Post by mick on Mar 7, 2010 22:47:45 GMT -5
Well, David and I have been dragging ourselves, kicking and screaming, into the post-WW2 era. Our current work in progress is the Bell P-59 Airacomet, the first American jet. Nice looking and nice flying, only two things kept it from becoming a great fighter: it had terrible performance and it was a lousy gun platform.
The Airacomet went through several versions: XP-59A, YP-59A, P-59A and P-59B. Most (possibly all) YPs and all P-59As were updated to P-59B standards, which makes life a bit easier for modelers and painters. We modeled only the P-59B, but were able to show almost all of the type's history in a series of paints. Only the XP-59A, with its flush canopy and rounded wing and tail tips, is missing.
Here's a YP-59A updated to near P-59B standards, wearing the mid-1943 star and red-bordered bar that I've always been partial to.
Those oversized, billboard style wing insignia were typical of the type throughout its service life.
And here's another updated YP-59A, this one marked to 1944 standards.
"Smokey Stover" was the first jet to land in Alaska.
Here's a P-59A with an early example of a "buzz number." Note how the buzz number on the fuselage extends down onto the ventral strake. It looks like an error, but that's how they looked on every photo I could find of an Airacomet with a buzz number.
This updated YP-59A had an open second cockpit in front of the pilot. The first 2-seat Airacomets had their guns removed and were used to carry a flight test engineer, and later VIPs for jet joy rides. "Mystic Mistress" was a drone controller, and she retained her armament in case she had to shoot down an errant drone.
Later "Mystic Mistress" was dressed in overall glossy black.
"Reluctant Robot" was a DP-59B drone.
The P-59 lasted long enough to wear the post-war insignia with the red bars.
The Navy was in on the Airacomet program almost from the beginning. They received this YP-59A in late 1943. They dubbed it the YF2L-1 and wrung it out at the Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River, Maryland.
Four years later they were still flying that bird, by then in the utility livery.
NATC's Tactical Test Division was still operating this YF2L-2 (P-59B) in 1947.
It seems curious that NACA doesn't seem to have done anything with the P-59. We set that right with this fictional paint.
This Alaska Air Command livery is fictional too. I couldn't resist those colorful arctic high visibility markings. Too bad the color red always seems to look smudged in jpegs posted to the web. It doesn't look like that on the model!
Well, as long as we're playing "What If," how about: What if the Thunderbirds were established in 1948?
I won't use the "S" word, but here's not much left to be done on this project. Watch Sim Outhouse and FlightSim.com for a release, date not predictable yet.
The Airacomet went through several versions: XP-59A, YP-59A, P-59A and P-59B. Most (possibly all) YPs and all P-59As were updated to P-59B standards, which makes life a bit easier for modelers and painters. We modeled only the P-59B, but were able to show almost all of the type's history in a series of paints. Only the XP-59A, with its flush canopy and rounded wing and tail tips, is missing.
Here's a YP-59A updated to near P-59B standards, wearing the mid-1943 star and red-bordered bar that I've always been partial to.
Those oversized, billboard style wing insignia were typical of the type throughout its service life.
And here's another updated YP-59A, this one marked to 1944 standards.
"Smokey Stover" was the first jet to land in Alaska.
Here's a P-59A with an early example of a "buzz number." Note how the buzz number on the fuselage extends down onto the ventral strake. It looks like an error, but that's how they looked on every photo I could find of an Airacomet with a buzz number.
This updated YP-59A had an open second cockpit in front of the pilot. The first 2-seat Airacomets had their guns removed and were used to carry a flight test engineer, and later VIPs for jet joy rides. "Mystic Mistress" was a drone controller, and she retained her armament in case she had to shoot down an errant drone.
Later "Mystic Mistress" was dressed in overall glossy black.
"Reluctant Robot" was a DP-59B drone.
The P-59 lasted long enough to wear the post-war insignia with the red bars.
The Navy was in on the Airacomet program almost from the beginning. They received this YP-59A in late 1943. They dubbed it the YF2L-1 and wrung it out at the Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River, Maryland.
Four years later they were still flying that bird, by then in the utility livery.
NATC's Tactical Test Division was still operating this YF2L-2 (P-59B) in 1947.
It seems curious that NACA doesn't seem to have done anything with the P-59. We set that right with this fictional paint.
This Alaska Air Command livery is fictional too. I couldn't resist those colorful arctic high visibility markings. Too bad the color red always seems to look smudged in jpegs posted to the web. It doesn't look like that on the model!
Well, as long as we're playing "What If," how about: What if the Thunderbirds were established in 1948?
I won't use the "S" word, but here's not much left to be done on this project. Watch Sim Outhouse and FlightSim.com for a release, date not predictable yet.
