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Rare fighter on display in Tuusula Anti-Aircraft Museum
By Jarmo Huhtanen

The Anti-Aircraft Museum in the southern town of Tuusula, close to the capital Helsinki, has acquired a new drawing card to its collection, namely a legendary single-seat fighter aircraft, a Bell P-39 Airacobra.

The American-made Airacobra became part of Finnish aviation history during the so-called Continuation War between Finland and Soviet Union in 1941-1944.
The Airacobra was the primary tool of many of the Soviet Air Force pilots. The U.S. provided the Soviets with no less than 4,700 of these planes during World War II, and they proved particularly successful in action against Luftwaffe bombers on the Eastern Front, although with a relatively low operational ceiling the plane was ill-equipped for high-altitude combat.

The Airacobra currently on display at the Anti-Aircraft Museum is owned by the Military History Museum of Finland.
The aircraft is a great rarity, as it is one of only four remaining genuine Airacobras anywhere in the world.

The aircraft arrived in Tuusula at the beginning of last week from the Aviation Museum of Central Finland. For the duration of the move its wings, propeller, and tailplane had to be detached.
Under the watchful eye of conservator Veikko Havimo, the plane was reassembled in a couple of days.
At the Military History Museum the restoration of the Airacobra took decades. It was a jigsaw puzzle that involved pieces from several separate aircraft.
The fuselage originates from a plane that made an emergency landing in Aunus, in Eastern Karelia, and the wings from another that crash-landed in Inkeroinen in Southeastern Finland. The rudder and flaps belonged to a plane that was destroyed in Norway.

The Bell P-39Q Airacobra is an all-metal, low-wing, single-engine fighter. It was designed around a 37-millimetre cannon that fired through the hub of the propeller.
The curious arrangement means that the aircraft’s design is unique. The V-12 Allison engine with a liquid cooling system is mounted in the middle of the fuselage behind the cockpit. The plane’s propeller is driven by a shaft passing beneath the pilot's feet under the cockpit floor.
The plane also has a unique tricycle undercarriage, as necessitated by its weight distribution.

The veteran aircraft has no conventional sliding canopy. Instead, the cockpit is entered a bit like a car, through side doors mounted on both sides of the fuselage.
In emergency situations the doors were dangerous, as a jumping pilot was easily thrown against the tail structures.
The Soviet pilots were therefore urged to avoid the use of a parachute and rather resort to an emergency landing.

The fact that the aircraft originates from the United States is clearly evident. Everywhere on the Military Museum plane there are English texts: Do not tow backwards, No step, Airplane tool kit.
The American emblems have been hastily covered by the Soviet red stars.
In the cockpit, besides the joystick there is also a yellow funnel between the pilot’s legs.
“For long flights”, Havimo explains. Just so that one does not have to fly home from a mission with one's legs crossed.

Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 13.9.2008

The aircraft is a great rarity, as it is one of only four remaining genuine Airacobras anywhere in the world.