Somewhat overshadowed by its contemporaries like the Mustang and the Spitfire bells rather diminutive, arrow Cobra was nevertheless full of innovative features. High on the list of new ideas were the mid mounted engine and the tricycle undercarriage, as well as many others, all springing from the mind of Robert Woods, Bell aircrafts chief designer. However, there was also much other human genius involved. Although Bell would concentrate on smaller types of fighters and experimental aircraft, the factory in Buffalo, NY, had previously produced much larger seaplanes for Reuben Fleets consolidated aircraft. Cold winters and frozen lakes drove Fleet to build his new plant in San Diego, leaving the old factory and some staff looking for a new boss, which they found in the person of Larry Bell. Bell, together with cofounder Woods, formed the Bell Aircraft Company. The P39 wasn't their first aircraft to be rolled out of the Buffalo plant. Rather that was the earlier yet just as innovative Arrow CUDA. The Arrow CUDA was designed to be a bomber destroyer which would keep intruding bombers at Bay. Crewed with no less than five airmen and employing heavy gun positions in front of two rear facing propellers, it would have been an imposing sight to any adversary. In early 1940, the Arrow CUDA actually did go into service, albeit in a very limited way. Never a real success, Bell's first product at least gave the company experience and led the way to its next, equally innovative offering. During the 1930s most US AERO engine development evolved around the air cooled radial concept. The wide frontal surface of radials was necessary to provide air flow required for cooling the engine. However, this layout also produced drag. During the time, European designers started to look more toward the water cooled inline configuration. Inline engines were narrower and made for a more streamlined aircraft which produced less drag. This in turn provided greater speed. However, the US did have one developed inline engine available, the Allison V-1710. A twelve cylinder power plant that was favored by the Army Air Corps in the late 1930s, and in particular by Lieutenant Benjamin S Kelsey. Although Kelsey was only 30 years old and just held the rank of Lieutenant, he was very well recognized by the army as a forward thinker. And together with another Lieutenant, Gordon Seville, had set the criteria for the next generation of US fighters. There were in fact two separate roles to fill: one, a long range twin-engined heavy fighter and the other a lighter single-engined and heavily maneuverable fighter. Kelsey and Seville had concerns that the Air Corps might take a conservative view of their specification, particularly if viewed alongside traditional fighters. As a safeguard, both new aircraft were always referred to as interceptors, a term without precedence in the army at the time. Both aircraft specifications called for V-1710 engines to be fitted with an advanced GE Turbo Supercharger for high altitude flight. Also, both aircraft were required to have tricycle landing gears for safer high speed landing. After competing concept were compared, two contracts were issued. Thus the Lockheed P-38 and the Bell P-39 came into being. As truly clever and successful as the P-38 was, the Bell offering now known as the Arrow Cobra was perhaps even more innovative. In fact, there was almost nothing about the P-39 that wasn't completely outside the box. The P-39 was more of an aircraft built around a weapon rather than the usual in which weapons were added to an aircraft. It was perhaps more of an integrated weapon system, comparable to the A-10 Thunderbolt ll, which would appear 4 decades later. A lesser known and yet significant player in the P-39 project was hmm Poyer. Poyer was the primary designer under Woods, and it was he who was heavily influenced by the performance of the Oldsmobile T9, a 37 millimeter cannon, and it was around this invention that the Arrow Cobra was to be built. The T9 cannon greatly influenced both the shape and the layout of Belle's first really successful aircraft. The only way that Poyer could accommodate such a large piece of artillery was to place it in front of the pilot. This of course poses the next question, where was the engine going to be housed? The only place left was behind the single crew position, which required a 10 foot drive shaft that would run below the pilot's feet and onto a gearbox from which the propeller would be turned. This unique arrangement also allowed for the cannon to fire directly through the propeller boss, and as well, this layout also provided storage for the forward part of the Arrow Cobra's tricycle undercarriage. Poyer could hardly have fit anything more into his creation, and still the end result was a very clean and thoroughly aerodynamic aircraft. The cockpit configuration was unusual compared to other aircraft of the day. It provided an excellent all around view and was a forerunner to future bubble canopies. But unlike those future Canopy designs, the pilot of the P-39 would enter the aircraft through car style doors, complete with roll down windows. If necessary, There was an emergency release on the doors, but it was thought that bailing out would be more difficult than the traditional method of jettisoning a cockpit roof. Also, the seat was not adjustable and designed to accommodate pilots of five feet inches tall and no heavier than 200 