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It really was a rather ambitious design. The mid-mounted engine, the large 37mm cannon, and tricycle landing gear made for an interesting layout. The problem was, the rather anemic Allison engine, without a decent supercharger, meant the P-39 had terrible performance at anything above about 13,000 feet. Still, it’s an interesting video, and be sure…
It really was a rather ambitious design. The mid-mounted engine, the large 37mm cannon, and tricycle landing gear made for an interesting layout. The problem was, the rather anemic Allison engine, without a decent supercharger, meant the P-39 had terrible performance at anything above about 13,000 feet. Still, it’s an interesting video, and be sure to watch the performance of the cannon strafing a surface target.
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I wouldn’t call the Allison anemic. That version was designed for lower-altitude performance.
Given that the ‘Cobra was designed for CAS, that decision probably looked like a good idea. The plane was a devastating strafer. The Russians liked her. Alas, we were so short on planes that it was tasked as an interceptor. Kinda like using a Warthog against a MiG-29.
From what I’ve heard, the aircraft was quite sprightly with a supercharger & no armor.
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I’ve always thought the P-39 was a good looking airplane. With the engine behind the cockpit the fuselage shape looks more streamlined and… maybe more futuristic, I guess. Sort of like a jet aircraft would look… except it has a propeller…and no exhaust!
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Casey- the Russians liked the Airacobra in much the same way that a shipwreck survivor is a big fan of floating pieces of debris. The one that they really liked was the P-63, the King Cobra. Sadly, we never used them a lot ourselves, even though they improved on almost every flaw of the P-39.
Now, let’s see if we can maybe convince our gracious host to take a run over to the Palm Springs Air Museum and get us some good pictures of Pretty Polly …
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XBradTC 
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