Chuck Yeager enjoyed the
sleek little P-39 Airacobra.
_, Some other pilots damned
it as atumbling deathtrap. Soviet
airmen embraced its low-altitude
performance and made a fearsome
ground attack weapon of the P-39.
Latter-day magazine articles
ridiculed its performance in the airto-air
combat arena. And Bell pilot
Tex Johnston raced an Airacobra to
glory. Somewhere in this wilderness
of differing opinions and exploits
resides the true nature of this pioneering
tricycle-gear warplane