Bell P-39 Q-15 Airacobra under restoration

On 17th of June 1944 a group of four Airacobras got lost in bad weather on Karelian Isthmus.They got separated and made forced landings in various locations.One of the planes had to be destroyed by our retreating troops, but three of them were transported to State Aircraft Factory at Tampere.
This plane with serial no 44-2664 belonged to 103GIAP(Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment),2 GIAK(Guards Fighter Aviation Army) of Leningrad PVO.Wings come from another plane.It was a P-39Q-25 Serial no 44-3255 with a tactical code"25".It's unit was 102GIAP.

All the planes had been damaged on their belly landings so it was not possible to repair them to flying condition.They were storaged and in 1953 it was decided that one of them was to be saved from scrapping.There was some mix up because like mentioned the wings come from a different plane.Along with that the vertical stabiliser and the rudder were accidentally changed to those of Yak-9.

The restoration was started in 1995 and the plane was put on display in the museum in 2000.The plane's camouflage had been preserved quite well and it was decided not to repaint the plane.Only the remanufactured parts(the damage caused in the forced landing and some missing parts) were painted.There are some very different coloured panels on the fuselage and I think that those are from the third plane(44-2092).Yet another mix up during storage.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• airplane
• p-39
• airacobra
• restoration

[BudweiserDiary]

The one thing i noticed with the plane in this video compared to the p-39 in the zeno warbird training films of the early aac p-39 is the simplifing of the gauges and controls. It seems to me it probably made the plane more pilot friendly. Just a observation.

[pawjtr]

Great video, thank you

[spitfiremark14]

I wish I could have a job restoring vintage aircraft. I heard lots of stories about american pilots hating this plane because of the engine location and the drive shaft running between your legs but the Russians were not picky they loved them.

[bdarnell1966]

cool you could see the shaft that runs under the pilot from the engine to prop. Im building a top flite remote control of this plane now. I love this plane!

[bigironrailing]

Very neat. I went to a P-39 Q crash this summer, and it is mostly all there, even the paint. Its neat to see the video to see what things looked like before the crash

[DEP717]

Wow! Nice film and thank you!

It was amazing to see the instruments all in English, I had always wondered if the ones that we sent to Russia had Cyrillic gauge markings, cockpit markings, etc., but it was all in English. I guess the pilots would know either way.

At 7:00 also, one sees the "U.S. Army Air Forces" markings as well. I guess they were all accepted by the US before being transferred to the Russians.

Ironic as both the Finns and Russians used US-built aircraft during the war.

[sspeed30043]

There is one of these here in Georgia USA , being restored by the Dixie Airwing in Peachtree City GA

[ttaannjjaaaa]

Älyttömän hyvä (veri greit vidio)

t. Tarja the Siskosi

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