Combat
Aircraft of the Pacific War
A powerful 37mm cannon and other guns were also mounted in the nose - the first production aircraft had two .30 caliber and two .50 caliber Browning machine guns, all of these synchronized to fire through the propeller.
Britain ordered this unconventional fighter in 1940, and in June 1941 the first Airacobra Mk. I arrived in the UK (with the 37mm cannon and its 15 rounds of ammunition replaced by a 20mm with 60 rounds of ammunition). This version also carried six 0.303 Brownings, two in the nose and two in each wing. It equipped 601 Squadron RAF, who did poorly with it, and had difficulty in keeping the unusual aircraft serviceable. The US Army Air Corps, by contrast, was to use the Airacobra in large numbers.
Altogether 9,588 units of the Airocobra were built, and they were used with some success, especially in the Pacific theatre and North Africa. In the Pacific they made an important contribution to the Allied effort during the Guadalcanal campaign and later offensives in the Solomons and New Guinea - mainly as a ground attack aircraft.
Approximately 5,000 - a good half of all production of the P-39 - were supplied to the Soviet Union, mainly through Alaska and Iran. The aircraft was to prove popular with Soviet forces, especially in the tank-busting role.
The most numerous variant was the P-39Q, of which over 4,900 were built.
In 1944 the Airacobra was succeeded in production by the P-63 Kingcobra.
(for P-39L)
Span:
34'
(10.37 metres)Length:
30'
2" (9.2 metres)Height:
11'
10" (4.3 metres)
Weight
(10,670
metres)
E-mail:
compass@dircon.co.uk
Acknowledgments
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