The Bell P-59 Airacomet was the first American jet-powered airplane in the United States. It was a top secret project that wasn't announced to the general public until 1943 and only after it had completed one-hundred flights. However, even before the Airacomet made it onto the drawing board, Europe already had its own jet programs well underway. Germany's Messerschmitt Me 262, Arado Ar 234, and England's Gloster Meteor would all become operational during the war. In the Pacific, the Japanese also flew the Nakajima Kikka at least once, powered by an Ishikawajima Ne-20, Japan's first turbojet engine.
While the performance of the Airacomet was not spectacular, one YP-59A did establish a new unofficial altitude record of 47,600 feet. The first YP-59As were powered with the earlier GE A-1 with engines providing 1,250 lb. thrust and eventually the I-16 (J31-GE-3) providing 1,650 lb. thrust. Later production models of the P-59B-1-BEs were powered with J31-GE-5 engines of 2,000 lbs. thrust.
On March 11, 1944, a contract was signed for 100 P-59A-BEs and a further 250 were planned. The production model had a shortened wing and all control surfaces were metal covered. The fuselage was strengthened and the tail was redesigned, incorporating a ventral fin. However, the contract was canceled after only thirty-nine aircraft were delivered, plus additional aircraft on the assembly line, for a total of fifty aircraft.
Most of the P-59s went the 412th Fighter Group of the Fourth Air Force at Muroc AFB, but unlike the Messerschmitt Me-262 and the Gloster Meteor, the P-59 was only useful as a test vehicle and as a jet trainer and no Airacomets ever entered wartime service. A few P-59s were later modified as drone directors and manned target aircraft, with a second cockpit installed forward of the of the pilot's cockpit.
Text-Source: aviation-history.com