P-63A Kingcobra Bomber

The US Air Force ordered two prototypes of the P-63 Kingcobra in June 1941. The following, pre-project samples were delivered in October 1943. It soon became clear that the P-63 met the requirements for a first-line fighter, and therefore most of the Kingcobra was delivered to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease.

A significant number of these aircraft entered the troops of the French Liberation Forces, and only a single copy was delivered to the Royal Air Force. Several machines were used as flying laboratories.

The P-63 is a low-wing aircraft used by the US Air Force for pilot training but never used by them in combat. The Kingcobra was not easy to fly, and pilots never treated it with the love they had in Mustangs, Thunderbolts, and Hellcats.

The Kingcobra performed many second-line fighter missions. In one of the most unusual, known as the "Pinball Project", a modified, armored Kingcobra acted as a manned target to train bomber gunners to fire special, easily destructible bullets.

See also: ☭  Aircraft A-20 Havoc

Unlike other fighters, the P-63 did not have a folding or sliding canopy. The pilot entered the cockpit through an automobile-type door on the side of the fuselage. The Allison engine of the 1710 drove a four-bladed propeller through a long shaft that ran through the cockpit between the pilot's legs.

A large air intake behind the cab canopy supplied air to the carburetor. Placing the engine behind the pilot, in theory, offered many advantages. But at the same time, many technical problems arose and did not provide the desired characteristics.

Two 12.7-mm machine guns were installed in the upper part of the forward fuselage compartment. Powerful armament, concentrated in the nose of the fuselage, included a 37 mm cannon that fired through the propeller spinner. Variants up to the R-63A-8 carried thirty 37mm rounds. The streamlined containers housed underwing - machine guns. Underwing hardpoints were installed starting with R-63A-6.

On the central suspension, the aircraft could carry one 237-kg bomb or a fuel tank with a volume of 341 liters (or 796 liters). Later versions of the aircraft carried more weapons.

The P-63 had a higher, narrower fin than the P-39 Airocobra. The P-63 configuration, including its laminar wing, underwent many tests on the XP-39E experimental aircraft. The largest number of P-63A and P-63C Kingcobras were delivered to the Soviet Air Force during World War II .