This airplane amassed only 59 hours and 55 minutes of flying time. On April 18, 1945, the Smithsonian asked for the aircraft. Before opening the new National Air and Space Museum in 1976, the staff restored the plane to its original configuration.
Bell XP-59 Airacomet
The XP-59A was the first American jet aircraft. Bell Aircraft Corporation designed and built it, and the XP-59A first flew at Muroc Dry Lake, in California, on 1 October 1942.
It
was powered by the first U.S. built jet engine, the General Electric I-A, which
was based on the W2B design of Frank Whittle, the British jet pioneer.