The Bell XP-52 and subsequent XP-59 were World War II

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domina ...

design projects by the American Bell Aircraft Corporation. Both projects featured a

twin-boom A twin-boom aircraft has two longitudinal auxiliary spars, or “auxiliary booms” , that may contain ancillary components such as fuel tanks and/or provide a supporting structure for other items. Typically, twin tailbooms support the tail ...

layout with a rear-mounted engine driving pusher

contra-rotating propellers Aircraft equipped with contra-rotating propellers (CRP) coaxial contra-rotating propellers, or high-speed propellers, apply the maximum power of usually a single engine piston powered or turboprop engine to drive a pair of coaxial propellers i ...

. 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.

XP-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 The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

carried a

piston engine A reciprocating engine, more often known as a piston engine, is a heat engine that uses one or more Reciprocating motion, reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a Circular motion, rotating motion. This article ...

in the rear, driving a pair of contra-rotating

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

s in a

pusher configuration In aeronautical and naval engineering, pusher configuration is the term used to describe a drivetrain of air- or watercraft with propulsion device(s) after the engine(s). This is in contrast to the more conventional tractor configuration, wh ...

. The wings were swept back at an angle of 20 degrees, with a

horizontal stabilizer A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabilizer, is a small lifting surface located on the tail ( empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplan ...

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.Jones, L.; ''US Fighters'', Aero, 1975. 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.Jenkins, Dennis R. and Tony R. Landis. Experimental & Prototype U.S. Air Force Jet Fighters. North Branch, Minnesota, USA: Specialty Press, 2008. . 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.Buttler, Tony, and Griffith, Alan, 2015. American Secret Projects: Fighters, Bombers, and Attack Aircraft, 1937–1945. Manchester: Crecy Publishing. .

XP-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 . 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.

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Bell XP-52
{{USAF fighters P-052 Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States Twin-boom aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Aircraft with contra-rotating propellers Low-wing aircraft Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear 1940s United States fighter aircraft

XP-52

XP-59

See also

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