HA1701
Bell P-39N/Q Airacobra "Russian Ace" #29004, call-code "100"
Александр Иванович Покрышкин (Aleksandr Ivanovich Pokryshkin)
A 1/72nd scale model by Hobby Master due October 2007
Flying this aircraft, Pokryshkin scored several aerial victories in the later period of the war. The P-39 was a favorite weapon of Pokryshkin, he still flew this type when his 9th fighter division was already entirely reequipped by La-7 fighters. In 1943 Pokryshkin made a useful P-39 modification, he combined all armament firing into one button on the stick, so that a wave of 37 mm cannon and 12,7 mm heavy gun shells would devastate any enemy plane in one shot. He flew a total of 550 sorties, participated in 139 air combat encounters and he officially scored 59 enemy planes. But in opinion of some historians his killboard list should be enlarged by approximately 13 victories that were scored in battles over Kuban.