P-39K-1 (USSR)

▂P-39K-1

▂P-39K-1

USSR

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
3.3	2.7	3.0

Class:

PREMIUM

Fighter

Purchase:1 000

Show in game

This page is about the premium Russian fighter ▂P-39K-1 Airacobra. For other uses, see P-39 (Family).

Description

The P-39K-1 (USSR) in the garage

The ▂P-39K-1 Airacobra is a rank II premium Russian fighter with a battle rating of 3.3 (AB), 2.7 (RB), and 3.0 (SB). This aircraft has been in the game since the start of the Open Beta Test prior to Update 1.29. It costs 1,000 Golden Eagles.

General info

Flight Performance

Characteristics
Stock
Max Speed (km/h at ?,000 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
563	546	9500	21.2	22.0	8.7	8.7	300
Upgraded
Max Speed (km/h at ?,000 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
624	590	9500	19.5	20.0	18.8	12.9	300

Details

Features
Combat flap	Take-off flap	Landing flap	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wing-break speed (km/h)	Gear limit (km/h)	Combat flap (km/h)	Max Static G
			+	-
0	322	???	~??	~?

Optimal velocities
Ailerons (km/h)	Rudder (km/h)	Elevators (km/h)	Radiator (km/h)
< ???	< ???	< ???	> ???

Compressor (RB/SB)
Setting 1
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
?,??? m	??? hp	?,??? hp

Survivability and armour

• No armour plating
• No armour glazing
• Critical components located at the front of aircraft (fuel, pilot, engine, controls)
• More fuel tanks located in wings near the fuselage

Armaments

Offensive armament

The P-39K-1 is armed with:

• 1 x 37 mm M4 cannon, nose-mounted (30 rpg)
• 2 x 12.7 mm Browning M2 machine guns, nose-mounted (200 rpg = 400 total)
• 4 x 7.62 mm Browning machine guns, wing-mounted (2x 1,000 rpg & 2x 500 rpg = 3000 total)

      Main article: Bombs-->

Usage in the battles

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Controllable	Not controllable	Not controllable	Not controllable	Separate	Not ontrollable	Not controllable

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage Repair	Radiator
II		Compressor	Airframe
III	Wings Repair	Engine
IV		Engine Injection	Cover

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Good fire power
• Well armoured
• Cockpit has good visibility
• Powerful engine

Cons:

• M4-37 mm isn't very accurate
• Has no any payload
• The engine is centrally mounted, taking engine damage while being chased is common

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an article about the vehicle and adding a block "/ historical reference" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/Name-vehicles/historical reference) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to include links to sources at the end of the article.

In-game description

"In developing this aircraft, the Bell designers came up against two global problems. The first was that the P-39 was intended for export, and there was no way around this. The impossibility of fitting a turbo compressor to the low-altitude Allison engine (for fully explicable reasons) was one reason why the aircraft was never able to achieve a worthy place in the US air forces. The nature of air combat, both in Europe and the Far East, prevented the P-39 from making use of its advantages, while it was not possible to rectify its main drawback - its poor high-speed performance - because of the ban on exporting turbo compressors outside the USA.

The second global problem was connected to a technical failure in the production of the 20 mm Hispano-Suiza AN-M1/M2C cannon by the Bendix company. This was the first problem the Bell specialists tried to tackle. The Bell specialists initially tried to solve this problem themselves. The virtually unusable 20 mm cannon was replaced by the old, heavy but more reliable Colt-Browning M4. The cannon had a lot of faults, mainly its low rate of fire and extremely inadequate stock of ammunition - only 30 shells. On the other hand, in spite of its weight, it could easily be fitted in the front part of the Cobra’s fuselage; furthermore, it has one incomparable advantage over the Bendix product - it actually fired.

It must be noted that the M1 cannon was not always fitted onto the first series of the P-39, you could find the M4 here and there. Only the Model 26 (P-39G) carried the M4 as standard equipment. However, it did not go into production, but became the founder of a whole number of virtually identical series from P-39K to P-39Q. The main units were borrowed from the quite promising P-39D-2 series.

The P39K differed from the earlier models in its engine, the Allison V-1710-63, which was successfully tested in that same D-2. It was fitted with an afterburner system. It developed a nominal power of 1352 h.p. and 1550 h.p. in WEP (War Emergency Power) mode. The K series was the only one fitted with such an engine along with a three-bladed Aeroprop propeller. It was a full 360 kg heavier than the D-2, although externally, apart from the propeller, there was no visible difference. In fact, the extra weight was due to additional armor plating, which was used beginning with the K and on all subsequent series.

Altogether, by August 1941, 210 examples of the series K-1-BE, K-2-BE and K-5-BE, which were virtually identical, were built. Forty of them were sent to the USSR."

Notable pilots

• 

  Alexander Pokryshkin flew the ▂P-39K-1 Airacobra during the battle of Kuban starting his 47 kill-streak with the P-39 series lend-lease aircraft.

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

Read also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example,

• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

Sources

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• topic on the official game forum;
• page on aircraft encyclopedia;
• other literature.