat, I think its safer to risk getting shot in the back! [/quote]

Yup

Was the King Cobra any better?

wmaxt

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I'll try to find out!

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

- MY GOD! HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL CG - WORSE THAN A HELICOPTER! And if I had to fly this in combat, I think its safer to risk getting shot in the back!

No Shit!

 

[FLYBOYJ]

No wonder why so many P-39 racers crashed?!?

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I bet, plus to be a racer they removed all that armour and uneeded stuff and that probably screwed it up real bad.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I bet, plus to be a racer they removed all that armour and uneeded stuff and that probably screwed it up real bad.

If they didn't watch what they were doing, it could of. But as wmaxt said earlier, it might of helped things!

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Maybe but I am still skeptacle.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

From some of the data I gthered on the net, it seems ths -39 could be a handful. Stalls and spins could be dangerous and it landed at 90 mph! Once site mentioned that the P-63 was much improved and landed slower (didn't say how much). Here's a few of the sites I visited.

http://www.bcwarbirds.com/roger_c_palmer.htm

http://rwebs.net/dispatch/output.asp?ArticleID=18

http://www.southernoregonwarbirds.org/honmem.html

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Good sites. From what I have read, the pilot of a P-39 had a terrible time knowing when the aircraft was going to stall.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Scary!

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Yes that it would be.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

On a smaller but similar scale - When I was learning to fly I was in a Cessna 152. When doing stalls in this particular aircraft, if not careful it would snap over and spin, even with the proper rudder inputs. At first my instructor thought it was me. Later on we discovered that this aircraft survived a mid-air collision and the left wing asymmetry (the slight twist in the wing) was off causing the aircraft to stall differently. There is nothing more scary in flying an aircraft when you don't know how its going to behave in a stall!

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I agree with you. That is one thing that I allways hated was practicing stall recoveries. I just hate putting aircraft into situations that suck!