Fearless Leader
Donor
Prior to November 1941 Bell was working on a pair of piston engined twin boom fighter designs the XP-52 which later evolved into the heavier XP-59.
Here is an artist's rendering of what a completed XP-59 might have looked like.
Now, in OTL these designs never got past the mock-up stage and were quickly cancelled due to the perceived need to focus on more traditional aircraft. When the US began to work on it's first jet fighter the Bell Airacomet, it was given the designation XP-59 to confuse potential spies. What resulted was a serviceable early entry into jet propelled flight but one unsuited to combat operations due to its high weight and low thrust.
The interesting thing about the design of OTL's P-59 is that the British only provided basic information about the capabilities of the jet engines the Americans had agreed to produce. As a result, the designers of the Airacomet put together a fairly conventional plane that was ill-suited to the power plants it ended up receiving. But what if, the designers were given more information about their prospective power plant? Would they consider revisiting the twin-boom designs of the XP-52 and XP-59? Some have argued that had the designers stuck with the original design, the resulting plane would have had much higher performance.
Now, I highly doubt that this aircraft will make any impact on the course of the war. The range would likely be atrocious as was common with all early jet aircraft. At most, perhaps some would be deployed in Britain in 1944 and manage to shoot down a few V-1 flying bombs. I do think it would affect the early development of US jet fighters, though I'm not sure how. Would it develop along similar lines as OTL's Vampire?
Here is an artist's rendering of what a completed XP-59 might have looked like.
The interesting thing about the design of OTL's P-59 is that the British only provided basic information about the capabilities of the jet engines the Americans had agreed to produce. As a result, the designers of the Airacomet put together a fairly conventional plane that was ill-suited to the power plants it ended up receiving. But what if, the designers were given more information about their prospective power plant? Would they consider revisiting the twin-boom designs of the XP-52 and XP-59? Some have argued that had the designers stuck with the original design, the resulting plane would have had much higher performance.
Now, I highly doubt that this aircraft will make any impact on the course of the war. The range would likely be atrocious as was common with all early jet aircraft. At most, perhaps some would be deployed in Britain in 1944 and manage to shoot down a few V-1 flying bombs. I do think it would affect the early development of US jet fighters, though I'm not sure how. Would it develop along similar lines as OTL's Vampire?
