Saturday, January 5, 2008

Another P-39 Airacobra Story


My friend Maurice Rockett, who flew in the 95th BG as a B-17 bombardier, emailed me after reading the article about the hard-partying Russian pilots who flew the P-39s over to Russia after the U.S. decided not to use the plane. Maurice writes:


"Rob, in your blog, you addressed the problem of Russian pilots flying while into their cups. As I remember when working in Stratford, CT, at Vought-Sikorsky, there was a group of Russian pilots flying out of Bridgeport (as I recall). They often took off without warming-up only to plunge into Bridgeport Bay. End of story with you can call a 'bloop.'"


I wonder how many Russian air accidents during the war were a result of 'FUI'--'Flying under the Influence'?
It should be mentioned that there were many outstanding Russian pilots during the war, using the P-39 to rack up massive kills on superior German aircraft.


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