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Thanks to the hard work of the Commemorative Air Force, yet another old flight test bird is still in the air. Bell P-63 Kingcobra 42-68941 was born in February of 1944 at the Bell factory near Niagara Falls and flew as one of the company’s test vehicles, helping develop later generations of Kingcobra.

In January of 1945, she became one of two NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, now NASA) P-63 aircraft based at Moffett Field in Mountain View, CA, doing basic research. Over the decades, she was bought and sold many times, one time fraudulently, resulting in lengthy legal battles. Fortunately, she found a home with the Commemorative Air Force Dixie Wing in Peachtree City, GA, who painstakingly restored her for the air show circuit.

I took these photos at the 2018 Tico Warbird Airshow in Titusville, Florida, just across the river from Kennedy Space Center, which gave NASA workers and families a chance to see their history from generations past. Today, NASA aircraft go much higher, faster and farther, but we stand on the shoulders of NACA giants.