MAQUETTE À MONTER - P-39 Q/N Airacobra Hasegawa | N° 09093 | 1:48

Characteristics

Description

The Bell Airacobra was originally designed and built for the United States Army Air Corps (later United States Army Air Force). The aircraft had the unusual design feature of having the engine installed behind the cockpit, near the airframe's center of gravity, with the intended effect of lowering inertial moment and therefore, it was hoped, improving maneuverability. Very long shaft was necessary to link the engine with the propeller, and designers also utilized this shaft to house the barrel of either a 20mm cannon or fire through the propeller hub - a feature unusual in American designs (but common in German, Soviet and Japanese aircraft). Space made available in the nose area of the airframe by the aft placement of the engine was put to use housing the third landing gear strut that gave the design its distinctive tricycle landing gear arrangement. Despite the great promise of this revolutionary design, successive demands by Army Air Corps planners for additional features added weight to the airframe, with subsequent negative effect on performance. Compounding these difficulties, the Allison V-1710 series engine that powered the Airacobra proved to be a poor performer at high altitude. All in all, the Airacobra ended up not living up to expectations. Early models of the Bell Airacobra were not produced in considerable numbers until the advent of the P-39N, which was fitted with an Aeroproducts propeller. With the final P-39Q model, the four wing-housed Browning 7.62mm machine guns were exchanged for two 12.7mm machine guns mounted in underwing pods. The engine used by the Q models was unchanged from the N line, but there were improvements in protection systems and fuel capacity. Although not highly rated by American and British flyers, the Soviet Air Force made effective use of the Airacobra against German targets as a ground attack fighter.

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