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The Jet-of-the-Day Collaboration A collaboration between NorthAmericanAviation and Servo Recently, @NorthAmericanAviation and I have been working on replicating every U.S. military jet, from the first P-59 Airacomet to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. We will be posting one a day, in the order that they entered service, along with photos, information about the plane, and of course, a download link. June 1943 - Bell P-59 Airacomet The Bell P-59 Airacomet was the first U.S. Jet fighter to see production. It was first flown in 1942, and the first production models were delivered in June of the following year. Test pilots, including Chuck Yeager, flew the P-59 and found it to be unsatisfactorily slow, though they noted that it flew very smoothly. Ultimately, the P-59 never saw service due to the multitude of problems the design faced, including slow engine response time (accurately modeled by the Juno engines on the replication) and lateral instability. In order to disguise the P-59 from aerial reconnaissance, a plywood propeller was used to prevent spies from realizing that the P-59 was a jet fighter. Despite these shortcomings, the P-59 was a pioneering jet in many aspects. It was the first jet to integrate the engines and intakes into the fuselage - prior ones such as the Gloster Meteor and the Me 262 carried their engines in nacelles under or on the wing. Additionally, the experience the U.S. gained with turbojet design would be shown in later fighters, such as the F-59's immediate successor, the P-80 Shooting Star, and later, the F-86 Sabre. Replica Stats: Builder: Servo Service Ceiling: 10km Part count: 71 Crew: 1 Mass: 9.5 tons Powerplant: 4x Juno Top Speed: 140m/s Dimensions: 4m x 11.7m x 10.2 m The P-59 flies pretty well, though like the original, it is a bit clunky. Due to the engine position, it is slow to respond to pitch controls. Additionally, the rear landing gear are almost directly above the center of mass, so landings have to be really gentle. Apart from that, the P-59 is really easy to fly, stable without SAS (given a little bit of trim), and at high time warp without too much trouble. Download Link: https://kerbalx.com/servo/Bell-P-59-Airacomet Tomorrow's craft: Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star Find the spreadsheet with all craft here
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