Thanks, friends.
Finally I can consider this one completed, so many years since the time I first purchased the kit!
The model depicts a King Cobra that was one of the relative few not Lend-Leased to the Soviet Union. During the latter stage of the war the P-63s in the U.S. were used primarily for B-29 gunnery training. This particular machine was assigned to a unit that traveled around the 2nd Air Force training bases in Nebraska and Kansas. The fighters would "attack" B-29s during missions to help train the gunners on the CFC turret system in the Superfortress. The CFC gunsights were connected to gun cameras that tabulated the performance of the gunners in tracking and "shooting down" the P-63. Other P-63s were converted into the famous "Pinball" version, but these were not part of the Phase Training in Kansas and Nebraska.
MPM P-63 Kingcobra
MPM P-63 Kingcobra
MPM P-63 Kingcobra
MPM P-63 Kingcobra
Peggy Ellen was photographed at the Harvard AAF, Nebraska open house in August of 1945. Harvard was heavily involved in B-29 Phase Training and P-63s were often stationed there. The large structure behind the airplane was a CFC trainer that was towed out to an open area of the airfield, then B-29 gunners took up the stations in each blister and practiced "shooting" at L-5 airplanes that flew pursuit curves at them. This trainer was equipped with electric generators to run the CFC gunsights and scoring cameras, and even had an intercom system to help train the gunners in proper cooperation during combat.
MPM P-63 Kingcobra
