Word: airacobra
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...plant no objection was raised to saying that the Bell Airacobra was driven by Allison liquid-cooled motors; but at Bell Aircraft itself the engine could not be named...
This time, while fighting went on, both sides prepared for the greater battle without sparing their front-line troops. Equipment still poured up to the fronts, especially airplanes (including American-made Bell Airacobra fighters for the Russians). Men were shuttled back & forth, to be thrown in where the going was hot. And behind the lines new armies of bright-faced youngsters, who had never seen war, were being trained...
...president of Consolidated and the design genius who turns out Consolidated planes. Another was Larry Bell, now head of Bell Aircraft Corp. When Fleet decided to move to San Diego in 1935, Larry Bell organized his own company and stayed on at the old stand (where he now produces Airacobra fighters). It is characteristic of Fleet that he has never quite forgiven Bell for this "act of disloyalty...
...airmen see, as the Germans saw before them, that the idea of the all-purpose, all-altitude fighter is a wasteful fallacy. Result: aircraft already built and flying are assigned duties fitting their capabilities; new designs are shaped to specific predetermined functions, at high, medium and low altitudes. The Airacobra is built to operate at medium levels, i.e., 10,000 to 18,000 ft. But it can challenge any German fighter in height, except the new Me 109F, which is Spitfire meat...
Powered by the improved U.S. Allison (1,150 h.p.) engine, the Airacobra has a high speed in the 400-m.p.h. bracket, a 1,000-mile range equaled by few European single-engined fighters. Ahead in many ways of anything in the air, with its clean design and high aerodynamic efficiency, the Airacobra is likely to get bomber-escort jobs in its packet of missions. While Builder Larry Bell and U.S. air chiefs awaited further dope on the 'Cobras' performance, Britain's Airacobra pilots were anxiously waiting to get into a scrap that would supply...