The Bell P-39 Aircobra was a sleek modern airplane, unlike anything ever seen before. It featured some pretty novel ideas for a fighter plane and the design marked a singular departure from all other conventional designs. The main features included: A fully enclosed Allison V-12 engine behind the cockpit, automobile-type doors with roll down windows, tricycle landing gear, and an M4 37-millimeter cannon that fired through the propeller hub.

The Tuskegee Airmen were African-American military pilots who fought in World War II. They formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the USAAF. They trained in the United States at Moton Field, the Tuskegee Army Air Field, and were educated at Tuskegee University Tuskegee, Alabama. The group included pilots from the Haitian Air Force, Trinidad and a Hispanic airman from the Dominican Republic. They flew more than 15,000 individual sorties in Europe and North Africa during World War II.