"W. J. Liles" wrote:
>
> Emil Pozar wrote:
>
> > P39 was not used in anti-tank role any more than other (Russian or non)
> > fighter aircraft. It's only that the Russians removed a lot of equipment
> > from the P39s and used them where their Allisons worked best - at low
> > level.
> >
> Actually the 37mm cannon in the nose of the P39 was a great tank buster
> as it could penetrate the thin armor on top of the tank. It became, on
> the Russina front, a kind of American made Sturmovik. The Germans added
> 37mm cannon to the wings of the Stuka for the same purpose.
Well, I had thought the same for a long time. However, read on:
"First let's correct the popular myth that the Russians were so
successful with the P-39
because they used it as a ground attack aircraft taking advantage of the
tank-killing
qualities of its heavy cannon. Please! First, the P-39's cannon was not
effective against anything but lightly armored vehicles."
..........
"Since the Soviets produced over 36,000 Il-2 shturmoviks, they did not
need to assign any P-39s. Part of the confusion is due to the fact that
the Soviets used the term "ground support" to include not only ground
attack in the western sense, but also air coverage of their own troops,
interception of German recon and spotting missions, and any other air
combat mission in immediate support of their ground forces, including
escort of Il-2s. Of course, it is true that during the course of the war
Soviet Cobra units did conduct many ground attack missions, but so did
every other fighter used at the front. The same can be said for the
American P-51s and P-47s of the 8th Fighter Command, which have never
been considered "ground attackers". The truth is simpler. During the
war, capable fighters were what the Russians needed most, and they used
and loved the P-39 as a fighter."
..........
"Three of the Russians' top four aces, Aleksandr Pokryshkin (59
individual and 6
shared), Nikolai Gulaev (57 & 4), and Grigorii Rechkalov (56 & 5) used
the Airacobra
for the majority of their kills. Of the 14 Soviet aces who scored more
than 40 individual victories, thus ranking as the "all-allied" leading
aces, 6 were P-39 pilots, (Dmitrii Glinka with 50; Pavel Golovachev with
43; and Aleksei Aleliukhin with 40 & 17 victories). Of their top 43 aces
scoring 25 or more kills, 16, better than a third were "Cobrsty"
The author (sorry, no name here) of these extracts comments:.."my main
sources were Roman, V., Aerokobry vstupaiut v boi: Bell P-400, P-39D-1,
P-39D-2, Seriia istrebiteli 1, Aerokhobbi, Kiev 1993; Bakurskaia,
Evgeniia, Chief Editor. Kryl'ia - daidzhezt vypusk 3, Seriia Samolety
mira Istrebitel' P-63, AviaKosm, Moscow 1997, and notes from a number of
Soviet aces' memoirs."
--
Regards,
Emil Pozar
epozar@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.geocities.com/photoemil
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|