On Mon, 25 Jan 2016 10:13:01 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 25 Jan 2016 06:51:16 -0600, Pete Keillor
wrote:

On Sun, 24 Jan 2016 17:26:24 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sun, 24 Jan 2016 07:28:14 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in
message
om...
On Sat, 23 Jan 2016 23:11:01 -0500, Tom Gardner
wrote:

On 1/22/2016 8:23 AM, Larry Jaques wrote:

Soldiers everywhere (and American taxpayer pocketbooks) are
rejoicing
over that wonderful news. Long Live the Warthog!

Designed and built just to haul around that big-ass gun!

That GAU-8 is a kick-ass cannon, wot? YeeeeeeeeeeeHaw!
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._VW_Type_1.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/34M4T3n.png Installed. This would be perfect
for
HelL.A. traffic gridlock, methinks. giggle


We put a big autocannon in a small fighter at the start of WW2,
but
the innovative combination's development was troublesome:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M4_cannon

The P-39 began life as a bomber interceptor. The Air Corps had
decreed
that high-altitude engines would use turbochargers instead of
mechanically driven superchargers for very sound technical reasons
but
they underestimated the difficulty of packing the necessary bulky
duct
work into a sleek single-engine fighter, in which the fuel tank
has a
better claim to the space behind the engine so it's changing
weight
doesn't upset balance.

The P-39 turbo installation was unsatisfactory for too many
reasons
and it was repurposed to ground attack, where the plane also
didn't
work so well - neither did the Stuka when confronted by real
fighters.

So we swapped in a lighter, cheaper 20mm cannon and unloaded them
on
the Russians as Lend-Lease. Neither side on the Eastern Front had
high-altitude bombers to attack or defend, the air fighting was at
low
altitude unlike over Europe, and the Russians made very good use
of
the P-39 against the Me-109.

It looks like we gave them the 20 mm Hispano-Suiza cannon-equipped
models at first, then the 4 Brownings + M-4 and they loved it. All
except the small, 30rd magazines. Wiki said that we gave the
Russians
1-1/4 million cannon rounds, so they must have liked 'em.


Field-expedient flying artillery:
http://www.tailsthroughtime.com/2012...er-bomber.html

Dad flew those for bomb runs over Germany, then was shot down over
occupied France. The Russians rolled their tanks over the barbed
wire
fencing of the Stalag 10 months later and Dad came home. In at 210,
out at 140lbs.

Dad flew the P-39 from mid '42 until end of '43. Kanton,
Guadalcanal,
New Caledonia, New Guinea, Woodlark... Great ground strafer, the
37mm,
.50's and .30's didn't track the same in a turn, which in addition
to
the single stage supercharger also didn't help dogfighting. But he
said it was his favorite for just flying. It could also get into a
kind of uncontrollable tumble which killed a lot of guys. It
happened
once to Dad on Kanton, but after losing 10000 ft or so, it ended up
heading straight down, so he was able to recover. Skinned his elbows
and knees flailing around, and accidently knocked the electric pitch
prop to very low pitch, so the landing was approximately deadstick.
Lucky. Was also attacked by a Corsair while on final at Guadalcanal
with gear and flaps down. He did some fancy talking on the radio.
He
never did like those Marines after that.

He also flew P-40's in Hawaii for about 6 weeks before heading to
Kanton, then P-47's and P-51's with the 78th out of Duxford from
September '44 to the end.

Dad is still doing o.k. Using a walker now, and short term memory is
shot to hell. He turned 96 in December.
Pete Keillor

My dad was on the ground at Guadalcanal and New Guinea, and remarked
several times about how beautiful those P-39s were. Maybe your dad
made some strafing runs over my dad's head -- he was one of those
Marines your dad didn't like. g

--
Ed Huntress

My dad was the CO of the 417th Bomb Group's chemical (smoke, napalm,
WP) ordnance company.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/417th_Bombardment_Group

-jsw

Mine was a radio chief (forward artillary spotter -- "scout observer"
in the Marines) in the 11th Marine Regiment, which was part of the 1st
Division in WWII.

If you ever saw HBO's "The Pacific" or read Sledge's _With the Old
Breed_, that was about it.

--
Ed Huntress