Quote:
Originally Posted by Mabroc
I always found it funny that P-51, P-40, Bf-109 got damaged engines with overheat and loss of power when hit or instantly died with a good burst of fire but the P-39's have no noticeable loss of power and usually can fly 10+ minutes at full combat capability smoking a lot.
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This does seem strange, since one of the reasons that pilots disliked the P-39 was the fact that the engine's position made it more vulnerable to engine damage in combat.
Given that a particular model of engine had the same cooling and oil cooling needs regardless of which plane it was mounted in, it would make sense to just have overheat and engine damage models standardized around a particular engine rather than a particular plane.
Maybe not for inline engines where the plumbing and armor could vary, but certainly for radial engines.