“Interestingly, from 1941-1942, Russia’s best fighter was . . . The American P-39 Airacobra.”
A army air corp pilot of that era once told me of the P39, it had a mid engine with a drive shaft running between the pilots legs. He told the story of how a drive shaft blew up, the pilot survived, but certain parts of him did not. He said from then on no one, no one wanted to fly them. So the brass thought it would be fitting to give them to the commies.
Yep. My point was NOT that they were good airplanes-—they sucked. But they were absolutely the best the Soviets had in the defense of Moscow. Saved their commie butts.