More warplane stuff.........

[Bob Wright]

In the early days of WW II the Air Force/Air Corps issued specifications for an interceptor fighter, overlooking the spec that it had to fly, that it had to have heavy caliber gun armament, and the armament had to be on the centerline of the plane to avoid converging fire as with wing mounted guns. Most notable of these was the Bell P-39 Air Cobra, with a 37 mm (or 20mm) gun firing thru the propeller hub. Engine was mounted behind the pilot and the propeller shaft ran between the pilot's legs.

Other entries were the Vultee XP-54, a twon boom pusher design, and the Curtiss XP-55, a canard design with pusher engine mounted. And Northrop's XP-56, a stubby cigar shaped pusher design almost a flying wing.

Ever hear of any of these?


Bob Wright

 

[Snake45]

Oh yes.

The XP-55 was called the Ascender, which is actually a pretty clever play on words.

 

[Bob Wright]

Oh yes.

The XP-55 was called the Ascender, which is actually a pretty clever play on words.

You mean......................................?

Bob Wright

 

[Wyandot Jim]

You mean......................................?

Bob Wright

Yep heard of them. Think------- Ass Ender

All of these were a weeee bit hard to bail out of
XP-54

Xp-55 Burt Ratan would be proud of this one

Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet

 

[Bob Wright]

Not sure which one it was, but it had a jettisonable propeller for just such events. Actually, event.

Bob Wright

 

[Dave Schwaab]

The pushers had some serious potential that was never really developed. If ejection seats had also been in development at the same time, they may have been given more consideration. Ah, what could have been...

The P-39, however, was a very nice airplane! The long propellor shaft could be a problem in high G maneuvers, but the centralized firepower could be put to use at all ranges (as Germany's "Experten" preferred), rather than just at a convergence point. Russian pilots made very good use of the P-39s they received under the Lend-Lease program.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

The P-39 could outperform the P-40 but the main problem, it was at the wrong place at the wrong time in the South Pacific. Pilots wanted to fly newer planes.
Yes the Russians thought it was great and no it didn't do tank busting as thought. But it did a great job at ground attack and many other jobs. The Eastern Front missions were mostly low level and short range so the P-39 fit right in.

 

[Jeepnik]

The P-40 and P-39 were intended to be stop gaps that could be put into service quickly. Why the P-39 was selected for the Russians I’ve never read. But the P-40 was flown by every Allied nation at some point.

When the Brits painted the first shark mouth on their P-40’s its place in history was assured.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

We also sent some P-40s to Russia. I don't think they had much success with them.

 

[woodsy]

The P39 was what Chuck Yeager trained on in the USA. He and his buddies would leave prop marks in the desert just to show how low they could go. Then he had a mid-air failure and had to bail out and got a back injury. Then he was sent to Europe to fly P51's, with which he got his award.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Here is a very good article on how the P-39 got to and was used in Russia.

On the other side of the Bering Strait, a similar chain of airfields stretched across Siberia to central Russia. More than 2,000 P-39s were shipped to the Soviet Union through Iran, but most were flown there on the ALSIB, along with the other Lend-Lease aircraft: P-40 Warhawks, P-63 Kingcobras, A-20 and B-25 bombers, C-47 transports, and AT-6 trainers. All of them paused in Great Falls before starting into the northern wilderness.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/lieutenant-ivan-baranovskys-p-39-41818469/

 

[Ride1949]

When I saw this...

The first thing that came to mind was this...

 

[coach]

Seriously, how does that thing land with a lower vertical stabilizer? I guess Buck Rogers could figure a way.

 

[Snake45]

Seriously, how does that thing land with a lower vertical stabilizer? I guess Buck Rogers could figure a way.

Good point. Frankly, I have no idea, but here's what it looks like on the ground. Doesn't look like much margin of error.

 

[g5m]

When I saw this...
View attachment 26898

Contrarotating propellers-- bail out and not only chopped, but minced.

 

[g5m]

Here is a very good article on how the P-39 got to and was used in Russia.

