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P-400 Airacobra


Flashlarue
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This is a P-400 Airacobra or less likely a P-39 Airacobra. They had a lot of low altitude fights with Zeros and held their own. I can't make up the tail number 210- or 24-- or 28--? but the name on the nose is Jeannie II with a big white questionmark below the cockpit. The original photo is very small 1 1/4 X 2 inches. Does anyone recognize this airplane?

 

post-87451-0-55819800-1395353895.jpg

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After rescanning the image at high resolution the tail number appers to be 21028 with the second 2 questionable. The star on the side of the aircraft circled with red (contrasting color to the star's background) it would place this photo aprox. July - September 1943. Also there is a lighter vertical stripe running around the fuselage between the star and the tail.

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I think this might be a 350th FG bird in the Med, sometime in late 1943-early '44. The stripe on the rear of the a/c is typical for 350th aircraft.

Mark

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The export versions of the P-39 and the later USAAF versions of the P-39 were redesignated P-400. The P-39 was nicknamed P-400 for its supposed top speed of 400 mph.

 

Also I notice the plane in my photo does not have covers on the wing wheels.

 

If I misread the tail number and it is 218_ _ _ it would match with the tail numbers in the 350th FG. A 350th plane named Jeanie had the tail number 218349.

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I'm sure I've seen this bird before. I'll do some hunting. Serial on the tail would most likely make it not an export bird as the 400 serial were usually on the fuselage near the tail and had the RAF type serial with the two letter three number style

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is a 346th Fighter Squadron P-39N1. I have another photo of this plane in the 350th archives. The tail number is 42-18306 (tail# 218306). There were pictures taken of this bird at Elmas Airfield (Cagliari) on Sardinia. I believe the armorer for this plane was Harry Dawson. I believe the pilot associated with this plane is 346th pilot Ivan Behel.

 

I am very interested in your photo of a P-39 with the tail number 218349. I believe it is not Jeannie I but rather Jeanie with door number 49 of the 345th Fighter Squadron, 350th FG. I will add some photos later.

 

 

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Here is another view if the other side of Jeannie II of the 346th Fighter squadron from the collection of Harry Dawson, the armorer. I believe if we combine the photo you posted along with this photo we land on the tail number 218306. As regards 350th birds, there are many that are in the rang of this.

 

 

 

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Here is Jeannie II at Elmas. Pilot on the left is 346th Ivan Behel, Armorer in the middle is Harry Dawson.

 

post-97487-0-39361800-1396725733.jpg

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Here is a photo of 345th birds Jeanie and Lenore VI. My father belly landed Lenore VI with a frozen prop. Do you have another image of Jeanie? Do you have any other 350th photos?

post-97487-0-39659500-1396726285.jpg

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This is the only shot I have of these airplanes. It is a very small photo about 1 1/2 X 2. Ivan Behel makes sense because this photo came from Benton Co., OK and we're in with a bunch of old civilian airplan photos.

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I was wondering when Keith would show up :).

 

I know now why the name is familiar too but I couldn't fid the image!

 

Keith aka "Devilhawks" is the son of a 350th pilot and the group historian. His photo archives is fantastic and if you are up to contributing to the cause, a good copy of that photo would no doubt be appreciated as an addition to the collection.

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As WW2 was getting underway (and before he got into it) my dad was in college in Buffalo and said he saw Airacobras flying all the time, as they were being built, I believe, nearby. I always thought they were one of the best looking WW2 planes in spite of their limitations.

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