hundred pounds. This was partially due to the drive shaft running below the pilot's feet. The P-39's unusual engine placement rarely proved a problem, but the V-1710 engine never evolved in the way Kelsey had planned. For flying at high altitudes where the air is thin, superchargers are a necessity. In essence, a supercharger is a pump which forces the mixture of fuel and air into an engine's Carburetor superchargers can be driven by mechanical effect of the engine or pressure from the engines exhaust driving a turbo. However, the turbo approach involved space consuming exhaust and cooling issues. And Poyer had run out of room, it seemed there was no way to make the turbo approach fit. And what was worse, Kelsey, who had championed the GE Turbo Supercharger, had been transferred to another position. Finally, it was decided to use a less demanding mechanical supercharger, which rendered the Arrow Cobra useless for high altitude interceptor missions. The P-39 was used early on in the Aleutians, but it wasn't the aircraft that Kelsey envisioned. The question is, if Kelsey had detailed the specifications, why was the GE Turbo Supercharger not allowed for the P-39 and why too were there over 10,000 bail aircraft rushed into production. Although the altitude problem was an issue to most Allied air forces, it should be remembered that in all other aspects the P-39 was as good as any other fighter of the time. By 1942 there was also one nation that saw their air war with Germany as only being fought at lower levels, and that was the Soviet Union. The initial German attack on the Soviets had narrowly failed, allowing the Russians to move much of their industry behind the Ural Mountains and out of the reach of the Luftwaffe bombers. This scenario worked well for the P-39 because the Nazis never had an effective high altitude long range bomber that could reach the relocated Soviet factories. Although the Arrow Cobra was to serve well with several Allied air forces, it was with the Soviets that the Bell fighter really found its home. In August 1941, the Packard built Rolls Royce Merlin engine came online in America. It would replace the Allison V-1710 in both the P-51 Mustang and some P-40s with outstanding success. However, it was not adapted to the P-39. Most likely this was due to the fact that another aircraft was being considered by the army in Bell. Certainly the P-39 had its problems. However at lower altitudes it had excellent turning performance and the cannon, although with limited ammunition and some jamming problems, was well regarded. Getting the Arrow COBRA to the Soviet Union was its own challenge. It would be impossible to deliver the aircraft along the Southern route, such as one from the Caribbean to Brazil to Africa to Iran, before heading into Soviet territory. A more direct route involving Iceland or Greenland was also out of the question because of its proximity to the European war. But sending shipments northwest via Alaska and across the Bering Sea to Siberia was a very real possibility with the aid of Canada. By late 1940, before the United States had entered the war, it was decided that a string of airports should be built that would stretch from the City of Edmonton all the way up to the Alaskan border. These airfields would dot across the map in a northwesterly direction, with no more than 140 miles between them. With two starting locations in Minnesota and Montana, the Northwest Staging route would cover a vast amount of territory passing through such remote destinations as Fort St. John, BC, and Watson Lake and Whitehorse in the Yukon. The Soviets had set up bases at Ladd Field and Nome in Alaska, where Russian pilots would take possession of the new aircraft. Here, the Russian crews would inspect each aircraft and begin to move them to Soviet territory for pilots on the Eastern Front. Bell proposed a more advanced E model of the P-39, but the military showed little interest. However, the army did look to develop a larger aircraft, one which would still employ most of the unique features of the Arrow Cobra. Thus the P-63 was conceived. Bell developed the P-63 as a larger aircraft than its predecessor, and it was named the King Cobra. It sported an advanced laminar flow wing and carried more ammunition for the central cannon. At one point a single Packard Merlin engine was allocated for testing in a King Cobra. However, the decision was made that all Merlins were needed for -51 production, so the P-63 was still to be powered by the Allison V-1710. Only this time it did have a two stage mechanical supercharger. Very few King Cobras were introduced to the US Army. A number were used by French forces, although not in time to see European combat. In fact, the vast majority of a total production run of approximately 3000 P-63s went to the P-39's greatest admirer, the Soviets. So great was Russian involvement in the King Cobra project that two Soviet technical officers were seconded to Belle's Niagara plant. The lead man was Colonel Andre Kochetkov, a test pilot of great standing within the Soviet military. With the Soviets now their main customer, the engineers at Bell opened up to Soviet input. A P-63A was sent to the central Aero Hydrodynamic Institute in Moscow for testing in the world's largest wind tunnel. Through Soviet input, changes were made that would almost double the amount of ammo the P-63 could carry. Kochetkov also helped identify a corkscrewing