Bell P-63B Kingcobra

Last revised September 12, 1999





The P-63B (Model 34) was a proposed version of the Kingcobra to be powered by the Packard Merlin V-1650-5 liquid-cooled engine. However, all of the Packard Merlin engines were urgently needed by the North American P-51 Mustang, and this project was abandoned before anything could be built. The aircraft that had been scheduled to be the prototype for the P-63B series was completed with an Allison engine and redesignated XP-63A

Sources:

  1. The American Fighter, Enzo Angelucci and Peter Bowers, Orion, 1987.

  2. War Planes of the Second World War, William Green, Doubleday, 1964.

  3. United States Military Aircraft Since 1909, Gordon Swanborough and Peter M. Bowers, Smithsonian, 1989.

  4. Bell Cobra Variants-P-39 Airacobra and P-63 Kingcobra, Robert F. Dorr, Wings of Fame, Vol 10, 1998.