P-39K-1 “White arrow”, 303rd IAD

by Michal Sekula

March 18, 2014
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This is profile of P-39K-1 “White arrow”: It is based on the following photo from the book Airacobras over Kuban by V. Roman and accompanying text about rudder and serial number (329 IAD vs. 508 IAP):

An enlarged detail of plane 13:

 

The discussion at http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/board/index.php?topic=1714.msg14106#msg14106 revealed that 508 IAP had different tactical markings.


329 IAD comprised of:
- 101 GIAP, which had white spinners,
- 66 IAP, which did not use arrows as regimental marking,
- 57 GIAP which used yellow arrow on its Spitfires.


303 IAD, part of which was the famous Normandie-Niemen regiment, also used white arrow as IAD marking and at different times included P-39 regiments:
- 494 IAP from Aug 1943 to Nov 1943,
- 9 GIAP from Oct 1944 till summer 1944, when rearmed to La-7.
However, it is not excluded that new info appearing sometime in the future can change the identification of the unit to which this Airacobra belonged.