The Bell P-59 Airacomet was a twin jet engined fighter aircraft, the first for
the USA, designed and built by Bell Aircraft during World War II. The United
States Army Air Force was not impressed by its performance and cancelled the
contract when fewer than half of the aircraft ordered had been produced.
Although no P-59s went into combat, it paved the way for another design
generation of U.S. turbojet-powered aircraft and was the first turbojet
fighter to have its turbojet engine and air inlet nacelles integrated within the
main fuselage. Design and development
Major General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold became aware of the United Kingdom's jet
program when he attended a demonstration of the Gloster E.28/39 in April 1941.
The subject had been mentioned, but not in depth, as part of the Tizard Mission
the previous year. He requested, and was given, the plans for the aircraft's
powerplant, the Power Jets W.1, which he took back to the U.S. On 4 September, he
offered the U.S. company General Electric a contract to produce an
American version of the engine. On the following day, he approached Lawrence
Dale Bell, head of Bell Aircraft Corporation, to build a fighter to
utilize it. Bell agreed and set to work on producing three prototypes. As a
disinformation tactic, the USAAF gave the project the designation "P-59A", to
suggest it was a development of a completely unrelated Bell "XP-59"
fighter project that had been canceled. The design was finalized on 9 January
1942, and construction began. In March, long before the prototypes were
completed, an order for 13 "YP-59A" pre-production machines was added to the
contract. On 12 September 1942, the first XP-59A
was sent to Muroc Army Air Field in California by train for testing, taking
seven days to reach Muroc. While being handled on the ground, the aircraft was
fitted with a dummy propeller to disguise its true nature. The aircraft
first became airborne during high-speed taxiing tests on 1 October with Bell
test pilot Robert Stanley at the controls, although the first official
flight was made by Col Laurence Craigie the next day. A handful of the first
Airacomets had open-air flight observer stations later cut into the nose; over
the following months, tests on the three XP-59As revealed a multitude of problems
including poor engine response and reliability, insufficient lateral
stability, i.e., in the roll axis, and performance that was far below
expectations. Chuck Yeager flew the aircraft and was dissatisfied with its
speed, but was amazed at its smooth flying characteristics. Nevertheless,
even before delivery of the YP-59As in June 1943, the USAAF ordered 80
production machines, designated "P-59A Airacomet".
Operational service The 13 service test YP-59As had a more
powerful engine than its predecessor, but the improvement in performance was
negligible with top speed increased by only 5 mph and a reduction in the time
they could be used before an overhaul was needed. One of these aircraft, the
third YP-59A was supplied to the Royal Air Force, in exchange for the first
production Gloster Meteor I, EE210/G. British pilots found that the aircraft
compared very unfavorably with the jets that they were already flying. Two
YP-59A Airacomets were also delivered to the U.S. Navy where they were evaluated
as the "YF2L-1" but quickly found completely unsuitable for carrier
operations. Faced with their own ongoing
difficulties, Bell eventually completed 50 production Airacomets, 20 P-59As and
30 P-59Bs. Each was armed with one 37 mm M4 cannon and 44 rounds of ammunition
and three .50 cal machine guns with 200 rounds per gun. The P-59Bs were assigned
to the 412th Fighter Group to familiarize AAF pilots with the handling
and performance characteristics of jet aircraft. By 1950, all examples of the
Airacomet were no longer airworthy. Over time, disposal of the aircraft included
use as static displays, instructional aids in military training and use as
static targets. While the P-59 was not a great success, the type did give the
USAAF experience with the operation of jet aircraft in preparation for the more
advanced types that would shortly become available.
Variants XP-59
Unrelated piston engine powered pusher propeller design developed from the Bell
XP-52. Not built. XP-59A
Prototype of the jet engine powered version, three built, serial numbers
42-108784/108786. YP-59A
Series of test aircraft, 13 built, serial numbers 42-108771/108783.
YP-59A recon prototype YP-59A with armaments replaced by an
observer seat. YF2L-1
wo YP-59A delivered to the US Navy for carrier evaluation as Bu63960/63961.
P-59A First production version, 20 built,
serial numbers 44-22609/22628. Redesignated ZF-59A in June 1948.
P-59B Improved P-59A. 80 aircraft ordered but
only 30 built, serial numbers 44-22629/22658, further 50 canceled.
Redesignated ZF-59B in June 1948. Operators
United Kingdom Royal Air Force received one aircraft,
becoming RG362/G, in exchange for a Gloster Meteor I EE210/G.
United States United States Army Air Forces
412th Fighter Group 445th Fighter Squadron
United States Navy Survivors
Six P-59s are known to survive today. On display
XP-59A 42-108784 – National Air and Space
Museum in Washington, DC. P-59A
44-22614 – March Field Air Museum in Riverside, California.
P-59B 44-22633 – Edwards AFB.
44-22656 – Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska.
44-22650 – National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air
Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. Under restoration
YP-59A 42-108777 – being restored to flying
condition w/ GE J31s by Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California.
Specifications Data from The American Fighter
General characteristics Crew: 1
Length: 38 ft 10 in Wingspan: 45 ft 6 in
Height: 12 ft 4 in Wing area: 386 sq ft
Empty weight: 8,165 lb Loaded weight: 11,040 lb
Max. takeoff weight: 13,700 lb Powerplant: 2 × General Electric
J31-GE-5 turbojets, 2,000 lbf each Performance
Maximum speed: 413 mph at 30,000 ft Cruise speed: 375 mph
Range: 375 mi Service ceiling: 46,200 ft
Climb to 30,000 ft: 15 min 30 s Armament
Guns:1x 37 mm cannon 3x .50 cal machine guns
Rockets: 8× 60 lb rockets Bombs: 2,000 lb bombs
See also Heinkel He 178
Heinkel He 280 Aircraft of comparable role,
configuration and era de Havilland Vampire
Gloster E.1/44 Gloster Meteor
Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star Messerschmitt Me 262
Nakajima J9Y Kikka Sukhoi Su-9
Related lists List of military aircraft of the United
States List of fighter aircraft
List of World War II jet aircraft List of aircraft of World War II
References = Notes=
= Bibliography= External links
Original XP-59A prototype at National Air and Space Museum
The P-59A at March Field Air Museum The P-59B at the National Museum of the
USAF 1st flight video
"How The First U.S. Jet Was Born" Popular Science, October 1962,
illustrated article on the secret project behind the Bell XP-59 project