The first jet plane made in the United States was the Bell XP-59A Airacomet. Bell Aircraft Corp. completed the experimental plane in mid-1942. It now hangs in the "Milestones of Flight" gallery at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
The XP-59A was an all-metal, single-seat monoplane. Powered by two General Electric type I-A turbojet engines, it could reach a maximum speed of 390 mph.
The Airacomet prototype was more than 38 feet long and more than 12 feet tall, with a wingspan of nearly 49 feet. It weighed nearly 7,320 lbs.
Test pilot Robert Stanley took the XP-59A on its first flight Oct. 1, 1942, at Edwards Air Force Base, California. As a precaution, he kept the landing gear down and didn't fly higher than 25 feet.
To disguise the top-secret Airacomet prototype, the ground crew attached a fake, wooden propeller to its nose when they were moving it on the ground.
Bell Aircraft built 50 more Airacomets, which the military used to train jet pilots. The XP-59A's design paved the way for the first operational U.S. fighter jet, the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star.