On the other side of the Bering Strait, a similar chain of airfields stretched across Siberia to central Russia. More than 2,000 P-39s were shipped to the Soviet Union through Iran, but most were flown there on the ALSIB, along with the other Lend-Lease aircraft: P-40 Warhawks, P-63 Kingcobras, A-20 and B-25 bombers, C-47 transports, and AT-6 trainers. All of them paused in Great Falls before starting into the northern wilderness.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/lieutenant-ivan-baranovskys-p-39-41818469/

That reminds me of a small booklet that was a Colonel's notes. One of those planes got stranded in Montana, IIRC, and it was examined and found to be carrying many secret messages from the State Dept. and other secret info to the Soviets. Wish I could remember the name of it.

 

[Jeepnik]

Seriously, how does that thing land with a lower vertical stabilizer? I guess Buck Rogers could figure a way.

Vertically tail first. It just digs a hole until the wings touch the ground.

 

[Snake45]

Vertically tail first. It just digs a hole until the wings touch the ground.

HAHAHAHAHA! It literally screws its way onto the runway!

Hey, maybe that was the inspiration for THIS:

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Here it is today at Lakeland FL Airport. I have seen it a few times. What were they thinking???

 

[pyth0n]

Here it is today at Lakeland FL Airport. I have seen it a few times. What were they thinking???

View attachment 26947

An idea waiting for the Harrier.

 

[Snake45]

Here it is today at Lakeland FL Airport. I have seen it a few times. What were they thinking???

View attachment 26947

Jim, that's a completely different airplane. I posted the Convair contender. Yours is the Lockheed.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Jim, that's a completely different airplane. I posted the Convair contender. Yours is the Lockheed.

Yep I didn't pay that much attention
In fact I didn't know there were TWO Companies dumb enough to build them. From what I read they were almost impossible to land .

. Convair provided about 7.6 m (25 ft) of rope tied inside the cockpit so the pilot could dismount safely in case of off-field or emergency vertical landing.

 

[Fox Mike]

When I saw this...
View attachment 26898

The first thing that came to mind was this...

View attachment 26900

My first thought was a Gee-Bee with the prop on the wrong end.

 

[RonEgg]

Seriously, how does that thing land with a lower vertical stabilizer? I guess Buck Rogers could figure a way.

I believe that airplane was to accompany our dirigibles and hung by the hook on the front of the nose till needed.

 

[RonEgg]

Same idea as this.

 

[RonEgg]

Finally found it.

https://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2626.htm

 

[Snake45]

Finally found it.

https://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2626.htm

No, that's the XF-85 Goblin. Different airplane, different deal, different era entirely. I think it was supposed to hang from a B-36, or something.

I've seen that little monster, and it's truly terrifying.

And then there was the RF-84K FICON. Those were actually kinda cool.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Don't forget these. They were also supposed to go on the B-36
A good thing inflight refueling came along before they killed all of the pilots from the wingtip vortices

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FICON...ighter to the bomber via wingtip connections.

 

[coach]

I didn’t know the Brits did first but a big thumbs up for them.

The P-40 and P-39 were intended to be stop gaps that could be put into service quickly. Why the P-39 was selected for the Russians I’ve never read. But the P-40 was flown by every Allied nation at some point.

When the Brits painted the first shark mouth on their P-40’s its place in history was assured.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

P-40 above is the Aleutian Tiger

During training that fall, three squadrons were organized: the "Adam and Eves" (the 1st Pursuit Squadron), the "Pandas," and the "Hell's Angels." There were no ranks, though "squadron leaders" and "flight leaders" were named from the more experienced pilots and a military-style organization was followed. Erik Shilling ended up creating the insignia that would forever be linked with the AVG. Forty years later, he recalled:

'It's always been said that the tiger mouth came about after we saw a picture of a P-40 being flown by 112 Squadron of the RAF in North Africa. That's not true. I was looking through a British magazine one day and saw a photo of a Me 110 with a shark face on it. They were the Haifisch Gruppe. I thought it looked perfect for our squadron insignia.'

This early model that the AVG flew lookied the best with the Shark Mouth. Notice the difference in the mouths on 68 and 46