Original company of 1935, Bell Aircraft Corporation,
responsible for P-39 Aircobra and P-63 Kingcobra of
Second World War. Built first U.S. turbojet, the P-59 Aircomet
fighter/trainer. Built the rocket-powered Bell X-1,
in which USAF pilot Charles Yeager was the first to exceed
the speed of sound, on October 14,1947. Subsequent X-
1A flown at 2,655km/h in 1953.
P-63 "Kingcobra"
Company
subsequently known as Bell Aerosystems, then on July
5,1960 became Bell Aerospace Corporation, a wholly
owned subsidiary of Textron Inc., which had acquired the
former Bell Aircraft Corporation. Responsible for the Bell
Model D2127 tilting-duct research aircraft; two lunar Landing
Research Vehicles (LLRV) for NASA, to train astronauts
to land safely on the moon; Automatic Carrier Landing
System (ACLS), used on U.S. Navy aircraft carriers; and
was involved with an air-cushion landing system that was
expected to enable military transports to land and take off
from practically any surface. Terminated aircraft production.
See Bell Helicopter Textron Inc.
