I love that portrait of HAP Arnold. If you look below his ribbons you will see another badge. That is the early US Army "Military Aviator" Badge. Awarded in 1911! He was one of the first 3 young officers to qualify as pilots, under the tutelage of the Wright brothers at their school in Dayton... Aircraft at THAT time being part of the Signal Corps as they were seen as communication devices...
At the 4:05 mark we see a major problem with the design in that firing the guns/cannons would cause the gases to be ingested through the air inlets which could cause compressor stalling of those engines. Something the Air Force would discover with the cannon armed F-86H Sabers.
The fact that they had a jet aircraft was something they didn't want everyone to know. So - they had a fake propeller on the nose to make people think it was a prop aircraft as they were towing it about the airfield. Another thing one of the test pilots did - was wear an Ape Suit. He had this Gorilla Suit he'd put on while he was flying the P-59 - with like a Top Hat or something - and smoking a cigar. He'd pull up next to a prop driven aircraft - wave at the pilot and leave. If the pilot reported he'd seen a Gorilla flying an aircraft without a propeller - no one would believe him. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Woolams#Personality .
The P-59 was the first operational jet fighter in the world, before the Me 262 and the Gloster Meteor. I guess this is never mentioned as it would be embarrassing to the British, who had invented the jet engine, but were very slow to make use of it. Also all the secrecy makes me wonder; the British and the Germans were ahead of the Americans in developing their jet engines, so for who were they hiding their efforts?
The Me262 actually holds that record for first operational jet fighter, as the P-59 never went into actual service outside of testing and familiarization of pilots with jet aircraft. An Operational aircraft means the aircraft actually went into service, something the P-59 never did, evident by the lack of both an official introduction and retirement date for its use in the USAAF given how quickly it was passed over in favor of the Shooting Star from Lockheed by the end of the war. The Me262 in contrast flew a few months earlier than the P-59 under jet power, actually went into service in 1944, saw combat, and shot down enemy aircraft before the end of the war. In regards to the secrecy of the USA during their jet development, there was still the Soviets and Japanese to consider, the latter more so than the former by the time of the P-59. While we know now the Japanese had no hope of developing the metallurgy and having the resources needed for a proper jet fighter, the Allies didn't know that back then, and its far better to assume your enemy can rather than can't when it comes to secret projects like the P-59 or, as a later example, the A-Bomb.
The Harold Warp Pioneer Village in Minden, NE had one when I went through there in 2012.
I love that portrait of HAP Arnold. If you look below his ribbons you will see another badge. That is the early US Army "Military Aviator" Badge. Awarded in 1911! He was one of the first 3 young officers to qualify as pilots, under the tutelage of the Wright brothers at their school in Dayton... Aircraft at THAT time being part of the Signal Corps as they were seen as communication devices...
At the 4:05 mark we see a major problem with the design in that firing the guns/cannons would cause the gases to be ingested through the air inlets which could cause compressor stalling of those engines. Something the Air Force would discover with the cannon armed F-86H Sabers.
The fact that they had a jet aircraft was something they didn't want everyone to know.
So - they had a fake propeller on the nose to make people think it was a prop aircraft as they were towing it about the airfield.
Another thing one of the test pilots did - was wear an Ape Suit. He had this Gorilla Suit he'd put on while he was flying the P-59 - with like a Top Hat or something - and smoking a cigar.
He'd pull up next to a prop driven aircraft - wave at the pilot and leave. If the pilot reported he'd seen a Gorilla flying an aircraft without a propeller - no one would believe him.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Woolams#Personality
.
Ah Jack Woolams, knowing what he did later on in life with Cobra 1, this doesn't suprise me at all XD
Thanx
Epic
The P-59 was the first operational jet fighter in the world, before the Me 262 and the Gloster Meteor. I guess this is never mentioned as it would be embarrassing to the British, who had invented the jet engine, but were very slow to make use of it. Also all the secrecy makes me wonder; the British and the Germans were ahead of the Americans in developing their jet engines, so for who were they hiding their efforts?
The Me262 actually holds that record for first operational jet fighter, as the P-59 never went into actual service outside of testing and familiarization of pilots with jet aircraft. An Operational aircraft means the aircraft actually went into service, something the P-59 never did, evident by the lack of both an official introduction and retirement date for its use in the USAAF given how quickly it was passed over in favor of the Shooting Star from Lockheed by the end of the war.
The Me262 in contrast flew a few months earlier than the P-59 under jet power, actually went into service in 1944, saw combat, and shot down enemy aircraft before the end of the war.
In regards to the secrecy of the USA during their jet development, there was still the Soviets and Japanese to consider, the latter more so than the former by the time of the P-59. While we know now the Japanese had no hope of developing the metallurgy and having the resources needed for a proper jet fighter, the Allies didn't know that back then, and its far better to assume your enemy can rather than can't when it comes to secret projects like the P-59 or, as a later example, the A-Bomb.