Placing the Bell P39 Aircobra.

[Kutscha]

The engine was mid-mounted and therefore less vulnerable to ground fire.

The engine was still liquid cooled.

What the Brits thought they ordered was not what they got.

"Bell Aircraft executives later sheepishly admitted that their performance figures had been based on the unarmed and unequipped XP-39 prototype, which weighed a ton less than the armed and equipped P-39C."