Talk:Bell P-39 Airacobra/@comment-2601:646:8F01:D716:985B:32A4:F9B2:6309-20171007002454

The top Allied fighter aces were P-39 pilots as often as not!, thanks to low altitude combat on the Eastern front.

I like the text above acknowleging Pokrishkin flying the P-63 from late 1944. Most of his victories were in the P-39. Bell deserved this recognition. I also like your myth busting the anti-tank nonesense.

The P-39 stripped down by the Russians, was lean and mean.

They ran at full power most of the time at the expense of engine longevity. They were not above putting in a Russian engine or Russian guns when the US equipment wore out.

The P-400 with a ShVAK cannon and twin UBS guns all in the nose, was not a bad change.

The turn-rate of these stripped Cobras was better than that of the Bf 109 or Fw 190 fighters. So the vulnerable mid-engine was relatively safe compared to the Pacific theatre, where US P-39 pilots fell prey to the Japanese, wholesale.

Certainly the P-39 had faults, but the USSR made the best of it, not against tanks but for the Red Guards aces against the Luftwaffe's best, mid-war. That is instructive.