Bell P39Q " Aircobra "

The Bell P39 Aircobra gained a new lease on life as a "Lend-Lease" item in Soviet Russia. The Russians who couldn't afford to be picky as to what they threw into the air found its ground attack capability useful. The Soviets considered the inevitable high pilot casualties as acceptable.

Apparently, the Russians dumped the wing guns, which is what the AAF boys in New Guinea did, in order to improve performance. The Russians also dumped radio equipment for the same reason. And, apparently, they mostly used the P-39 as a fighter. The Germans, also apparently, chose to fly most of their missions at low and medium altitudes, putting the P-39 right at its prime fighting height. Within its altitude envelope the Bell was, yet again apparently, competitive with the 109, so using it as a fighter made sense. Seventy-five percent of US lend-lease fighters sent to the USSR were P-39s and P-63s, which the Soviets specifically requested. So they must have liked them.