Rybin, Y. Luftwaffe ace Walter Schuck researched / Christer Bergstrom, Yuriy Rybin. - Sweden : [s. l.], 2019. - 190 p. : ill.

WALTER SCHUCK FACTS 5 THE BELL P-39Q VERSUS THE ME 109 G The US Bell Corporation’s Airacobra never reached equality with the Me 109s it fought against. When the aircraft first entered service with the RAF in September 1941, the P-400 Airacobra I version was already outdated compared with the Luftwaffe’s Me 109 F fighters. After only a short while, the British decided to discontinue the use of their Airacobras in first-line service. Instead they were shipped to the Soviet Union, which was up against the bulk of Germany’s armed forces and therefore needed every aircraft it got get. The Airacobra’s baptism of fire on the Eastern Front was held in the Far North in the spring of 1942, as we have seen previously. Walter Schuck actually encountered the Airacobras on their very first combat mission on the Eastern Front. In 1942 and 1943, Soviet pilots in the Far North flew Airacobras of the series P-400, P-39D, P-39M, and P-39N against JG 5. All of these proved to be inferior to the Me 109 F and Me 109 G which the Germans piloted. The Airacobra was underpowered and had a much inferior climbing performance. Since the Messerschmitt pilots favoured “boom and zoom” attacks - quick diving attacks from above, followed by a rapid climb where they utilised the energy which had been built by the dive - the Airacobra was particularly inferior to the Messerschmitt 109. The Soviet pilots placed great hope in the new P-39Q version when this eventually arrived. This was a lightened version where the two wing guns had been exchanged for one 0.50-in gun in a fairing underneath each wing. The P-39Q also was equipped with a new engine which gave 1,325 hp at take-off, compared with the 1,150 hp of the P-39D. In comparison with the earlier Airacobra versions, the Q model was an important step forward, and many Soviet aircraft were really enthusiastic about it. However, compared with the Me 109 G, the P-39Q still was fairly inferior. At 5,000 feet altitude, the P-39Q-5-BE theoretically could reach a maximum speed of 330 mph. Test flights with a first-line Me 109 G-2 - with full combat equipment, including all ammo for all guns and full fuel load - proved that the German aircraft reached 340 mph at the same altitude. The theoretical top speed of the P-39Q-5-BE was 376 mph, attained at 15,000 feet. At that altitude, the Me 109 G-2 was able to reach about the same speed, but at a higher altitude, the Me 109 G-2 attained its top speed, 400 mph - at a level where any P-39 version was considerably slower. Despite being lightened, the P-39Q was a bad climber. In a two-minute climb, the P-39Q reached 5,000 feet altitude, but the Me 109 G-2 reached an altitude of 7,500 feet in the same time. It has been said that the Airacobra could turn tighter than the Me 109 G. Indeed, in a sustained turning combat at low speed, the Airacobra would out-turn the Me 109 G. However, when the Airacobra made very tight manoeuvres, a high-speed stall could occur. This would throw the aircraft into a dangerous end-over-end tumble. This was because of the mid-engine installation of the P-39 (which had much of the weight centred around the middle of the airframe), in combination with the short wing span. Moreover, in tight turns the G forces would frequently cause the Airacobra’s extending hub-mounted 37-mm cannon to jam. This would also apply to the two machine guns in fairings underneath the wings of the P-39Q. If that happened, the P-39Q would be able to shoot only with the two fuselage-mounted 0.50-in machine guns.