bell p- 63 pinball target plane

[tom d. friedman]

how would you have liked to have been a ww 2 design engineer / assembler for the p-63 kingcobra?? yes, it had some success via lend lease with the ussr in ground attack, but it was a turkey over all, especially in the u.s., especially with an inglorious job it was assigned in the u.s. as the "pinball", which trained gunners & pilots in air to air target practice. painted orange, rigged with hundreds of light bulbs with hit sensors to detect hits from training machine guns modified to fire frangible (breakable ceramic bullets) on impact with armored points on the 63. the lights would register hits for trainees, thus grading their accuracy. the pilot, which must have been 1 brave soul regardless, was protected by heavy armor. but then.... the errant 1 in a million unlucky hit to body or bird!! i would have felt bad developing this type only to see it be relegated to such an ignominious service job. my question.... can anybody relate any stories from the unlucky bastards that were pegged to fly the type in training??? i wonder if some female wasp pilots flew the type too!!! all must have been brave!!! how about comments from shooters who worked the pinball types over in training??? how many 63's served in this capacity??

[RickH]

P-63 was NOT a turkey but by the time it was available other types were already doing the job for USAAF. USAAF also turned it down because of previous poor performance of the P-39, they ignored the fact that the P-63 was a completely new airplane with a commensurate increase in performance.

As for RP-63 Pinballs the only intact survivor that I know of is on the parade ground at Lackland AFB. OUTSIDE !

[tom d. friedman]

you make a valid point rick, i was rather biased in my opinion. can't blame me though........ target duty plain & simple.... but what is a person to think??? hey, you saved some face for the type!! any info as to experiences from pilots as targets or pea shooters as aimers???

[HELLDIVERS]

Hi;

I think Charley Nicholes P63 was a pinball They were much heavier do to thicker skins plus all of the sensors. Thanks Mike

[Dan K]

Evidence would support Rick's opinion: P-63 was definitely not a turkey, nor required anyone's assistance to "save face."

Apparently the great VVS ace Pokryshkin, when encouraged by his superiors to convert his unit from P-39's to the superlative Lavochkin La-7, convinced those same superiors to supply P-63's instead. This has never been officially recorded in any VVS document, since the terms of Lend-Lease concerning the P-63 forbade it from being used on the German front. Instead, the Kingcobras were to be used to create an Asian air fleet for the Soviet Union's eventual declaration of war against Japan and invasion of Korea. Private journals of former VVS pilots published in the 1990's reveal the real story of P-63 combat on the German front.

If the P-63 was such a performance dud, then why would someone the caliber of Pokryshkin select it over such types as the later Yak and Lavochkin series fighters? I'm stumped.

[agent86]

More than one of the "pinball machine" P-63's were actually shot down by the supposidly"Frangible" bullets.According to a book that I own on the P-39/63,flying the target planes wasnt a very popular assignment with pilots."Dohhh ! Ya think so?"

[mustangdriver]

Here is the pinball P-63 that is at the NMUSAF.

[John Kerr]

Well here are the many faces of RP-63G 45-57295 at Lackland AFB, TX.
Photo 1 was taken by Vince Reynolds, the others by me. Note in picture 2 and 3 it is correctly painted as a RP-63G. I understand and was told that a new General came to Lackland and said, either scrap or repaint that orange aircraft as it is ugly. Enjoy. John R. Kerr

1. 1963



2. 1 July 1976



3. Jan 1989



4. Apr 1991

[RickH]

I think the armored skin is an overlay. Each panel has Dzus fittings holding them on the aircraft. The pinball name refers to lights on the aircraft that would blink registering hits on the aircraft.

Does the RP-63 at the NMUSAF retain all of its armor ?

The Lackland example is completely armored. You can see how much heavier everything is when compared to the CAF P-63F.

[mustangdriver]

You know, I am not sure. I think it might. I know that it still has the lights in it.

[RMAllnutt]

Does anyone actually have records which confirm that the Russians actually used P-63's in combat during WWII? I have always thought that they arrived too late to take part. I seem to remember this being written when the P-63's were recovered from the Kuriles a decade or so ago.

Cheers. Richard

PS. I love the P-39/P-63 aircraft!

[Shay]

Does anyone actually have records which confirm that the Russians actually used P-63's in combat during WWII? I have always thought that they arrived too late to take part. I seem to remember this being written when the P-63's were recovered from the Kuriles a decade or so ago.

Cheers. Richard

PS. I love the P-39/P-63 aircraft!

Taken from Mr. Baugher's site:

Of the 3303 P-63s built, 2397 were delivered to the Soviet under Lend Lease. All of these were delivered between 1942 and 1945, and 21 were lost during ferrying.

The means of transfer was for US pilots to fly the Soviet-bound machines from Niagra Falls to Selfridge Field, Michigan, stop for refuelling, and then to continue on to Truax Field in Madison, Wisconsin. The planes were picked up at Truax by female Soviet pilots, who flew them to Edmonton Field in Anchorage, Alaska and then over to the Soviet Union.

Very little is known about their service with the V-VS. Postwar Soviet sources tended to downplay their role in the war, in favor of stories which praised the home-built Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik. However, it is known that the P-63, like its P-39 cousin, was a potent ground attack aircraft and a good tank buster.

There were enough Lend-Lease supplied Kingcobras remaining in service in the Soviet Union after the war in Europe ended that they were assigned the NATO code name *Fred* when the Cold War got underway.

Seems that they were in Russia early enough to contribute

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[Dan K]

Does the RP-63 at the NMUSAF retain all of its armor ?

I don't believe the example at NMUSAF is an original RP-63, but rather one of the survivng P-63E's made to appear like one. Check out the following:

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsh ... asp?id=485

[Django]

why were they prohibited from action on the German Front?

[RickH]

That makes perfect sense, mock up an aircraft that has its own historical provenance to look like something else while a real example rots in the Texas sun !

It just gets better and better.