This engine produced 425 shp (317 kW), yet it weighed so little that it had to be mounted behind the helicopter's fuel tanks and rotor mast for weight-and-balance reasons.

The light weight of turbines made them ideal for helicopters, whose performance had long been constrained by the low power-to-weight ratios of piston engines.

Putting a premium on performance and having public funds at their disposal, the world's armed services wholeheartedly embraced turbine power.

At the start of April 1955, the prototype was handed over to usaf Major Jones P. Seigler and First Lieutenant Donald A. Wooley.

The two officers, attached to Edwards Air Force Base in California, conducted the Phase II test program at Fort Worth to ensure good coordination with Bell.