#p-59

[nocternalrandomness]

U.S. Army Air Forces Bell P-59 Airacomet at the Naval Air Test Center Patuxent River, Maryland on 26 January 1944

[lonestarflight]

One of the Bell P-59 Airacomet "donated to the Technical Institute of the College of William & Mary - Norfolk Division by the US Navy. It was given to the Norfolk, Virginia school for students to study aeronautical design and mechanics. James Moxley is in the cockpit while (left to right) W. L. Hendricks, Jimmie Brannan, and William Turner are looking at the top of the plane."

Date: May 31, 1950

Norfolk Public Library: smc_mss0000187_f000080_001

[stone-cold-groove]

Flight testing of the Bell P-59A Airacomet.

[usaac-official]

A pair of YP-59As in flight

[usafphantom2]

On this day in 1942, America's first turbojet aircraft, the Bell XP-59A Airacomet, was flown for the first time by test pilot Robert M. Stanley: s.si.edu/3F1otPi #AirSpacePhoto

@airandspace via X

All-metal, single-seat, two engine monoplane with shoulder-mounted wing.Wing Span 1,490 cm (586 in.), Length 1,180 cm (465 in.), Height 380

Tap title bar to read☝️

[floridaboiler]

Funny historical fact:

In 1942, Bell Aircrafts secretly built America's first jet, the P-59 Airacomet. Up until this point, a propeller was as important to a plane as tires were to a car. To keep this new project top secret, the P-59 was fitted with a fake propeller that it wore everywhere but in the air. One of the test pilots for the P-59 was a man named Jack Woolams. Jack didn't care one bit about this secrecy and made a hobby out of flying his jet as close to other planes as possible. To make these sighting even more special, he would dress up for the occasion. When men would go to the Air Force psychologist saying that they had seen a “loud, fast propellerless plane piloted by a gorilla in a derby hat, waving a stogie!” the psychologists would tell them, “That is impossible! How can a plane fly without a propeller?”

[bigglesworld]

Bell P-59 Airacomet. America's first jet made its maiden flight in 1942. Pictured with P-39 (top) and P-63 (mid) escorts

[nocternalrandomness]

Bell P-59B Airacomet at the National Museum of the United States Air Force

Designed and built in great secrecy during World War II, the P-59 was America's first jet aircraft, the Airacomet never saw combat. Bell built 50 P-59A and P-59B production aircraft, some of which were flown by the 412th Fighter Group, the U.S.’s first jet fighter unit. The P-59B on display was obtained from Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., in February 1956.