From: Joseph F Baugher <jfb@ihlpl.att.com>
Subject: Number Thirty-Nine in the Series--Bell P-39 Airacobra (9 of 9)
Keywords: Combat record of the Airacobra
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories -  Naperville, Illinois
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 16:01:06 GMT


From Joseph F Baugher <jfb@ihlpl.att.com>


This account of the P-39 Airacobra concludes with an description of its 
wartime service.  

At the time of Pearl Harbor, the P-39 (along with the P-40 and a few 
P-38s) was virtually the only modern fighter available to the USAAC.  
The P-39s already in service with the USAAF at the time of Pearl 
Harbor were deployed at home bases, but were quickly moved forward to 
overseas bases in Alaska, Hawaii, Panama, and New Guinea.  P-39Ds 
based at Port Moresby first went into action in April 1942.  For the 
next 18 months, the P-39 and the P-40 were the principal front line 
equipment of USAAF fighter units in the Pacific.  They carried much of 
the load in the initial Allied efforts to stem the rapid Japanese 
advance.  

Many of the P-400s requisitioned from the British order by the USAAF 
went to the Southwest Pacific.  The first unit to become operational 
with the P-400 was the 67th Fighter Squadron of the 347th Fighter 
Group.  The personnel of this outfit arrived in New Caledonia on March 
15, 1942, followed a week later by 47 crated P-400s.  These planes 
arrived with no instruction manuals, no assembly tools, and no spare 
parts.  In addition, only two of the pilots of the 67th had any 
experience at all with the P-39! 

Nevertheless, the first P-400 was flying only six days after it 
arrived, and 41 had been assembled within 29 days.  After a period of 
training, the unit moved to Guadalcanal in August 1942.  These 
aircraft were used for ground attack duties, using 500-pound bombs 
slung underneath the fuselage.  

Some interesting hybrids were produced during those days.  The 67th 
Fighter Squadron was responsible for fitting a P-39D wing to a P-400, 
and a little later the 68th Fighter Squadron produced a P-400 fuselage 
with one P-39D wing, one P-39K wing, and an Allison V-1710-63.  

Other units flying requisitioned British Airacobras included the 
squadrons of the 35th Fighter Group (Nos 39, 40, and 41 Squadrons) and 
of the 8th Fighter Group.  The 8th Fighter Group had established its 
headquarters at Brisbane, Australia in March of 1942, and its 
Airacobras (including some P-400s) went into action in defense of Port 
Moresby, New Guinea, on April 30.  Between July 1942 and November 
1943, some 22 Airacobras were operated by the RAAF in Australia, these 
comprising a mixture of P-39Fs and P-400s.  

The Airacobras operating in the Southwest Pacific were sometimes 
called upon to serve as interceptors, a role for which they were 
totally unsuited.  They proved to be no match for the Japanese Zero in 
air-to-air combat.  In fact, because of difficulties with the oxygen 
supply, the Airacobra was not even able to reach the Mitsubishi G4M 
(code name *Betty*) bombers raiding from altitudes above 25,000 feet.  
In the laconic words of the official AAF history: "The Airacobra, even 
in a good state of repair, was unable to meet the Japanese fighters on 
equal terms."  Experienced Japanese pilots such as Saburo Sakai 
regarded the Airacobra as a relatively easy "kill".  Nevertheless, the 
Airacobra was capable of absorbing a great deal of battle damage and 
still keep on flying, and its armament was able to deliver lethal 
blows to many a lightly-armored Zero.  

With the formation of the US Twelfth Air Force in the Middle East in 
the Autumn of 1942, Airacobras saw service in the Mediterranean area 
with the 81st and 350th Fighter Groups and two squadrons of the 68th 
Observation Group.  These aircraft were diverted from a Soviet 
consignment, being P-400s and P-39D-1s.  In the Middle East, the 
Airacobras were used primarily for very low-altitude strafing 
missions, escorted by Warhawks or Spitfires.  They took part in the 
Allied landings in Tunisia, at Anzio, in Sicily, and operated 
throughout the entire Italian campaign.  In spite of the Airacobra's 
obvious deficiencies, units using the P-39 achieved the lowest loss 
rate per sortie of any USAAF fighter used in the European theatre.  

Airacobras based in Alaska took part in the battles for the Aleutians.  
Airacobras were also deployed to the Canal Zone to defend the Panama 
Canal, but no action ever took place there.  

In late 1942, some P-39s en route from the UK to Tunisia to reinforce 
the 91st and 92nd Squadrons of the 82st Fighter Group force-landed in 
Portugal.  These planes were interned and were taken on strength by 
the Portuguese Air Force.  

The last of 9558 Aircobras (a P-39Q-30-BE) rolled off the production 
lines in August of 1944.  The peak USAAF inventory of the Airacobra 
was 2105 machines in February of 1944, although by the time production 
finally ended, very few Airacobras were still in service with 
front-line USAAF units, having been replaced by later types such as 
the P-47 Thunderbolt or the P-51 Mustang.  

Over half of all the Airacobras produced went to the Soviet Union, 
where they were used to good effect in the war against Germany on the 
Eastern Front.  The Airacobra was popular with its Russian pilots, who 
appreciated its close-support capabilities, heavy armament, excellent 
low-altitude performance, and ability to absorb an incredible amount 
of battle damage.  It excelled in the low-altitude strike role and the 
37-mm nose cannon made the Airacobra an excellent tank buster.  When 
operating at low altitudes, the Airacobra was often able to hold its 
own against German fighters.  The Soviet Union's number-two ace, 
Alexander Pokryshin, obtained 20 of his 59 kills while flying a P-39.  

165 Airacobras were supplied to the Free French.  In addition, P-39s 
were supplied to the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force which fought 
alongside the Allies following the Italian armistice in 1943.  

Surplus P-39s ended up on the postwar unlimited racing circuit.  
Perhaps the best known of these were a pair of P-39Qs named *Cobra I* 
and *Cobra II*.  They were lightened by the removal of all military 
equipment, and they received uprated engines and were fitted with 
four-bladed propellers.  Cobra I was lost in August 1946 over Lake 
Ontario after qualifying for the Cleveland Air Races.  Cobra II went 
on to win the 1946 Thompson Trophy.  Cobra II raced again in 1947 and 
1948, reaching 471 mph that year.  Cobra II crashed in 1969 during an 
attempt on the propeller-driven speed record.  

Sources:

  War Planes of the Second World War, Fighters, Volume Four, William Green,
  Doubleday, 1964.

  The American Fighter, Enzo Anguluci and Peter Bowers, Orion Books, 1987.

  United States Military Aircraft since 1909, Gordon Swanborough and Peter
  M. Bowers, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989.

  P-39 Airacobra in Action, Ernie McDowell, Squadron/Signal Publications, 
  1980.

  The Calamitous 'Cobra, Air Enthusiast, August 1971.

Joe Baugher       AT&T Bell Laboratories    2000 North Naperville Road 
		  Naperville, Illinois 60566-7033.   (708) 713-4548

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