Alek Ituin, on 12 October 2014 - 09:42 AM, said:
P-39 was still a pile of trash either way. Horrid CG, terrible stall characteristics, and it would spin like nobodies business if you handled it like a normal plane. It was also incapable of high or even mid altitude work, and as such, could be easily outperformed if dragged to 6km or so. There were much better planes such as the La-5, La-7, and Yak-3 available to the Russians. Oh, and even the earliest Bf-109F series were superior to the P-39, not to mention the 190 Antons.
P-39 was obsolete and outperformed by 1942... not the best plane for any analogy.
As for the Starfighter, everybody who flew it thought it was horrible. It had a ridiculously high landing speed, and it ended up killing more of its pilots than the enemy... that's the mark of a terribad aircraft no matter what.
Both aircraft would have solidly earned the "Bad Reputation" quirk with everybody (except the Russians).
I get what you're trying to say though, I really do. But having a keen interest in WWII aviation, I couldn't help but point out the flaws in your statement. Sorry 'bout that... I'll leave now... :/
Well the CoG problem was mainly at high altitudes and high speeds, not something that the Russians experienced very often on the Ost Front. The fights were generally below 4km and at low speeds. Its stall characteristics were actually better than the 109E and F, that suffered from wing slat problems. Also ts centerline 20mm, while better than the powder puffers in the wings in the Emil...didnt do much actual damage, especially to the hardy Russian aircraft. The 20mm on the P39 were imported Hispanos. Considerably better.
But yeah the Lavotckins were clearly better airframes. It was most definitely out dated by Mid-42. But during the opening months and winter of Barbarossa when the first P39s were arriving, they were very effective, when the only other really decent aircraft being fielded by the VVS was the Mig3 and La3.
Fair points though. Im also a big WWII aviation buff.
But my main point was that those earned bad reputation "quirks" whether they deserved it or not. One mans trash is another mans treasure. Even if they did deserve it, thats kind of how real world versions of the "quirk" work. Its something thats relevant in real life too. Very cool quirk.
PS:
And the Butcher Bird (the 190) was better than everything else in the world at the time. A true super star of engineering. Kurt Tank was a bad ass.
And of course part of why the P-39 was loved, was that a few came with 37mms...which was nice...and the Luftwaffes insistence on covering its CAS aircraft tightly for the first year of the war. Trying to perserve those aircraft that they werent building but 6-10 of a week....that were sitting ducks for cannon armed fighters.
Edited by KraftySOT, 12 October 2014 - 09:58 AM.
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