Aircraft History
Built by Bell in Buffalo, New York. Assigned Royal Air Force (RAF) serial number unknown and painted in a three-color camouflage scheme. Instead, delivered to the U. S. Army. Disassembled and shipped overseas to Australia and reassembled.

Wartime History
Assigned to the 13th Air Force, 347th Fighter Group, 67th Fighter Squadron. No known nose art or nickname.

Mission History
On October 15, 1942 there was no more gasoline was available at Henderson Field by the late afternoon. Aviation fuel was siphoned from two B-17 Flying Fortresses from the 11th Bombardment Group abandoned at the airfield and allowing 67th Fighter Squadron Airacobras to be refueled.

One of seven (three P-39s and five P-400s) that took off from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal at 5:15pm armed with a 500 lbs bomb, along with SBD Dauntless dive bombers to attack a "Tokyo Express" run by Japanese destroyers spotted to the north.

Off Santa Isabel, this Airacobra bombed and strafed the vessels. Lt. Barr was the last to make a firing pass, and was thought to have been hit by anti-aircraft fire and did not return to base. Damaged, Barr ditched off the Russell Islands and swam ashore unhurt.

Rescue
Later, Barr was rescued and returned to duty on October 21, 1942.

References
13th Fighter Command pages 65, 66, 93

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Last Updated
June 29, 2019