P-43 for modellers
- After the destruction of the only Curtiss ‘Interceptor’ available in China, the A.V.G. had no means to intercept the high-flying Mitsubishi Ki.46-II Dinah reconnaissance airplanes from the IJA 8th Sentai. To provide high-altitude cover to the slow P-40B, the U.S. Administration authorized the export to China of seventy-two fighters Republic P-43 ‘Lancer’ and hundred-and-eight P-43 A-1‘Chinese Lancer’, through Lend-Lease Act.
The long sea voyage damaged the Fairplane cement used to seal the wing fuel tanks, a circumstance that went unnoticed during its assembly in India and that caused the loss of 139 aircraft during the Karachi-Chengtu ferry flight. Most of the accidents were fires caused by the fuel dripping under the fuselage belly until reaching the hot turbo-exhaust.
On July 1942, ten P-43A were delivered to the A.V.G. The turbo-supercharger provided the Lancer good power through 9,000 m and American pilots who tested it in flight were satisfied with its good handly and rapid rate of roll, but the A.V.G. staff did not trust them as interceptors and chose to use them as reconnaissance airplanes. However, one of them managed to shoot down a Dinah over Bhamo.
The P-43 A-1 were used by the C.A.F. against the Ki.46, with little success, since both models had the same speed at 6,000 m. On 24 October 1942, the 24th Sqn ‘Chinese Lancers’ downed a Dinah, from 18th Dokuritsu Chutai, over Si Bao and one Kawasaki Ki.48 from 16th Sentai over Han-Sou on 12 January 1943.
The turbo-supercharger was a complex piece of equipment and the C.A.F. simply did not have the resources to train people to properly maintain the units. The P-43 A-1 had a limited use in combat and the Dinah completely lost its immunity only when the Lockheed P-38 began operating in the Far East.
P-43 A-1 technical data
Wingspan: 10.97 m, length: 8.68 m, height: 4.26 m, wing area: 20.72 sq.m, max weight: 3,846 kg, max speed: 573 kph, range: 2,333 km, power plant: one 1,200 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830-57 air-cooled radial engine, armament: two 12.7 mm heavy machine guns mounted in the cowl and two 12.7 mm in the wings.
