Longest lived P-39 Airacobra in British use was the example flown by the famous test pilot Lt. Eric 'Winkle' Brown. The first tricycle-undercarriaged fighter to land on a carrier, it was the only 'Cobra fitted with an arrestor hook and used to test tricycle-undercart runs into arrestor wires on land runways. The type was not officially cleared for deck landings; he landed one day 'with engine problems' (ahem) on escort carrier HMS
Pretoria Castle OK with the co-operation of her skipper Captain Caspar John RN but "take off from a carrier's deck was of all things far from the designer's thoughts, and the Airacobra had a dangerously long run. With the ship steaming absolutely full bore, I just managed to stagger off the deck."
He used it as a private 'hack' until March 1946, when a representative from Bell tested the aircraft, did one quick circuit, landed back and declared "I have never flown in an aeroplane in such an advanced state of decay. This machine should be scrapped forthwith." On 28th March, 'Winkle' "went up for a last aerobatic session in her, then bade her a sentimental farewell. The last laugh was on me."
Source:
Wings On My Sleeve, Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown CBE DSC AFC RN, 2006 Edition, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, ISBN 10 0 297 84565 9.
What a player - and happily thriving and still with us.
