AMO72152 - Amodel - 1/72 Bell XP/YP-59 Airacomet - WWHP113649

AMO72152 - Amodel - 1/72 Bell XP/YP-59 Airacomet - WWHP113649

Preowned, Resealed, Mint

The Bell XP-59A Airacomet was America's first jet aircraft, built in great secrecy around British Whittle engine technology after General Hap Arnold saw the Gloster E.28/39 fly in 1941. Bell test pilot Robert Stanley took it aloft at Muroc Dry Lake in October 1942, and the first XP-59A was even trucked around with a dummy propeller on its nose to keep its jet propulsion hidden. Thirteen YP-59A service test aircraft followed, with examples going to the Royal Air Force in exchange for a Gloster Meteor and to the US Navy for evaluation, and although the Airacomet never saw combat it trained the first generation of American jet pilots.

• 88 parts on light grey short-run plastic sprues
• Two clear sprues with separate XP-59A and YP-59A canopies, including the open-cockpit "Superman" and "Mystic Mistress" versions with the added nose observer station
• Waterslide decal sheet with markings for six aircraft:
  • XP-59A "Superman", USAAF
  • YP-59A "Mystic Mistress" 42-108783, Bell Aircraft, as on the box art
  • YP-59A 42-108777 and 42-108786, USAAF
  • YP-59A evaluated by the Royal Air Force, with RAF roundels and fin flashes
  • YF2L-1 960, US Navy Naval Air Test Center
• Limited edition instruction booklet with English and Russian text and painting guide
• Completed model measures 192 mm span and 162 mm long