Imagine it’s 1942. The world is on fire. In a drafty, second-story floor of a Buffalo car factory, a group of engineers is working on a secret project that sounds like science fiction. They’re building a plane with no propeller.
This was the birth of the Bell P-59 Airacomet.
Most people assume that because the United States eventually dominated the Jet Age, our first attempt must have been a triumph. Honestly? It wasn't. While the Germans were perfecting the sleek, swept-wing Me 262 and the British were getting the Gloster Meteor ready for combat, America's first jet was struggling just to stay in the air. It was slow. It was unstable. In a head-to-head fight, it probably would have been shot down by the very propeller planes it was supposed to replace.
The Secret Propeller That Wasn’t Real
The level of secrecy surrounding this thing was borderline paranoid. When the first prototype, the XP-59A, was shipped to Muroc Dry Lake in California for testing, the military didn't want anyone to know it was a jet. Their solution? They slapped a fake wooden propeller on the nose.
It was a balsa wood prop meant to fool anyone peeking through binoculars. If you were a casual observer, you'd just see another chunky Bell fighter. But underneath that canvas, there were two General Electric I-A turbojets tucked under the wing roots.
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The first flight happened on October 1, 1942. Robert Stanley, Bell’s chief test pilot, took it up for a quick 30-minute hop. He didn't even go higher than 25 feet. The next day, Colonel Laurence Craigie became the first military pilot to fly it. They knew they had something historic, but they also knew they had a problem. The plane was heavy, the engines were weak, and the flight characteristics were, to put it lightly, a mess.
Why the Bell P-59 Airacomet Failed as a Fighter
If you look at the specs, the P-59 Airacomet was basically a "Frankenstein" aircraft. Bell took the lessons they learned from the P-39 Airacobra—like the tricycle landing gear—and tried to build a jet around it. But they used a straight-wing design that was more suited for a 1930s trainer than a 1940s interceptor.
The Performance Gap
- Speed: The P-59A topped out around 413 mph. That sounds fast until you realize the P-51 Mustang could do 440 mph.
- Stability: At high speeds, the plane had a habit of "snaking." It would yaw and sway uncontrollably, making it impossible for a pilot to actually aim the guns.
- The Sucking Problem: During early tests, the engine intakes actually collapsed because the suction from the turbojets was too strong for the thin metal. They had to reinforce the ducts just to keep the engines from "eating" the airplane.
The Army Air Forces eventually realized this wasn't going to win the war. They cut the original order of 100 planes down to 50. Most of these ended up as trainers for the 412th Fighter Group. Basically, the P-59 became a high-tech classroom. It taught pilots how to handle the laggy throttle response of a jet engine without the pressure of being shot at by the Luftwaffe.
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A Lesson in "Slow Throttle"
Early jet engines like the GE J31 were nothing like modern ones. If a pilot slammed the throttle forward, the engine would often just flame out or catch fire. You had to nurse it. You've got to remember, these pilots were used to the instant torque of a massive piston engine. Learning that "patience" on a P-59 probably saved dozens of lives when they eventually transitioned to the P-80 Shooting Star.
Technical Specs and Weird Variations
Even though it wasn't a great fighter, the engineering was fascinating. The P-59B version added extra fuel tanks in the wings because the early jets were notorious "gas guzzlers." They could only stay up for about an hour before needing to find a runway.
| Feature | Specification |
|---|---|
| Engines | 2x General Electric J31-GE-3 |
| Thrust | 1,650 lbf per engine |
| Armament | 1x 37mm M10 cannon, 3x .50 cal machine guns |
| Ceiling | 46,200 feet |
There was even a weird "open-cockpit" version. Because the military needed to record flight data and there wasn't room for a second seat in the cramped cockpit, they literally cut a hole in the nose where the guns usually went. They stuck an observer in a tiny seat with a small windscreen right out in the elements. Imagine flying 400 mph with your head sticking out of the nose of a jet. It sounds terrifying.
What Really Happened with the British Exchange?
In 1943, the US and the UK decided to trade toys. We sent them a YP-59A, and they sent us a Gloster Meteor. The British test pilots were... polite, but they weren't impressed. They found the Airacomet to be underpowered and lacking the "polish" of their own jet technology.
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The RAF flew it 11 times and basically said, "Thanks, but no thanks." They sent it back in 1945. It was a wake-up call for American aviation. We were behind. While we were tinkering with the P-59, the Germans were already putting the Me 262 into combat units. It forced the USAAF to pivot hard toward Lockheed and the development of the P-80.
Where Can You See One Today?
Only six of these planes survived the scrap heap. If you want to see the "Mother of American Jets," you have to go to the right places.
- National Air and Space Museum (DC): They have the original XP-59A. It’s the one that started it all.
- National Museum of the USAF (Dayton, Ohio): They have a P-59B in their Research & Development Gallery.
- Planes of Fame (Chino, California): This is the exciting one. They have a YP-59A that they’ve been restoring to fly. If they succeed, it will be the only flyable Airacomet in the world.
Why the P-59 Still Matters
It’s easy to dunk on the P-59 for being slow or "snaky," but without it, the US might have entered the Korean War with propeller planes. It wasn't about the combat record—it was about the data. The Airacomet proved that the tricycle gear was the future. It proved that mid-mounted engines were easy to maintain. It gave General Electric the foundation to build the engines that would eventually power the F-86 Sabre.
The P-59 Airacomet was a failure as a weapon, but a masterpiece as a teacher. It was the messy first draft of the American century in the sky.
Practical Steps for Aviation History Buffs
If you're researching early jet development, don't just stop at the P-59. To get the full picture, you should look into the Lockheed L-133 concept (which was way ahead of its time) and the Westinghouse J30 engine. Many enthusiasts also find it helpful to compare the wing loading of the P-59 against the P-51 to see exactly why it struggled in dogfights.
If you're ever near Riverside, California, stop by the March Field Air Museum. They have a P-59A on display, and seeing it in person is the only way to truly appreciate how bulky and experimental this transition period really was.