European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 19, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                J w of Tawny though t p1 men by Georg Meyers yank staff writer Niagara first time you see a Jet propelled plane in the its like seeing a Man walking Down the Street with no its the propellers that do they Arent you see a Sweet twin engined fighter Job that looks like a Cross Between the p63 King cobra and the a20 Only where the props ought to be Are a couple of dark like under the hanging like jowls from the the engine Nacelles taper to an open this is the the Dingus that is making air planes Fly faster and higher than anybody Ever flew after your first this plane is impressive but not spectacular to watch in it Doest look like something that tumbled out of As a lot of us might have expected it looks like it came right off an Airframe Assembly on the basis of performance by conventional the up is army and Navy pilots who have flown it lick their lips and tremble with hankering to Fly the the up int a Laboratory Gim crack in the x experimental Model has already been chopped off the designation of Bell aircraft corporations xp59 which i came Here to on the Winch is a fighter seems to be trying to stand on its that because the absence of propellers lets it squat so plus the fact from the trailing Edge of the the fuselage angles High into an up swept the Tail Assembly has to be higher than the Puth of the Jet exhaust to keep it from catching the p59s Laminar How Type wings have a Span about three feet loss than the just off the Assembly the ship weighs a Little Over five face 2 1 i for months the air Comet was test hopped at an unrevealed Field in the maroc dry lakes Section of Eastern the same place i used to go sundays years ago to watch High school Speed demons race against each other in hopped up Fords and since the recent disclosure the British have flown a Type of Jet propelled fighter against the robot bombs and that the was experimenting with people around Buffalo and Niagara Falls have seen the p59 in the air usually with Alvin Tex Johnston at the Johnston is an Emporia kans boy whose 14 years of flying include years As an army instructor at Hicks and Curtis Fields in Texas and nine months in the old ferry he is now Bell aircraft assistant chief test Pilot and a Champion of Jet propulsion for fighter Jet propulsion is the answer to Hig Altitude says and the history of Aerial do fighting shows that the plane that flies the highest and fastest is usually the one that returns to fight his hours in the p59s cockpit have convinced Johnston that the Jet plane is easier to Fly than any other hot there Are fewer engine controls and you have three things to manipulate the stick and the throttle with your the rudder pedals with your the first thing you says is the Lack of the Thermal Jet propulsion engine has no reciprocating its total Power comes from High Speed rotation of two fan like wheels on a single we have to put rattlers on the instruments to make sure there the Lack of vibration makes Pilot fatigue less of a danger than in conventional there Are Only a few tricks to and a few flying habits to for any Good Pilot to master the whole business of handling the squirt from Takeoff to the Jet Job requires no Johnston you give or the starter and in 30 seconds Shes ready to that Means a both tactically and to the Pilot you can get off the ground or a Carrier in a hurry in Case enemy planes Are you dont have to fiddle around with Oil manifold pressure and the other conventional preflight you Rev up the units the Jet engines to Check maximum and youre ready to taxiing is a Little Tricky at first because you dont have any propeller blast to work on the Tail and rudder you have to do All your ground steering with the you cant blast the Tail around for a Sharp turn while youre standing but once youve got a Little Forward you can make fairly Sharp ground turns by de pressing one Brake and gunning the opposite Takeoff is just like any other tricycle plane and a Little slower than some of our fastest soon As youre off the you flip the Landing gear switch to the up that when you Start thinking youve forgotten some because in an Ordinary ship youd have to decrease the propeller for Normal climb anq1 Cut the fuel mixture from the Fullon you use for in the you dont have anything to just in the air the p59 is a Low Wing Load ing and the Lack of drag on a propeller make the ship extremely Maneu Merable at High you have to use Only slight stick pressure to put her through snap imme Manns and since theres nothing out there batting at the you dont have to fight even at Low these same characteristics give the ship a Flat Glide Angle that lets you coast about three times As far As in an Ordinary Pursuit