Bell XP-77

The Bell XP-77 was a small wooden lightweight fighter that the United States Army Air Forces asked Bell Aircraft to develop in World War II, using non-strategic materials. It began in October 1941 as a design study for a very light interceptor in the spirit of the 1930s Thompson Trophy racers, and it was a single-engine, low-wing monoplane with tricycle landing gear. Weight crept past the design limit, engine delays set in and the order was cut to two prototypes. The first flew on 1 April 1944 at Wright Field. The aircraft was underpowered and hard to fly, the second prototype was lost in a spin on 2 October 1944, and the programme ended that December.