Cobras in the Den

Today on BuffaloWingz we bring you a super-groovy night-time shot of some P-39s about ready to wind their way out the door of the Bell factory in Wheatfield, NY... circa 1941 we think.

This last close-up shows an interesting detail... note the large, non-standard supercharger air intake on top of the fuselage, behind the cockpit. Your blogmeister isn't a hardcore P-39 guru by any means, and although he's aware that there was a bit of testing with intake configurations, he hasn't seen this type of scoop before. Some additional digging is in order...

Original image: Library of Congress

Fade to Black...