P-39Q Airacobra Crash Site

January 7th 2020





Summery :

 The Bell P-39 Airacobra was one of the principal American fighter aircraft in service when the United States entered World War II.
The P-39"Q" model was the last version of the Airacobra, and was produced in greater numbers than any earlier version, with the 4,905 built representing just over half of the total production run of 9,529 aircraft.

This P-39Q #44-3082 was belonged to 3021st Army Air Force Base Unit at Las Vegas Army Airfield.

On January 29th, 1945, it was on a routine gun camera mission.
The pilot 2nd Lt. Scott B. Kidd had climbed to the altitude of 9,500 feet when he noticed that the engine was running rough.
Upon checking the instruments, he observed that the manifold pressure was dropping steadily and the oil pressure was down to zero.
The pilot gave this information to ground control and they instructed him to abandon the aircraft, which he did immediately and descended without any injuries.

It was the opinion of the Accident Investigation Board, that the loss of oil pressure during flight was caused by the failure of an oil line in the rear section of the engine, after the oil tank was recently replaced due to a leak in the old tank.
It caused oil to be expelled into the tail cone.


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Crash site has still hundreds of wrecks all after 75 years.
Those wrecks are small and not larger than 1 ft long.
Most of theem are spread within 3-400 ft from the impact site.


    
Description



Manufacturer:
Bell
Base model:
P-39
Version:
Q
Nickname:
Shooting Star
Designation System:
USAAF/RAF/SAF
Designation Period:
1941-1951
Basic role:
Fighter
Serial Number:
44-3082
Year built:
1944
Crash Date:
1945/1/29
Cause of Crash:
Engine Failure (oil leak)
Fatalities:
0




Specifications



Length:
30' 2" 9.2 m
Height:
12' 5" 3.8 m
Wingspan:
34' 10.4 m
Wingarea:
213.0 sq ft 19.8 sq m
Empty Weight:
6,516 lb 2,955 kg
Max Takeoff Weight:
8,400 lb 3,800 kg





Propulsion



No. of Engines:
1
Powerplant:
Allison V-1710-85 liquid-cooled V-12
Thrust:
1,200 hp at 9,000 ft (using emergency power)





Performance



Never exceed Speed:
525 mph 845 km/h 456 kt
Max Speed:
389 mph 626 km/h 338 kt
Ceiling:
35,000 ft 10,700 m
Range:
525 miles 840 km


    
Other P-39 Link :
 Wikipedia Link : Bell P-39 Airacobra
    



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