Ground-attack aircraft, cantilever low-wing monoplane, single-engine, single-seat all-metal structure.

The P-39, born from a design by the Bell Aircraft Corporation, was literally created around its main armament: the American Armament Corporation T9 37 mm automatic cannon, the installation of which led to the adoption of a tricycle front landing gear and the positioning of the engine behind the pilot.
It was an aircraft that did not have high speed and climb performance, which confined it to a tactical support role.
In the summer of 1944, the Regia Aeronautica received approximately 150 P-39s in various versions, which were assigned to the three groups of the 4th Wing.
The adoption of this aircraft was not without its difficulties. At Campo Vesuvio, a modest airfield carved out by the Americans in the countryside near Ottaviano (Naples) and assigned to the Italians after the capture of Rome, numerous accidents were recorded both in flight and on the ground, some with loss of life.

The P-39's first operational mission took place from Lecce against ground targets in Albania and Montenegro, where it proved to be a powerful war machine. This type of aircraft was also supplied to the bombing and fighter school, which by the end of the war had at least 13. 

The 4th Wing transitioned from the P-39 in March 1947 to the P-38. Training use continued in Lecce until the early 1950s.
The line output was followed by a brief instructional use at various bodies, including Livorno Naval Academy, but no examples were preserved.