Dark Eagles: A History of the Top Secret U.S. Aircraft

9

Ford, 'Whittle Engine,' 97. It was General Electric's earlier work with superchargers that caused the British to recommend they produce the Whittle engine.

10

Carpenter, Flame Powered, 16, 17, 27.

11

Young, 'Turbojet,' 254. At the time of the XP-59A test flights, North Base was known as the Materiel Command Flight Test Base or Muroc II.

Similarly, press accounts of the mid-1960s often refer to the 'Skonk Works.' Rachel, Nevada, was known until the 1980s as 'Sand Springs.' (It was renamed in memory of the first child born in the town, Rachel Jones.) To avoid confusion, the later names of North Base, the Skonk Works, and Rachel will be used throughout.

12

Carpenter, Flame Powered, 27–31, 33–35.

13

Ford, 'Whittle Engine,' 88–90.

14

Young, 'Turbojet,' 254.

15

A. M. 'Tex' Johnston and Charles Barton, Tex Johnston, Jet-Age Test Pilot (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991), 59.

16

Young, 'Turbojet,' 254. The open cockpit did reduce the maximum speed and altitude the first XP-59A could reach. (The observer had only a plastic windshield for protection from the slipstream.) Later, Brown Recorders were installed and an instrument panel was fitted into the aft fuselage. This panel was photographed in flight to provide a continuous record.

The XP-59A did much to usher in the modern era of flight test instrumentation. Today, hundreds of separate readings are transmitted to the ground in real time. When the first XP-59Awas given to the Smithsonian, the observer's cockpit was removed and the aircraft was restored to its October 1–2, 1942, appearance.

17

Carpenter, Flame Powered, 40, 41. It is often thought the fake prop was used as cover throughout the XP-59A program. It appears, from photographic evidence, that it was used only during the move and while at Harpers Lake. The photos of the plane with the fake prop have become a symbol of the secrecy that enveloped the project.

18

Young, 'Turbojet,' 256.

19

Carpenter, Flame Powered, 27, 40–48, 51, 55, 56.

20

Young, 'Turbojet,' 259. An aspect of jet flight that prop pilots had to get used to was the slow throttle response of jet engines. It took much longer for the turbine to spin up compared to a piston engine. On the positive side, the jet pilot did not have to deal with prop pitch, mixture, mani-fold pressure, and the roar and vibration of a propeller airplane.

21

Richard P. Hallion, Test Pilots: The Frontiersmen of Flight (Garden City: Doubleday, 1981), 172, 173.

22