Editing Bell XP-52 (section)

==XP-52==
[[File:Continental I-1430.jpg|thumb|The intended engine – the Continental X-1430 in the [[National Museum of the United States Air Force]]]]
The XP-52 design was begun by the Bell Company in 1940, separate from the R-40C competition, under the Air Material Command designator '''MX-3'''.

The short [[fuselage]] carried a [[piston engine]] in the rear, driving a pair of contra-rotating [[Propeller (aircraft)|propeller]]s in a [[pusher configuration]]. The wings were swept back at an angle of 20 degrees, with a [[Tailplane|horizontal stabilizer]] mounted behind the propeller on [[Twin-boom aircraft|twin booms]] running back from the wings. The fuselage was unusually streamlined, being round and barrel-shaped, with the forward-located pilot's cockpit fully faired-in to its lines and the nose ending in a round air intake which was ducted back internally to the engine.<ref name="jones">Jones, L.; ''US Fighters'', Aero, 1975.</ref> The undercarriage was a tricycle arrangement, with the main wheels retracting into the tailbooms. Propulsion was to be provided by the experimental [[Continental XI-1430|Continental XIV-1430-3]] inverted V-12 engine.<ref>Jenkins, Dennis R. and Tony R. Landis. Experimental & Prototype U.S. Air Force Jet Fighters. North Branch, Minnesota, USA: Specialty Press, 2008. {{ISBN|978-1-58007-111-6}}.</ref>

The XP-52 was canceled in October 1940 because the XIV-1430 engine ran into technical difficulties. Bell submitted a similar design to the US Navy as the Model 19, but this too was never built.<ref name=ASP>Buttler, Tony, and Griffith, Alan, 2015. American Secret Projects: Fighters, Bombers, and Attack Aircraft, 1937–1945. Manchester: Crecy Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1906537487}}.</ref>