Subject: Night bombers interception....
From: Guy Alcala
Date: 7/20/2004 3:48 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

ArtKramr wrote:

Every WW II pilot I knew who flew the P-39 was glad ot be rid if it.

I know of several, starting with Yeager and Anderson, who liked its handling
and
would happily have gone to war in it. It had its handling quirks, but so did
every other a/c. The P-40 was renowned for its tendency to groundlooping,
and
also (IIRR) for its nasty stall/spin. The P-38 had serious compressibility
problems, and like all twins could bite you if you lost an engine on takeoff.
The
Merlin P-51 had to be very careful not to get into combat with the aft tank
more
than about 1/3 - 1/2 full, and there were yaw issues at high speed. About
the
only USAAF fighter I can think of that wasn't commonly associated with any
bad
handling quirks was the P-47 (quite typical of Republic fighters, judging by
the
jets that followed).

Guy

I think all questions are answere by looking at the total recordsof the P-51,
P47 and P-39.



Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer