Fortunately for folks with Ophidiophobia – an amazing worry of snakes – most snakes of the flesh-and-blood selection do not fly. Yes, there are the so-called “flying snakes,” or extra precisely gliding snakes, genus Chrysopelea, however they’re solely mildly venomous, lethal to their small prey of lizards and rodents however innocent to people. That mentioned, again in WWII there was a mechanical “flying snake,” so to talk, that was very lethal to people, because it spat its proverbial “venom” within the type of high-velocity lead projectiles. That aerial snake was the Bell P-39 Airacobra fighter airplane.
Bell P-39 Airacobra: Most Hated by the Americans…
“Don’t give me a P-39./The engine is mounted behind./They’ll tumble and spin and auger you in,/Don’t give me a P-39.” That is among the verses from the humorous Air Force conventional ingesting track “Give Me Operations,” most famously sung by Oscar Brand.
However, I really first learn the P-39 verse particularly in Chuck Yeager’s bestselling 1986 autobiography. The late nice General Yeager was among the many few WWII U.S. pilots who beloved the Airacobra, and there’s maybe one thing poetic on this, because the airplane was made by the identical Bell Aircraft Corporation that made the legendary X-1 by which Chuck grew to become the primary man to interrupt the sound barrier. As a sidebar notice, Bell additionally produced the P-59 Airacomet, America’s first jet-powered airplane.
The Airacobra was definitely revolutionary in a number of methods: its Allison V-1710 engine was positioned amidships, i.e. on the heart of gravity (therefore the “engine is mounted behind” track line), a tricycle undercarriage distributed weight extra evenly, and a nose-mounted 37mm cannon as its essential armament – backed up by two Browning M2 .50 caliber nose-mounted machine weapons and yet another “Ma Deuce” apiece underneath every wing – which was far more highly effective than the machine guns-only armament of the P-51D Mustang, P-47 Thunderbolt, and P-40 Warhawk, and even the 20mm cannon on the P-38 Lightning. It additionally had a very good velocity of 389 mph (626 kmh), although this considerably disappointingly fell wanting the 400 mph functionality that its producer had claimed.
Yet despite these distinctive and/or fascinating options, most American fighter pilots – not like Chuck Yeager – hated the P-39. A serious motive for this American animus was the absence of an environment friendly turbo-supercharger, thus stopping it from high-altitude work. Also, the cannon might be a bit, let’s assume, quirky typically. Moreover, the airplane had restricted vary, and while it was really quicker and had higher diving traits than the vaunted Japanese Zero, the Airacobra was inferior in climb and maneuverability.
Therefore, in head-to-head match-ups in opposition to the Zero between April and December 1942, 44 P-39s have been shot down versus 15 Zeros killed. However, because of the protecting armor and self-sealing gasoline tanks of the American warbird (or would that be warsnake?), greater than half of its pilots survived their shootdown, while 14 of the 15 pilots of the unarmored tinderbox Zeros have been KIA. In spite of the airplane’s flaws and the U.S. pilots’ contempt for it, 5 USAAF pilots grew to become aces within the Airacobra in line with one supply, although different sources declare that there was just one American Airacobra ace (hey, triple-A, how’s that for alliteration?). The confirmed ace was then-1st Lt. Bill Fiedler.
As could be anticipated from an unpopular warplane, there’s a relative dearth of books written by P-39 pilots (Chuck Yeager solely briefly talked about it in his aforementioned autobiography), contrasted with the myriad of books written by Mustang, T-Bolt, and Warhawks drivers. One notable exception is Cobra Combat by retired USAF Lt. Col. Robert E. Case, who shot down a Japanese “Kate” torpedo bomber and a “Betty” medium bomber and sank each an Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) destroyer and a barge. In spite of the various typos, the ebook is properly well worth the learn. There’s additionally Nanette: Her Pilot’s Love Story by Edwards Park, which I have not but learn however the ebook has acquired rave critiques on Amazon.
…But Loved by the Soviets
Soviet pilots’ attitudes towards the P-39 have been an evening and day distinction to their American counterparts; the Reds completely beloved the airplane. Nearly 5,000 Airacobras have been equipped to the Soviet Union in giant numbers by way of the Land-Lease Act (‘collusion” jokes anybody?). It turned out that this flying snake was significantly better suited to the medium and decrease altitudes the place most Eastern European Front air fight took place. One Red Air Force’s Airacobra driver affectionally nicknamed it Kobrushka (“little cobra”) and Kobrastochka (a mix of “pricey little cobra” and Lastochka, i.e. swallow).
Contrary to fashionable false impression, the Soviets didn’t use the P-39 primarily as a tank-plinking weapon, although the pilots usually may and did use that highly effective 37mm cannon to suppress artillery and antiaircraft batteries and disrupt German provide strains and land-based command facilities. Nay, the Russkies certainly used the Kobrushka as an air-to-air fighter in the beginning. Thus the Airacobra, so unheralded and unloved within the West, enabled individual Soviet pilots to mixture the best variety of kills attributed to any American-made fighter-type flown by any nation’s air drive in any battle. Eta pravilnya, tovarishiy (“That’s proper, Comrades”), greater than any of the opposite WWII Allied fighters talked about earlier. As acknowledged by Russian Beyond columnist Boris Egorov:
“Alexander Pokryshkin, Grigory Rechkalov, Alexander Klubov, Nikolai Gulaev, the brothers Dmitry and Boris Glinka, and different prime Soviet aces all flew the American fighter. Pokryshkin, the second highest-scoring of all Allied fighter pilots, made 48 of his 59 kills with it, and Rechkalov 50 of 56. Even when quicker and extra maneuverable plane started to enter service with the Soviet Air Force towards the tip of the conflict, many Soviet pilots remained trustworthy to their beloved Airacobra, which by no means allow them to down.“
P-39: Where Are They Now?
After WWII ended, many P-39s have been used as race planes by American non-public aviation fanatics. A good variety of these flying snakes survive at this time at museums across the globe, together with a number of airworthy ones, resembling Miss Connie, lovingly preserved and maintained by the Commemorative Air Force’s (CAF) CenTex Wing in San Marcos, Texas.
About the Author
Christian D. Orr is a former Air Force officer, Federal regulation enforcement officer, and personal navy contractor (with assignments labored in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (focus in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has additionally been printed in The Daily Torch and The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security. Last however not least, he’s a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS).
All photos are Creative Commons.
