It's a lot smaller than I was expecting, and it's not all that realistic; 1/10.

Nah, I'm just messing with you. This was the Rocket Ride freebie I got with the Shuttle. I should have pics of that soon, and it's well worth the price...

Unmute!

It was a big spider too.

THE FUCK?

@davesaddiction 43.

Get off my lawn you damn whipper-snappers!

-The XB-35 on the airport ramp during testing. | Photo: Northrop

FLIGHTLINE: 149 - NORTHROP XB-35/YB-49/YRB-49

Intended for service during WWII, the Northrop Flying Wings ended up being canceled in the 1950s, but they the signs of things to come.

Born in the late 1890's, John "Jack" Northrop was immersed in aviation at a young age, serving as a draftsman at the Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company (forerunner of Lockheed) in 1916, before joining Douglas Aircraft Co. and then returning to the newly renamed Lockheed Aircraft Corporation where he served as chief engineer on the Lockheed Vega. By 1929 Jack had formed his own aircraft company as the Northrop Corporation, turning out the Northrop Gamma and Northrop Delta before becoming a subsidiary of Douglas. Still desiring his own aircraft company, Northrop founded a second Northrop Corporation in 1939.

Jack Northrop was a life-long advocate of what became known as flying wings, i.e. aircraft lacking a fuselage and tail. As only the wings are truly necessary for flight, the rest of the fuselage is unneeded weight, and numerous attempts were made going back to the beginning of powered flight to develop an aircraft made only of a single wing. Designers from around the world experimented with tailless aircraft, including the UK's J.W. Dunne, Boris Ivanovich Cheranovsky of the USSR, Alexander Lippisch and Hugo Junkers in Germany, and Northrop and Cheston Eshelman in the US. Northrop had experimented in 1929-30 with the X-216H, which featured a blended wing structure along with booms extending backwards to the rudders, then, influenced by the designs of Walter and Reimar Horten in Germany, the Northrop Corp developed the N-1M in 1939. The N-1M, after some tweaking, proved Northrop's theories were sound, allowing further development of the design.

-The N-1M on display at the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy facility. | Photo: Demilio

In 1941, just prior to US entry to WWII, Consolidated Vultee and Nortrop were contracted by the US Army Air Forces to develop a long-range heavy bomber capable of delivering 10,000lbs of bombs to targets in Europe from bases in North America should England fall. Convair proposed the conventional (but very large) XB-36, while Northrop advanced the XB-35, which was a flying wing design so as to eliminate parasitic drag and excess weight.

-Orthograph of the XB-35, showing its unusual planform. | Illustration: Aviastar

The XB-35 would be 53' long and 20' high, with a wingspan of 172'. A crew of nine, pilot, copilot, bombardier, navigator, engineer, radio operator, and three gunners would fly the plane, which could carry 52,200 pounds of bombs and was protected by twenty .50 machine guns in 6 remote turrets and the tail stinger. Four piston engines buried in the wing would drive contra-rotating propellers, which was projected to give the XB-35 a maximum speed of nearly 400mph and a range of 7,500 miles. The contract signed on 22 November 1941 included one XB-35 as well as two 1/3 scale flying models to test the design as well as to act as trainers. An option for a second XB-35 was included, which the USAAF exercised on 2 January 1942. In all, four N-9M test/trainers were built, testing various enhancements to the design and controls, including a major change to prevent control reversal, which had claimed the first N-9M in 1943. Lacking a conventional tail and rudder, Northrop's flying wings used a novel clamshell flap, known as a flaperon, which would act as a flap, aileron or rudder depending on the control input.

Initially intended for delivery in late 1943, the XB-35's first flight was not until 25 June 1946, delayed by technical hurdles and war-time pressures. After a 45 minute flight from Northrop's Hawthorn factory to Muroc Dry Lake, the XB-35 began its test-flight program, during which issues began cropping up with the engines and propellers. The AAF had procured four Wasp Major engines, two each of the R-4360-17 and -18 model, as well as eight Hamilton Standard contra-rotating props, for the XB-35 program, but the items were not tested individually or for compatibility before being delivered to Northrop. As a result, the engines and props began suffering from increasing vibrational issues, resulting in failures of both as well as in the gearboxes linking them. These issues were further compounded by a failure by the Army to provide a suitable AC alternator for the engines, instead instructing Northrop to use an APU based on an automotive engine, limiting the XB-35 to an altitude below 20,000 feet. Meetings between the USAAAF, Northrop, HamStand and P&W resulted in all sides denying blame until Jack Northrop personally grounded the plane until the Army sorted out the propulsion system. As a result, the -17 and -18 were replaced by -45 and -47 model engines, and the eight-bladed contra-rotating props were replaced by HamStand four bladed standard units. This improved reliability, but at the cost of an increased ground-roll and decreased rate-of-climb and top speed.

