The Bell Airacobra Mk.I was ordered by the British on the basis of the claimed performance of the unarmed prototype aircraft. When the actual aircraft were delivered, performance with the additional equipment required for operations was less than satisfactory. Some aircraft were rerouted to the Soviet Military Air Forces & served with great success. Other Airacobra Mk.I were re-designated P-400 and served with the US Army Air Forces in the Pacific Theater.
This particular project uses an extensive rework of Eric Johnson's P-39D AFX for its visual model. It carries the distinctive long barreled 20 mm Hispano Mk.I cannon instead of the standard 37 mm M4 and was built to provide a display for a new “Air A Cutie” paint scheme.
Many Thanks to Mr. Eric Johnson for making his AFX freely available for experimentation and development.
Let me know what you think of this project.
- Ivan.
