Warbird Information Exchange

"The Museum's Airacobra, a P-39Q-15BE, serial no. 44-2433, saw no combat during World War II. Bell manufactured it at Buffalo and delivered it to the USAAF on November 14, 1943. The airplane was initially assigned to the 369th Fighter Group, a replacement training unit, at Hamilton Field, California. It served at three airfields (Moses Lake, Paine Field, and McChord) in Washington state between August 30 and November 29, 1944. Then it was delivered to a War Assets Administration depot in Ponca City, Oklahoma, for disposal, and the U. S. Army Air Forces dropped it from the inventory on December 6, 1944.

After the war, P. J. "Sep" Mighton of Tulsa, Oklahoma teamed with Earl Ortman and bought the P-39 to compete in the National Air Races held at Cleveland, Ohio. Ortman was already famous for his air racing exploits before the war but he wanted to fly a North American P-51 Mustang in the Thompson Trophy event. Ortman and Mighton hired Charles W. Bing to race the P-39 on August 31, 1946, in the Sohio Trophy event. Bing flew the fighter to 7th and last place. Ortman and Mighton should have expected the Aircobra's poor showing because most of the field flew much faster airplanes such as the North American P-51 Mustang.

Elizabeth Haas then bought the airplane and registered it with the FAA as NX57591 on December 4, 1946. The airplane wore her red and white racing colors and the nickname "Galloping Gertie" painted on the fuselage side. She took it back to the National Air Races in 1948 but failed to qualify. Haas lent her P-39 to the National Air Museum in 1950, but a lack of space forced the Museum to store it temporarily at Orchard Place Airport (now O'Hare International Airport) near Chicago, Illinois. In 1956, Ms. Haas made the donation permanent. After NASM lent the Airacobra to the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Museum at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the EAA repainted it in U. S. Army Air Force markings but kept the nickname "Galloping Gertie." EAA returned the aircraft to the National Air and Space Museum in 1984. Since 1999, the P-39 has been on loan to the Niagra Aerospace Museum, Niagra Falls, New York."

But where is it now?!!! .... Udvar-Hazy buried somewhere?









Link to additional photos: https://bettyflies.org/gallery1

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[Thread title is ridiculous btw]

To answer the question, the "GG" is still at Garber, due to be moved to Udvar Hazy in the next few years.

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Kevin McCartney