problem that had persisted between both the P-39 and the P-63 and had caused a number of crashes for Russian pilots on the front. It was only through kochetkova's flight of A P-63, that the Bell engineers were able to discover what the problem was and solve it. When the aircraft began to Corkscrew, Kochetkov bailed out and survived as the plane crashed close to a nearby home. Though the two Russian test pilots soon became accepted as a valuable part of the P-63 team, there was one part of the Bell Hanger that remained close to them. It was only after D-Day that the security posted to this area withdrew and the Russians were allowed to at least see the secret that Bell was working on the P-59 Airacomet, the United States's first jet powered aircraft. Kochetkov would almost certainly have had the highest security clearance sufficient to be aware of his nation's most secret development the BI-1 rocket powered fighter. But the Soviet Union did not have a jet powered plane yet. Still, while the Russians could touch the plane and sit in its cockpit, they never had a chance to fly it. Kochetkov would, however, be the first Russian pilot to fly a jet fighter when, after the war, he flew a captured Messerschmitt 262. The King Cobra made its first appearance in the Pacific War when Soviet forces entered the fray against Japan after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There, Soviet pilots flew escort missions and P-63s. The P-63 King Cobra continued to serve both the Soviet Union and France for years after the wars end. Several king Cobras even became successful air racers in the years following the war. For military use, the P-63 was painted bright orange and stripped of its regular armour and weapons. Over a ton of sheet metal would then be added to the aircraft, as well as a number of sensors that would light a bulb in the propeller hub when the aircraft was hit by special frangible rounds. With the nickname pinball, these aircraft were used as flying targets for gunnery practice. Two surplus P-63s were modified by Bell to test low speed install characteristics of swept wings. With a P-39's propeller added as well as new wings with a 35 degree sweep, adjustable leading edge slats and trailing edge flaps, it would be named the L-39 and it was used in test whose findings would later contribute to the creation of the Bell X1 and X2 aircraft. The Airacobra's legacy is its success in aiding the Soviet forces on the Eastern Front. Several of the top scoring allied aces in the war flew the P-39, including one of the most decorated Soviet pilots, Alexander Pokryshkin. After inventing his own fighter tactics when the official combat Doctrine failed him, Pokryshkin would shoot down 59 aircraft on his own as well as an additional six with the help of his wingmates. He stuck with the P-39 for its reliability, even when newer Soviet designs were becoming available. With the highest number of kills per pilot ratio compared to any other US built fighter, the Airacobra's value is without question. Even without the aid of a turbo supercharger, it performed admirably and was the most successful aircraft manufactured by Bell. This is Chuck Randall. He's training to be a fighter pilot and has about 40 hours in the P-39. Knows the airplane pretty well too. He's not the hottest pilot in the world, but conscientious to make a good flyer. Here's another of the boys. He has about as much time as Chuck, but a little different approach to his flying. For one thing, he didn't spend much time getting to know his airplane. It finally caught up with him. Coming in one day, his battery went out when the gear was only part way down. That's a funny thing too, because the battery and generator had just been checked. Well, it meant emergency operation of the gear. Went through all the motions. It didn't feel right at all. In fact, much too easily, didn't seem to be engaging. Reason? Well, he didn't wait to find out. He had other plans. Sure it was a safe landing. He didn't have a scratch. But it was a pretty sad looking airplane. He didn't look too happy himself, and with good reason. In the first place, if he'd had the clutch handle to manual, he could have cranked the gear down without any trouble. In second place, if you needed help remembering emergency operation, there's a card of instructions on the door. And third place, If the generator had been on, the battery wouldn't have gone dead in the first place. A moral of that story is know the airplane you are about to pilot. Now, flying the P-39 is not a lot different from the advanced trainers you've been flying. Has more power, it's faster and it's very light on the controls. But just as with any new airplane, the more you know about it, the better you will fly it. Much of the information you need you will get from your instructor. Some of it you'll get from talking it over with other men who are in training with you, but the best reference guide is your own experience. It's something you'll always have with you. So keep it up to date. Well, now let's start at the beginning with Chuck and see what he found out. What do you say, Chuck? OK, Sir. Well, after the tech orders and a thorough check of the cockpit, I was ready to give it a try. With the tail in the air, I could see where I was going without essing. She taxied very easily with short bursts on the throttle and I let her coast a lot. Didn't have to use much break. Getting her in the