DISCONTINUED Valom 72036 Bell YFM-1B Airacuda

The "Bell Airacuda" (also known as "Aerocuda") was developed as a heavy fighter aircraft designed to combat bomber planes. The American company Bell, known for its original solutions, has built a machine with an interesting design this time. The "Bell YFM-1" was a 5-seat, metal-structured, twin-engine medium wing. The most unconventional solution used in this machine were gondolas placed on the wings, in which there were shooters with 37 mm caliber cannons. In the rear part of each nacelle there was an Allison V-1710-41 in-line engine with a push propeller. The first prototype of the YFM-1 was flown on September 1, 1937. Quite quickly, a decision was made to build an experimental series of 13 aircraft of this type. All of them were used in the years 1939-1941 and revealed many shortcomings of this structure. The main complaints concerned numerous problems with the mechanics and poor performance of "Airacuda". Various adjustments have been made (e.g. replacing the classic chassis with a front-wheel chassis), but it did not help much. After the research was completed, it was concluded that "Airacuda" was not suitable for the role of a heavy fighter to fight enemy bombers, or a fighter for covering its own bombers during long raids. The decision was made to terminate the development of this aircraft and not to put it into mass production.