Help ID P-39?

[fiftycal]

On P-39's the data block is usually on the lower keel with the serial number and fuel information but for some reason on this one its on the cab.

i am trying to work out why and what the other letters mean.

in the data block it says:

-P-30D (or P-39D?)
then under that it has AAF *a few inches missing here* 103
then under that it just has 100
and then the usual fuel information.

i am puzzled as to why this is up on the cab and not the keel and what it means?

i believe it to be 41-7103 based on where it was recovered from and the aaf number but any help is welcome as some mongrel has again stolen the main data plate.

Last edited by fiftycal on Wed Mar 11, 2015 3:27 am, edited 1 time in total.

[lmritger]

It's definitely a P-39D, and based on what's visible, I'm going out on a limb to suggest this would be 41-7103 based on Joe Baugher's production block info for the D model:

40-2991/3050 Bell P-39D Airacobra
60 planes
41-6722/7115 Bell P-39D Airacobra
394 planes

The AAF ______103 would definitely be the serial block, and there's really no other sequence ending in 103 that would fit. 41-7103 appears to have stayed stateside per Baugher (7103 condemned Jun 15, 1944) so where is this beastie?

Cheers,

Lynn

[fiftycal]

hi, 41-7103 crash landed at Nadi airport in Fiji

[fiftycal]

Nandi Airport, FIJ LAC 5 Jones, William A. FIJ Nandi Airport, FIJ, 70th ps?

it looks like it says -P30D not P-39D thats why im a bit confused

also have you ever seen the data block applied to a cab as opposed to the keel?

[shrike]

P-30 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_P-30 would be so much rarer than a P-39. Also impossible to mistake for one.

The data block is always near the cockpit/cabin, and theoretically at least, always in the same format

[fiftycal]

its a P-39 just wondering what -P-30D means, and ive never seen the data block on the cab as the keel is the plane

[lmritger]

1 - Why'd you remove the pic?

2 - I looked REAL closely at it and was going to run it through Photoshop to invert the colors and check a theory... I thought I saw a hint of the middle line of the "9" in that splotch of dark paint (hence, P-39D, not P-30D... there was never a P-30D anyways).

Lynn