air was all right, as a matter of fact, it was fun. I've never flown that much power before and I was surprised how easily she handled. But I had never landed a tricycle gear job before either, so I guess I was a little uncertain about bringing her in. I could see I was coming in pretty fast and there wasn't going to be enough runway. So I gunned her to go around again. I know the fellas were watching, but I figured I could live that down easier than messing up a nice new airplane. Then I brought it in again. Landing instructions said it was just like landing any other airplane, and I took them at their word. I rolled out of the turn at about 140, lowered my flaps, and established a steady glide at about 130. This is how it looks to the slow motion camera. I came in over the end of the runway at 110, leveled out and got the airplane in a conventional 3 point landing attitude. I set it down on the two main wheels, holding the nose wheel off the ground with a slight back pressure on the stick. I found that I could hold the nose wheel anywhere from a few inches to two feet off the ground and still make a good landing. The airplane rolled straight down the runway and I applied the brakes intermittently to loose speed. We don't roll up the flaps here until we park, since there are no stones to damage them and there's less chance of hitting the wrong switch. How was the first flight Chuck have any trouble? No Sir, it was OK. It's a lot different from what I expected. I guess you can't believe everything you. Hear. Depends where you hear it. You can pick up a lot of information from hangar experts. All the free dope you'll want on any airplane, and they always have it on good authority. Well, to get on with Chuck's story. He was over the first hump, but that was only the beginning. He still had a few things to learn about flying the airplane. And aside from the cockpit, there was a lot he wanted to know about the airplane itself. It is Good background. Might come in handy someday. I was going into my transitional training, which began with eight engineering missions designed to get me acquainted with the performance of the airplane and the operation of its engine. I was flying a Model N airplane and knew from the tech orders that if necessary I could take off with 52 inches and 3000 RPM, which is rated takeoff power. But in training with the airplane making eight or ten takeoffs a day, we're instructed to keep it down to something less. Actually, it's possible to take off with as little as 35 inches. When I had sufficient altitude I retracted the gear and when I was up to a few 100 feet, eased back to 35 inches and 2600. The going was smooth and it sure felt good to be flying again. But I wasn't ready just yet to sit back and enjoy the scenery. There were a couple of things I had to keep an eye on. The prestone temperature was under control. Ohio temperature was about 70 degrees, OK. Oil pressure about 70, fuel pressure OK and I had enough air speed, which is always a good thing to know. They say altitude is like money in the bank and it's one thing the government has no objection to hoarding. Besides, when you're new to an airplane, it's an especially good idea to have plenty of space underneath you. I was on my way up to 10,000 feet. When I got there, I settled back and tried a few coordination exercises. Enrolling into a turn, I found that very little rudder pressure was needed. You want to treat this airplane like a lady. Don't try to be fast or rough if you expect to get along with her. Then I tried a few gentle turns. At first I had a tendency to skid or slip. The turning radius of this airplane is much greater than what I've been used to. It took me a while to get the proper relationship between the aileron and rudder. But by doing a few more and keeping an eye on the bank and turn indicator, I soon got the idea of how to coordinate properly and they began to feel pretty smooth. Like all pilots who fly pursuit, it wasn't long before I got to wondering about the speed I could get out of her. So I poured on the coal to see how she'd react up to 3000 RPM and 52 inches. Incidentally, the tech orders say always increase RPM first, then manifold pressure. It's especially important in a high-powered engine like this. If you don't, you'll be building up excess pressure inside the cylinders and it's liable to detonate and cause serious damage to the engine. With the increased power, temperatures and pressures went up when I adjusted the shutters. 5 minutes is the maximum time for operation with this power, but I think you can find out what you want to know in less time than that. At least I did. I tried various combinations of mixture, RPM and manifold pressure at different altitudes to get some idea of how these factors affected power. In my first mission, I tried a few partial stalls with the gear and flaps retracted. I don't quite know what I expected, but I was pleasantly surprised. The airplane stalled very gently and had no tendency to drop away. There was plenty of warning before she stalled completely. Later I carried this a little further and did a complete stall of 10,000 feet with the power partially off. That is about 15 inches. It broke clean at about 100 and to recover I dropped the nose to let her pick up speed about 180, before I started to pull her up. As the stall was explained to me, it's all a matter of air flow over the wing surface. If the air flow is