BELL P-63E-1-BE "KINGCOBRA" - HONDURIAN AIR FORCE - 1947

Description

P-63E Essentially similar to the P-63D with the exception of a ventral fin extension and the use of a standard "cab"-style cockpit; only 13 built. The P-63E-5 was to have been an improved P-63E-1 for the USSR. It would have had a revised instrument panel, and a bubble canopy similar to that of the P-63D-1. The cowling would have been redesigned, larger wing fillets would have been installed, a new vertical fin would have been fitted, and a revised ventral fin. However, the project was cancelled before anything could be built. Of the 13 P-63Es built, the last five were delivered to the Honduras air force in the late 1940s. P-63E 42-11727/N9003R (a former Honduran machine) was displayed for years at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona painted in Soviet markings. It is now painted in US markings. P-63E serial number 43-11728 is on display at the WPAFB Museum in Dayton, Ohio. (Scale : 1/72e)