It was decided to test the new aircraft over the USAAF's Muroc dry lake bed of California's Mojave Desert to help keep the secret aircraft away from prying eyes and a prototype XP-59A arrived there in September of 1942. It recorded its first flight on October 1st, 1942 and, the following day, registered a ceiling of 10,000 feet. Two more prototypes joined the program in early 1943 and the first example of this group was modified with a second "cockpit" for an observer.
From this promising start came a second batch of thirteen aircraft under the developmental "YP-59A" designation. A YP-59A completed its first flight during August of 1943 and, in time, the product showed speeds nearing 400 miles per hour at altitudes of 35,000 feet. A wet spring for the dry lake bed postponed testing and forced the entire program to relocate to nearby Victorville AAFB. Its proximity to civilian areas meant that the in-development aircraft was to be covered over in canvas and fitted with fake propellers at their noses to keep the ruse alive. In April, the testing was shifted back to Muroc as the lake bed went dry.
The YP-59As early showing was less than stellar even against piston-powered, prop-driven contemporaries like the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and it became clear through this head-to-head testing that the Bell product would soon reach its technological apex - becoming nothing more than a test and training platform for the USAAF. As such the title of "first mass-produced jet fighter in American history" would be claimed by the Lockheed P-80 detailed elsewhere on this site. The Bell program, up to this point, involved three prototype XP-59A models along with six developmental YP-59A examples - all flyable - and recorded over 240 hours in the air providing piles of data concerning jet-powered flight.
Originally 300 production-quality P-59A fighters were on order but the program's limitations soon saw the total reduced to 100 - due in large part to the limited availability of the all-important I-16 turbojet and Bell's internal wartime commitment to the new P-63 "King Cobra" fighter destined for the Soviets via Lend-Lease. A formal P-59 production order was handed down on March 11th, 1944 but the development program suffered a drawdown nonetheless.
The YP-59A continued in testing and data collection for a time longer and the original three XP-59A prototypes were brought up to the improved YP-59A standard. Some additional, albeit slight, changes were enacted to the design by Bell engineers and wing fuel tanks begat the "P-59B-1" designation. The order for Bell to cease production on their P-59 was handed down on October 10th, 1944 - which would have resulted in just 39 production aircraft. Bell pushed for, and won, an argument to continue production into the 50th example resulting in batches of twenty P-59A models and thirty P-59B models being completed before August of 1945.
Production-quality P-59s ended their days as trainers while some sat engine-less in storage until ultimately scrapped. After the 412th Fighter Group's training squadron was disbanded in 1946, the P-59 slipped into aviation history - none were flying by 1950. Those that were not scrapped or run into the ground during testing became protected museum showpieces.
In total, production of P-59 aircraft reached sixty-six. One was passed on to the British in exchange for their impressive Gloster Meteor (Mk I) fighter. As completed, the P-59A exhibited a maximum speed of 389 miles per hour, a cruise speed of 280 miles per hour, a service ceiling up to 40,000 feet, a rate-of-climb of 1,200 feet-per-minute, and a range out to 520 miles.
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