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Bell P-59 Airacomet
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 (today, Edwards Air Force Base) in California by train for testing, taking seven days to reach Muroc.〔''Air International'' March 1980, p. 133.〕 While being handled on the ground, the aircraft was fitted with a dummy propeller to disguise its true nature.〔Donald 1995, p. 13.〕 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 (similar to those of biplanes) 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 (common shortcomings of all early turbojets), insufficient lateral stability, i.e., in the roll axis,〔Green 1961, p. 19.〕 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".
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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