Thank you for the video. Do you know if any of the aircraft on display still have all their parts inside them? Could they be restored to flying condition if the museum wanted to?
The final aircraft in the video (2:03) is currently being restored to flying condition. I'm not aware of any other P-59s that have any functioning parts still inside.
One alternate history for the Bell P-59 Airacomet would have been to manufacture a small number and committed to operational combat for generating aerial jet fighter combat experience. While this was going on, the USAAF could expect rapid improvements to the P-59 in the airframe and more importantly, the turbojet engines. Thus history might have seen an improved P-59B or P-59C with a more streamlined fuselage mounting an all-around bubble canopy. Improved General Electric turbojet engines might have upped thrust to 1,800-lbs and climbing. Therefore the mediocre 409 mph top speed of the first Airacomet might have been boosted to 450 mph perhaps to 480 mph, making it more acceptable to the USAAF as a competitive fighter plane design. Smarter persons might have advocated for replacing the cumbersome and unreliable Oldsmobile 37mm cannon with a far more practical and highly reliable Hispano 20mm cannon. The revised armament would give the P-59 good anti-fighter and anti-bomber firepower. The Germans and the Japanese did not field heavy bombers during WW2. Axis bombers were usually two-engine types, equivalent to USAAF medium bombers that by 1945 were more in the category of light bombers due to obsolescence. That applied to USAAF medium bombers as well.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Slightly off-topic: What is the six engine plane behind the P-59 at 0:20 ? The one with all the engines together in one row.
That's the last surviving XB-70 Supersonic Bomber Prototype. I might do a video on it in the near future.
Thank you for the video. Do you know if any of the aircraft on display still have all their parts inside them? Could they be restored to flying condition if the museum wanted to?
The final aircraft in the video (2:03) is currently being restored to flying condition. I'm not aware of any other P-59s that have any functioning parts still inside.
One alternate history for the Bell P-59 Airacomet would have been to manufacture a small number and committed to operational combat for generating aerial jet fighter combat experience. While this was going on, the USAAF could expect rapid improvements to the P-59 in the airframe and more importantly, the turbojet engines. Thus history might have seen an improved P-59B or P-59C with a more streamlined fuselage mounting an all-around bubble canopy. Improved General Electric turbojet engines might have upped thrust to 1,800-lbs and climbing. Therefore the mediocre 409 mph top speed of the first Airacomet might have been boosted to 450 mph perhaps to 480 mph, making it more acceptable to the USAAF as a competitive fighter plane design.
Smarter persons might have advocated for replacing the cumbersome and unreliable Oldsmobile 37mm cannon with a far more practical and highly reliable Hispano 20mm cannon. The revised armament would give the P-59 good anti-fighter and anti-bomber firepower. The Germans and the Japanese did not field heavy bombers during WW2. Axis bombers were usually two-engine types, equivalent to USAAF medium bombers that by 1945 were more in the category of light bombers due to obsolescence. That applied to USAAF medium bombers as well.