disturbed due to an increased angle of attack, the wing loses its lift and the airplane will stall. When the airplane approaches a stall, turbulence begins at the roots. And as this section begins to stall, it causes a shuddering. The tail buffet slightly from the effect of this turbulent air. The stall progresses. Outboard and gradually affects aileron control just before the stall is complete. The entire aileron becomes ineffective. In recovery, the ailerons regain control before the wing is completely unstalled. So when you first feel aileron control returning, don't let it fool you. Don't start to pull up until you have sufficient speed. Later I tried some partial stalls with the gear and flaps extended. The stall characteristics were pretty much the same as in the clean condition, but with the stall occurring at a lower speed. with the power reduced, I pull the stick back gently until gradually the stall point was reached. After she began to shudder slightly at about 95, I eased gently forward on the stick. I let her pick up some speed in a shallow dive about 140 and ease their back level. Knowing stalls is a pretty good way to get the feel of any airplane, so I practiced until I was sure of. Then, with the gear still down, I trimmed the airplane for an indicated airspeed of 150 and tried some gliding turns for practice and landing approaches. I figured it would be a good idea to try them first in a safe altitude, whether we're no traffic problems, and I could concentrate on getting the knack of a properly coordinated gliding turn. I knew that speed was important, and I didn't let it drop below 130. At first. I go beyond the medium bank. A steeper bank is all right, but it's easy to skid and I want it to be darn sure I didn't pull her in too tight. It wasn't long before I was ready to hang one on the beginning of the landing. I kept some power on and didn't cut the gun until after the turn. I could spot my landings pretty well now. Whatever uncertainties I'd had at first were cleared up after I'd made a few more. Another day I gave some attention to climbing. With normal climbing power, 26139 inches, she indicated 160, which is the best climbing speed. Compared to the trainers I'd flown before this baby really clamped. At 12,000 feet, I put her in a dive. I tried a few before and this time I wanted to get up to 400. I hadn't trimmed for the dive and I found that I needed left rudder and some forward stick pressure to follow a straight flight path. At about 7000 feet I started to pull up very gradually. It didn't matter so much how fast I was traveling just so I took it easy in the pull out. In a dive the greater the speed, the more gradual the pullout has to be. I still had a lot to learn about the airplane, and flying tight turns was a good way to do it. It helps to develop the feeling for the airplane, which is so necessary for combat flying. It's important to be in full control at all times, and so it meant working up to them gradually. As I went along I reached them in tighter and pretty soon was pulling them in almost to the stall point. I was making the turns as tight as I could without stalling out. There was a definite change in the feel of the controls just preceding the stalling condition. I could feel a buffeting on the tail and the whole airplane shuddered. I got so I could recognize it and was able to prevent a stall by relaxing back pressure. Occasionally I'd let her stall some, but it was easy enough to recover. The airplane unstalled quickly and full control returned Immediately The speed didn't matter so much as the tightness of turn. The tighter the turn, the higher the speed at which I stalled out. I practiced tight turns on a number of missions and got to be pretty sure of myself and probably a little careless, because during one I guess I must have pulled her in a little too tight. The airplane stalled and I didn't relax back pressure quick enough and I spun out of the inside of the turn. It caught me unaware and it must have been a couple of turns before I started to recover. She responded promptly. I decided to check up on spins and this is what my instructor had to say. In this airplane a spin as an irregular gyration, going first slow and then fast in an oscillatory pattern. The first move when you're aware you're in a spin is to close the throttle and go into low RPM. As soon as the direction of rotation is established, bring the stick full back, apply full runner with the spin and hold until ready to recover. When the airplane comes to the slow part of its gyration, apply hard opposite rudder. A moment later, move the stick full forward and apply ailerons against the spin. As soon as the rotation stops, usually about 3/4 of a turn. It will begin to recover in a steep dive. Neutralize all controls and wait until the airplane picks up speed and feels normal. Then gradually start to pull up. And recovery is completed. In the P39 as in most airplanes, a spin is easily and quickly recovered from, if not permitted to progress too far. I was familiar with the feel of the basic maneuvers and could coordinate each of them pretty well. Next, it was a matter of combining and the Lazy Eight was a good way to do it. It's a valuable maneuver for developing coordination, since it involves motion about all three axes of the airplane at the same time and through a wide range of speeds. I started them from cruising, pulling up in a bank not more than 70 