Bell XP-83

The Bell XP-83, later redesignated XF-83, was an American prototype jet escort fighter designed by Bell Aircraft during World War II. The Army Air Forces asked for a fighter with longer endurance in March 1944 and ordered two prototypes that July. Bell kept the general layout of the P-59 Airacomet, with two General Electric J33 turbojets in the wing roots and a large fuselage holding about 1,150 gallons of fuel. Chief test pilot Jack Woolams flew the first prototype on 25 February 1945. It was underpowered, suffered directional instability and landed very fast, and apart from range it was inferior to the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star, so the project was cancelled in 1947.