Quick'n'dirty P-39 ground attack notion

[jcf]

Simply put the nose is flipped 180 for better over-the-nose visibility.
I haven't worked out the details of the armament rearrangement.

Thoughts? Been done before?

Cheers, Jon

[Radish]

Looks mean and cool to me.
What about fitting it with a DB605 nose?  

[gooberliberation]

Looks mean and cool to me.
What about fitting it with a DB605 nose?

And a contraprop B)  

[elmayerle]

well, flipping the nose over would definitely drop the driveshaft from the engine, much, I suspect, to the relief of the pilots.  You could go either way (keep the Allison behind the pilot or swap it out for a DB605 or Merlin) on the engine since the reloacted driveshaft would change the gearbox anyway.  IMHO, one thing you would have to do is modify the nose gear to make the wheel lay flat when retracted in order to avoid interference with the driveshaft.

[jcf]

Hi guys,
the basic notion is to leave the aircraft mid-engined and rearrange the mechanical bits and armament.

Evan, we're on the same page vis the nose gear.  I was also thinking about making it a tail-dragger, thus giving more room in the nose for possibly a pair of 23mm ShVak...thinking a Russian rework project.

Now Radish's notion of a DB605 nose is a possible, but it wouldn't replace the mid-engine...it would be an addition. Twin-engined ala the Ki 64, with contra-props of course.

Cheers, Jon

[B777LR]

That nose looks like that of the Spitfires that where captured by the germans and converted to have a DB605 engine  

[elmayerle]

Evan, we're on the same page vis the nose gear.  I was also thinking about making it a tail-dragger, thus giving more room in the nose for possibly a pair of 23mm ShVak...thinking a Russian rework project.

Making it a taildragger starts getting into the major re-work/redesign category since you'd also have to redesign the wings to move the main gear forward (compare the P-39 with the XFL-1).  IMHO, staying with tricycle gear makes a lot more sense.

[jcf]

Evan, we're on the same page vis the nose gear.   I was also thinking about making it a tail-dragger, thus giving more room in the nose for possibly a pair of 23mm ShVak...thinking a Russian rework project.

Making it a taildragger starts getting into the major re-work/redesign category since you'd also have to redesign the wings to move the main gear forward (compare the P-39 with the XFL-1).  IMHO, staying with tricycle gear makes a lot more sense.

'Twas just a fleeting thought and I'm aware of the gyrations Bell went through to produce the Airabonita...an aircraft that is very different from its cousin.

Cheers, Jon

[ysi_maniac]

Airabonita...an aircraft that is very different from its cousin.

A very beautiful plane that I tryed to built from a Heller P-39 ^_^ . I abandoned because of difficulties  

BTW, joncarrfarrelly, can you do the same with an Spitfire profile    

Thanks