In all, 272 Lancers were delivered from the period spanning 1940 to 1941. The aircraft proved reliable if unspectacular and featured modern qualities such as a wholly-enclosed cockpit, metal skinning, retractable undercarriage and aerodynamic streamlining. Certainly the Army desire was for air-cooled fighter types but radial-powered ones still held their place in the grand scheme of the war. Additionally for Republic, the series was an improvement over previous company offerings even if it could do little against the more advanced fighters coming out of Germany and Japan. For most of its service life, the P-43 was stuck in secondary roles and shipped to far-off places rather than pressed into service as a frontline mount. Primary operators became the Royal Australian Air Force, the Republic of China Air Force and the United States (both in its Air Corps and Air Forces guise).
The P-43B were 150 P-43A and P-43A-1 models converted for the photo-reconnaissance role by installing a camera in the tail unit. The P43C followed suit in form and function but differed in equipment carried and numbered just two conversions from the P-43A stock. The P-43D was another reconnaissance model but finished with the PW R-1830-47 series engine and only six were brought along from their original P-43A forms. The P-43E was a proposed mark (again for photo-reconnaissance) and carried a PW R-1830-47 engine. These were to be based on the P-43A-1 model. The RP-43 designation was a USAAF identifier to mark past-due Lancers as "Restricted from Combat" from 1942 onward.
As completed, the P-43A could manage a maximum speed of 356 miles per hour, a range out to 650 miles, a service ceiling up to 36,000 feet and a rate-of-climb of 2,500 feet-per-minute. Standard armament eventually became 4 x 0.50 M2 Browning heavy machine guns as 0.30 machine guns in aircraft were proving weak as the war progressed.
Many Lancers ended their days as basic trainers for the U.S. Army. The photo-reconnaissance role was added only later, in 1942, when the true combat value of the P-43 was realized as quite limited. Chinese models were flown with PW-1830-57 series engines and the stated heavy machine gun armament as well as a bomb-carrying capability and self-sealing fuel tanks (the latter a very important survival quality). About 108 were earmarked for service in China and some did see direct combat against the invading Japanese forces - though more less outdone by superior Japanese warplanes and experienced airmen used in the theater.
All Lancer aircraft were scrapped when the war ended.
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