New Norman Feltwell Warbird Photos

Polikarpov

P-39Q Airacobra

P-51 D Mustang

Englishman Norman Feltwell takes incredible photos of WWII warbirds. I'm lucky enough to be on his mailing list, and he has kindly given me permission to share. The above photos were all taken by Mr. Feltwell.

More on the Russian P-39

My friend Partha wrote to dispute my comment that Russian pilots did well against the German Luftwaffe. He writes:

Your stories about "the recovery of the ill fated Airacobra from the Russian lake were both interesting to read. Even after so many years, how all the details about the ferrying of this particular aircraft just going by the serial number, could be collected, is very interesting.

Your observation that 'several outstanding Russian pilots flying the P 39 were able to rack up massive kills against the Germans flying superior aircraft' seems to be your imagination. As far as I know, the Germans simply dominated the skies of the East and particularly the Jagdgeschwaders such as Erich Hartmann's were able to wipe out entire Russian air fleets. Compared to these sky knights, only a few, i.e. very few Russians such as Ivan Kozhedub could do some damage to the Luftwaffe. In fact, even on his last combat sortie, Hartmann could claim at least four victories, and some of his victims were flying American birds."

Thanks for the comments, Partha. I have added photos of both Erich Hartmann and Ivan Kashedub to today's post as well.

Hartmann had 356 victories in the war. A good site to read more about Erich Hartmann is: http://www.acepilots.com/misc_hartmann.html. His victories are listed at http://www.luftwaffe.cz/hartmann.html

Kazhedub had 62 victories in the war, and was the top ace of the Russian Air Force. An excellent biography and victory list for this Russian ace is found at this link: http://www.elknet.pl/acestory/kozedub/kozedub.htm

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.

Also, there is an interesting link discussing the Alaska-Russia Airacobra route at the following site: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf1L7WuWZpzUmL-m29OyEZYbZSyr8TyXc-Y0Mp0cHRaspfkG9CqUISXX5oe3aYIC9RHVrRhSBt-O_zfe7SWW1A22-zfGSrfdSqDxsW3bK4rKOBCYyzgNza3WHUtcFSd8LNawreVBT0aL0/s400/alcan-hwy.jpg&imgrefurl=http://thefirecloudreport.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html&h=254&w=400&sz=36&hl=en&start=19&um=1&tbnid=jTnUKnyuHQ85sM:&tbnh=79&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dp-39%2Bairacobra%2Bcrash%2Brussian%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den

P-39 Airacobra Discovered in Russian Lake

The P-39 Airacobra rises from the Russian lake after 55 years.

My pilot friend Jay from Colorado sent me the following fascinating email and attachment. I quote:

"Rob,
A friend forwarded this story to me. It has a rather remarkable set of pictures that accompany the story and history of the plane.

Bib Hawkins, a friend of mine that lived in Craig (Colorado)was a ferry pilot for the P-39's from the Great Falls, Montana to Nome, Alaska. As I remember him telling me, 55 plus years ago, the WASP's would deliver the planes from the factory to Great Falls. This is probably correct as this plane was released for delivery in 1943. There was a shortage of male combat pilots so the WASP's filled in many roles including ferrying planes (up to Nome). He told me about the Russian pilots partying all night before they took off from Nome for Siberia. He often wondered how many made the completed flights."

Jay then added this linked story:

"Bell P-39 Airacobra recovered in Russia…These are some good pictures and history of the aircraft - very unusual for an aircraft lost for so long. This is a Bell P-39 that was recently recovered from a lake in Russia. The aircraft went down in WWII and the pilot's remains were still in the cockpit. Also in the cockpit was a can of lend lease cooked pork lard, onions, salt and spices - the lend lease version of SPAM? Note the U.S. insignias underlying the Russian Star painted over them. Interesting that the engine was behind the cockpit and the drive shaft to the propeller gearbox ran directly under the pilot and between his legs then through a collar on the bottom of the control stick. YIKES!

Here is a link to the recovery and history of the P-39: Click on each of the small photos to bring them up to size. http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/articles/sheppard/p39/index.htm

To get the entired article and see all the photos, click on the above link. You will not be disappointed by this article and the photos accompanying it.

Thanks for another great story, Jay!

When I was writing Untold Valor, I interviewed a pilot by the name of Mozart Kaufman because he had been a Jewish airman who became a POW in Germany. Incidentally, he'd begun his flying career as a P-39 Airacobra pilot in the Aleutian Islands, fighting the Japanese, and later transfered to Europe. He loved the P-39 because of its raw power, but he said the plane scared him to death. It was unpredicable, and especially early on, it killed a lot of pilots before its glitches were ironed out. Read his account in Untold Valor. The plane nearly killed Mozart on occasion.

A well-preserved can of Lend-Lease pork rests on a piece of the aircraft.

The standard P39 cockpit with the very vertical instrument set out.
Not visible is the charging handles for the machine guns. At the bottom is the propeller extension shaft which goes under the pilots seat!