Bell XP-52
Canceled fighter aircraft project
The Bell XP-52 and subsequent XP-59 were World War II fighter aircraft design projects by the American Bell Aircraft Corporation.
Both projects featured a twin-boom layout with a rear-mounted engine driving pusher contra-rotating propellers.
When the XP-59 project was canceled the designation XP-59A was used as a cover for a secret jet fighter prototype, which would enter production as the P-59 Airacomet.
01XP-52
The XP-52 design was begun by the Bell Company in 1940, separate from the R-40C competition, under the Air Material Command designator MX-3.
The short fuselage carried a piston engine in the rear, driving a pair of contra-rotating propellers in a pusher configuration. The wings were swept back at an angle of 20 degrees, with a horizontal stabilizer mounted behind the propeller on twin booms running back from the wings. The fuselage was unusually streamlined, being round and barrel-shaped, with the forward-located pilot's cockpit fully faired-in to its lines and the nose ending in a round air intake which was ducted back internally to the engine. The undercarriage was a tricycle arrangement, with the main wheels retracting into the tailbooms. Propulsion was to be provided by the experimental Continental XIV-1430-3 inverted V-12 engine.
The XP-52 was canceled in October 1940 because the XIV-1430 engine ran into technical difficulties. Bell submitted a similar design to the US Navy as the Model 19, but this too was never built.
02XP-59
Although generally similar in layout to the XP-52, the XP-59 was slightly larger and heavier, and was to be powered by a Pratt and Whitney R-2800-23 engine of 2,000 horsepower (1,500 kW). Two prototypes were ordered in February 1941.
On 3 October 1941 the contract for Bell's first jet fighter was signed. The prototype was designated the XP-59A and it would enter production as the P-59 Airacomet. The original XP-59 was canceled on November 25, 1941 because Bell itself was pre-occupied with development of the Bell P-63 Kingcobra.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Bell XP-52”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Bell XP-59 wind tunnel model 060913-F-1234P-012.jpg by USAF, Public domain
- Continental I-1430.jpg by Unknown author, Public domain
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