Hobby Master 1/72 HA1706 P-39L Aircobra Cobra Aircraft Model

The Bell P-39 was the first American fighter to use tricycle undercarriage. Also unique was the use of a mid-mounted engine with a propeller shaft that ran from the engine through the cockpit under the pilot to the propeller. A 37mm cannon was mounted behind the gearbox and set up to fire through the propeller and the proper role the Airacobra performed marvelously and created a number of Aces. In North Africa the P-39 was tasked to convoy patrol, armed reconnaissance and ground attack with little chance of encountering enemy fighters in combat. However Lt. Hugh “Rowdy” Dow got lucky when he and another P-39 spotted two Bf-109s. Both pilots attacked the German fighters and damaged both Messerschmitts. Dow spotted a third Bf- 109 and gave chase that ended with the Bf-109 being destroyed. About one month later he scored his second kill that was probably the last for a P-39 in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations.