Designed and built by Bell at Buffalo, NY in great secrecy during WWII, the P-59 was America's first jet aircraft. After use by the NACA Laboratory at Cleveland, in 1947 it was transferred to Kirtland AFB, NM for further testing. By 1951 it had been placed on display there and after use as a ground instructional airframe, was flown to the USAFM aboard a C-124 in 1956. The 66 P-59s built were powered by two GE turbojets developed from the British Whittle engine. but low thrust and a heavy airframe design resulted in poor performance but did provide valuable development cues. Six now survive

Used as a test aircraft at Muroc AAB, CA. the old name for Edwards AFB. Used as a ZF-59B drone from 1945 to 1947. Damaged in an accident in 1948. Restored and put on display.

With the North American XB-70 Valkyrie 62-0001 behind

Based at Muroc Army Air Force Base (the base name was changed to Edwards in 1949) to develop jet aviation For the USAAF. Later converted to a drone named "Reluctant Robot". Retired in 1948, the historic jet has been displayed on Rosamond Blvd at Edwards for decades.