Bell Aircraft Corporation P-63 Kingcobra

Single Piston

The Bell P-63 Kingcobra was an American fighter aircraft developed during World War II as an improved successor to the P-39 Airacobra, featuring the same unconventional mid-engine layout with the Allison V-1710 mounted behind the cockpit and a propeller driven through a long extension shaft. First flown in December 1942, the Kingcobra incorporated lessons from the P-39's combat experience with a more powerful engine, laminar-flow wing, and stronger airframe capable of speeds exceeding 400 knots. Despite its performance improvements, the USAAF showed little interest as newer designs like the P-51 Mustang had already proven superior for the European theater, and the type saw virtually no American combat service. The P-63's operational story belongs almost entirely to the Soviet Union, which received approximately 2,400 of the 3,303 aircraft built under Lend-Lease arrangements. Soviet pilots valued the Kingcobra's heavy armament—a 37mm nose cannon plus four .50-caliber machine guns—and its robust construction for low-altitude ground attack missions on the Eastern Front. The aircraft proved effective in this role during the final year of the war and continued in Soviet service into the early 1950s. A small number were also supplied to the Free French Air Force. Today the P-63 is among the rarer American warbirds, with fewer than a dozen airworthy examples worldwide compared to hundreds of flying P-51s and dozens of P-40s. Most survivors are former Soviet aircraft recovered from Russia in recent decades and painstakingly restored by museums and collectors. The type's distinctive profile—with its tricycle landing gear, car-door cockpit entry, and mid-fuselage air scoop—makes it instantly recognizable at airshows. SkyMeter has tracked flights across airframes and operators, with the largest observed operator.