re: #245 The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge

Maybe because it’s one of the most underrated aircraft ever—Chuck Yeager called it the finest airplane he ever flew, and the highest-scoring Allied ace of WWII flew it (but he was a Russkie, so it don’t count./), I’ve always liked the Bell P-39 Airacobra:

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It was better than its press, but the USAAF also had the higher and faster flying P-38 as a ‘cannon fighter’ and the P-38’s ability to operate alongside the B-17 and B-24 (at least over medium distances) mattered more to the US than did the P-39’s 37mm’s greater hitting power.