[caldrail]

Overall handling had degraded to a point where some claimed (without a grain of truth) that if the pilot simply sneezed, the plane would spin. Some Brits flat out refused to fly the plane, one pilot saying it was more dangerous to RAF pilots than the Luftwaffe. Such extreme examples of exaggeration followed the P-39 throughout its service life.

Thats not the offical reason the RAF didn't use it, and to be honest, I've not read about RAF pilots refusing to fly it. British pilots were always less fussy about their machines than some natiions, and after all put the Corsair into naval service long before the americans decided it was ok after all.

That said...

The Model 14, the export version originally intended for the Armee De l'Air, was ordered by the British Government on April 13th 1940 as the Bell Caribou. The RAF was to receive 675 examples later renamed the Bell Airacobra I. On initial flight trials from June 1941 the pilots of the Air Fighting Development Unit at Duxford reported disappointing performance, some 33 mph slower than advertised, and Bell admitted the figures had been obtained from a highly polished prototype weighing a ton less.

A take off run of 750 yards excluded its use from many RAF stations, and it was considered inferior in flight (albeit pleasant to fly) to Spitfires and Hurricanes. Armament accessibility was poor and lethal amounts of carbon monoxide infiltrated the cockpit when the nose guns were fired. Many other defects and faulty installations were reported and this delayed operational use.

Eleven machines were assigned to 601 Sqn by September1941, and on October 9th, four of them were given permission to begin operations from Manston. A coastal strafing raid took place on the 11th, after which the lack of spares, continued fault finding, and general lack of serviceability precluded further operation flying. The RAF withdrew the Airacobra in December.

Of the British order, 212 were diverted to Russia, 54 lost at sea, and 179 sent to the AAF for use in the South Pacific as the P400. More than a hundred were sent to Australia. I don't know how many P400's were actually built.