P59 Airacomet

Photos by: Bill Coffman

                                  The XP-51 was built in a secret assembly site on the second floor of a four
                               story building in Buffalo, with the windows painted over and welded shut.
                               Construction was started in January 1942, one month after Pearl Harbour and
                               the entry of the USA into the war.
                                 The Commanding General of the newly formed USAAF in June 1941 was Maj. Gen.
                              'Hap' Arnold. He had earlier visited Great Britain and had  been present at
                              the initial taxi tests of the Gloster G.40, and at the first flights of the
                              British machine.
                                 General Electric had experience in hot gas turbines in building
                              superchargers, and had already sent  a team to Britain to investigate the
                              developments at Power Jets. Arnold pulled the strings that arranged for the
                              un-flight rated example of the Power Jets W.1X to be sent to America along
                              with a team of Power Jets engineers to start GE in the Jet Engine business.
                              It was this actual engine that was also used in the construction of Bell's
                              first prototype.

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