Jump to content

Bell XP-52

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 95.150.100.255 (talk) at 16:17, 25 April 2016 (XP-52: Link, add image of engine). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

XP-52
A wind tunnel model of the XP-59
Role Fighter
Manufacturer Bell Aircraft Corporation
Status Cancelled 25 November 1941
Number built None

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 cancelled the designation XP-59A was used as a cover for a secret jet fighter prototoype, which would enter production as the P-59 Airacomet.

XP-52

The intended engine - the Continental X-1430 in the National Museum of the United States Air Force

The XP-52 design was submitted as part of a United States Army Air Corps competition held in the winter of 1939.[citation needed]

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.[1]

The undercarriage was a tricycle arrangement, with the main wheels retracting into the tailbooms.

Propulsion was to be provided by a the experimental Continental XIV-1430-3 inverted V-12 engine.

XP-59

The XP-52 was canceled 25 November 1941 in favor of a new design designated the XP-59. Slightly larger and heavier than its predecessor, the XP-59 was a new design although generally similar in layout, and was to be powered by a Pratt and Whitney R-2800-23 engine of 2,000 horsepower (1,500 kW).[1]

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 cancelled.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Jones, L.; US Fighters, Aero, 1975.

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

Related lists