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The wings actually got shorter when compared to the prototype.I have been reading a book recommended by one of the members here, "Cobra Combat" by Robert E Case. He flew P-39's in the Solomans in WWII, starting in April 1943. It is a good book, with lots of interesting although he does get some things wrong, sucha s saying the P-39 had the supercharger deleted but the P-40 did not. But one item does not seem to be a mistake.
On one mission a Japanese 12.7 MM machine gun his his wing, doing a lot of a damage to it, including splitting the spar. He made it back to base Okay but the tire was shot off the wheel on the damaged wing and it was a rather rough landing. He figured he would have a few days off while they got him another airplane, but in fact they got his fixed right up. They explained they had taken one wing off a wrecked P-39 and installed on his airplane, but it was from a different model and the wing was longer that the original one. The Bell tech rep assured them that was Okay and it had been tested at the factory. Case said that the airplane few just fine with the longer wing and even seemed to be more stable. Unlike the supercharger nonsense, which has been spread around for decades, this story is very specific and believable.
I looked at all the P-39 references I have, "Squadron P-39 In Action," William Green "Fighters Book 4," "Airacobra Advantage" and "P-39 in Detail and Scale." All of them show the wingspan of all of the production P-39's as 34 feet. Given the high wing loading I would not have been surprised if they added a bit to the wing in the later production models, but there is no indication of that. Anyone ever hear of that modification?
Yes, and there was also the P-39E which had an experimental wing that was a different length, but nothing that would have showed up in the SWPA would have had anything but 34Ft.The wings actually got shorter when compared to the prototype.
There were 2 "XP"-39Es built with squared off wingtips. 35 feet 10 inches. One crashed during a spin test (Imagine that!)Yes, and there was also the P-39E which had an experimental wing that was a different length, but nothing that would have showed up in the SWPA would have had anything but 34Ft.
Not likely - that would change the configuration of the aircraft and unless it was a matter of life or death (which "could have" happened on the canal) I see no maintenance officer in their right mind to allow an aircraft to fly outside of SRM specifications unless they got authorization from the factory.I wondered about them splicing on a longer wing section but the gear on the shot up side was badly messed up too, so they would have to include the whole wing on that side. I am impressed they could do that so quickly on the 'Canal.
That is more plausible - it seems the basic P-39 airframe remained the same through out production and if you watch that video, the process for the wing installation is pretty straight forward. I doubt the basic construction of the wing between models changed much as the P-39D and P-400 were basically the same airframe.Well, the guy who was there and who describes many of his experiences in detail said it occurred. Perhaps they just used a wing from a different model and for some reason he thought it was longer. They had both P-39D's and P-400's on the "Canal and by the middle of 1943 they could have F, J, K, and M models as well. Building airplanes out of pieces of wrecks was quite common on the 'Canal. VT-8 did it as well with TBF's.
Very short centre section and each outer panel is attached with 8 spanwise bolts in bathtubs each side of the spar as shown in the photo below. This is common to all post prototype aircraft.Perhaps they cobbled the donor wing onto his aircraft in such a way that it ended up being longer, due to the damaged spar?
This is just a guess, as I'm not familiar with the P-39's assembly points.
Oh it will be fine, the gear box armor is removed!I dont think his parachute is going to be much use from there unless they made MAJOR changes to the side cowls.
Cool film.There were 2 "XP"-39Es built with squared off wingtips. 35 feet 10 inches. One crashed during a spin test (Imagine that!)
Not likely - that would change the configuration of the aircraft and unless it was a matter of life or death (which "could have" happened on the canal) I see no maintenance officer in their right mind to allow an aircraft to fly outside of SRM specifications unless they got authorization from the factory.
I see this whole story as a myth - all production models of the P-39 maintained the same wingspan. There might have been a repair tolerance in the SRM that allowed some deviation but this would be negligible. For the time it would take to repair a wing, it would be easier to install a whole new one. The following shows a P-39 being assembled in the field. You can see how the wing is installed.
This story sounds like a "Cadinism"
Another View
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Edwards Park reported that firing the cannon jostled the drive shaft, which gave you a bit of a prostate massage, making the business of shooting at people oddly sensual. So that's a feature, not a bug.The drive shaft doesn't seem to be installed. Not much padding on the front seat to keep the passengers butt separated from the drive shaft.