degrees at the steepest point, with a minimum air speed of 160 at the top of the arc and not exceeding 300 at the center of the 8. When I could do a good job of these, I felt I was well on my way to mastering the airplane. Next came the two plane element flying with my instructor. We talked it over first on the ground and checked on signals. We took off individually and got into formation in a gentle turn. In loose formation, we climbed to a safe altitude. At 10,000 feet. I trimmed out the ship and pulled up into formation on signal. Keeping it fairly loose, we tried some gentle turns. I was flying on the inside and found that at first I had a tendency to over control. But brushing up on the old fundamentals of position, distance and smooth throttle coordination, it wasn't long before I could do a fairly decent job of following around in a turn. Actually, with the additional power and increased speed range of the airplane, I found it was easier to fly good formation in the P39 than in the training airplanes I've flown. Before. Then we tried some climbs. It was good practice for coordinating my speed and throttle settings with the leaders. And then some dives. Pretty gentle at first and then steeper. I was becoming accustomed to flying formation at higher speeds and even sharper maneuvers. With several two plane missions behind me, I felt pretty much at home in formation. I hadn't done much in the way of acrobatics in the airplane and felt about ready for it. Double checking my shoulder harness lock, I tried some rolls. Starting at cruising, it rolled very easily and had a good response to the ailerons. The stick pressures generally were much lighter than I've been accustomed to, and she responded quickly and smoothly. Although a pretty easy maneuver, it sure built up my confidence. Then came loops. During this maneuver, the airplane flies through 2 speed extremes, high at the beginning and end and low at the top. Trimmed for cruising, I applied left rudder as I pulled up. As the speed decreased, I relaxed rudder pressure. As the airplane continued up, I applied right rudder on the downward arc. As the speed increased beyond cruising, I relaxed right and gradually applied left rudder. Straight back on the stick, fairly hard so as to maintain sufficient speed to carry me through at the top. Nearing the inverted position, I relaxed back pressure slightly and stretched my neck backward as far as possible to see the horizon when it appeared. I could use it as a reference in keeping my wings level, then I'm down and around. After more acrobatic practice, I felt I could handle the airplane and all attitudes and was confident in trying my hand at more advanced maneuvers, something my instructor said helped. With proper instruction, you should feel no apprehension about attempting almost any maneuver, and you'll find that very often fear of the unknown is removed by deliberately doing what you're afraid will happen. All my training thus far had pointed toward one thing. And now I was ready for it. Gunnery. These planes are built around their armament and are equipped to deliver a lot of firepower. First I tried my hand at ground targets. With fixed guns aimed to fire along the axis of the airplane, I knew the projectile would strike the target only if I were flying a straight through course. It meant having the ball in the center. With the ship and the skid there was a horizontal component and I hit to one side of the target. And the speed I was traveling at was important too. Below the recommended speed, the airplane was inclined above the flight path. At higher speeds it was inclined below the flight path, introducing a vertical component. I started at 2 or 3000 feet in a steep dive and flattened out to make an approach at 15 to 25 degrees to the horizon. I found I could come down pretty close and still not have to pull out steeply or abruptly. Next came water targets, and here I had to be even more careful in my pullouts. I didn't hit very much at first, but I was told not to be too concerned. Accurate judgment of speed and timing and pullouts can only be attained with many practice runs. Since this airplane has proved an effective weapon for attacking ground objectives, my training included low altitude flying and simulated strafing. Then came deflection gunnery practice on aerial targets, making dry passes at another ship. I started with a small amount of deflection turning to keep lead on the target. Gradually I increased the speed and narrowed the angle, and it soon became evident that my practice in tight turns was time well spent. Just lately I've been practicing with live ammunition on a toad sleeve. Which brings me pretty well up to date. As a matter of fact, I am due for a mission right now. So long, fellas. See you around. Thanks, Chuck. You men going into training in this airplane will probably cover much the same ground. Perhaps in much the same way. You'll be flying an airplane which is fast and powerful. It is sensitive to the controls and quick to respond. know thoroughly its characteristics. And when you join the men now in combat, your job will be easy and like theirs, well done for in the various war theaters, the record shows that when American fighting men in fighting airplanes set out for an enemy objective, the report is sure to be mission accomplished. If you enjoyed this video, Please remember to like and subscribe. And as always, thank you for watching.