-The XB-35, still fitted with contra-rotating props, with a P-61 flying chase. | Photo: Northrop/USAF

In addition to the two XB-35s, the USAAF had ordered 13 pre-production YB-35s, the first of which was delivered in 1948. Although the new engines and props had solved many of the issues plaguing the X/YB-35, they were still slow, and the bomb bay configuration did not allow the plane to carry the Mk.3 nuclear bomb, a major sticking point with the Air Force. Consequently, the XB-35 was canceled, with the two planes scrapped in August 1949. The YB-35s, however, were ordered to be converted to accept jet engines, with the first and second YB-35s being fitted with eight Allison J35s and now designated YB-49s, while the third was to be modified into a YRB-49 recon/bomber, powered by six J35s, two of which were housed in pods under the wings.

-Orthograph of the YB-49. Besides the swap to jet engines, the addition of wing fences is the main difference from the YB-35. | Illustration: Richard Ferriere

-Orthograph of the YRB-49, showing the different engine arrangement. The extra space in the fuselage was needed for fuel and photographic equipment. | Illustration: Scott Cullen

The YB-49's first flight was on 21 (or 22) October 1949, and the modifications immediately proved their worth as the jet-powered wing flew above 40,000 feet for 6 and 1/2 hours, an unofficial record. The YB-49 was also faster than the X/YB-35, with the top speed now nearly five hundred miles per hour. The only issue was range, as early jets were thirsty for both gas and oil, and the YB-49 was now limited to just 1,600 miles with a 10,000lb load. This removed the Wing from the heavy bomber category and left it in competition with Boeing's B-47, which was more optimized for high-speed, high-altitude flight.

-One of the YB-49s being serviced at Muroc Dry Lake. The XB-43 Jetmaster is in the background. | Photo: USAF

-A YB-49 being fueled prior to flight. | Photo: USAF

Flight tests of the YB-49s continued including trial bomb runs which uncovered an issue with stability. Pilots found the Wing tended to "hunt" after turns, slowly settling onto a stable course after a long run. Although this could have been corrected with an autopilot system, it was one more mark against a plane the USAF was becoming uninterested in. The second YB-49 crashed on 5 June 1948, killing the crew of five. Among those killed was the co-pilot Captain Glen Edwards, for whom the base was later named. The aircraft was scheduled to be testing stall recovery when it entered a high-speed dive, during which the outer wings detached from the center portion. It was speculated at the time that the YB-49's design contributed to the overspeed condition, with the plane's low-drag airframe giving it a very high speed during dives.

-The YB-49 in flight over Muroc. | Photo: USAF

The first YB-49 undertook a publicity flight on 9 February 1949, flying from Muroc to Washington DC in four hours twenty-five minutes, then joining the B-36 in a fly-over of the White House and Capital building. The return flight from Andrews AFB was marred when four of the eight engines had to be shut down due to oil starvation. Inspection after a successful emergency landing at Winslow Airport, Arizona, revealed no oil had been replaced in these engines at Wright AFB on the Muroc-to-Andrews leg, raising a suspicion of industrial sabotage.

-The first YB-49 in flight over the Capital Dome. | Photo: James P Busha

The 1st YB-49 was destroyed on 15 March 1950 during a high-speed taxi run. The nose gear began experiencing severe vibrations, finally failing and causing a fire that consumed the plane. The trial was taking place with the fuel tanks full, an unusual state that furthered speculation over industrial sabotage. The same day, the YB-49 program was canceled by Stuart Symington, Secretary of the Air Force. The YRB-49 program continued, with the first flight occurring on 4 May 1950. Also in May of 1950, the remaining XB-35s, undergoing conversion to YRB-49s, were ordered to be dismantled and then smelted, with Symington having smelters delivered to the Northrop facility for the purpose. The YRB-49 undertook 13 flights before it too was canceled on 26 April 1951, and was finally scrapped on 1 December 1953.

-The remaining YB-35s undergoing conversion to YRB-49 configuration. Photo: USAF

Seeing his dream of a flying wing die, Jack Northrop stepped down as the head of the company that bore his name and retired from public life. Breaking his silence in 1979, Northrop claimed in a TV interview that the wing was canceled as a result of backroom dealing between the USAF and Convair, and that SecAF Symington had "strongly suggested" that Northrop merge into Convair under terms he had found very unfavorable. Jack's refusal to go along with the planned merger saw the contracts for the YB-49 and YRB-49 canceled, the remaining planes destroyed before the employees of Northrop, and a request by the Smithsonian for one of the planes rejected. While there is some support to this view (Symington was made president of Convair after his time as the Secretary of the Air Force ended), there were numerous technical issues with the YB-49 that contributed to its cancelation.

In 1980 Jack Northrop, now confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak, returned to Northrop and was escorted to a classified area of the company where he was shown a model of the new ATB aircraft the company was building. It was a flying wing, exactly as he had always championed. It was claimed that he then wrote on a pad: "I know why God has kept me alive for the past 25 years.". Northrop died ten months later, nearly eight years before the B-2 Spirit entered USAF service.

-A Northrop B-2 bomber over the Pacific Ocean in 2006. The B-2 was nearly the same size as the XB-35 and YB-49 from forty years prior. | Photo: USAF

@hammerheadfistpunch I remain amazed that the USS Eaton was also repaired after the accident and no one was seriously injured.

The Eaton served another 14 years, including a stint in Vietnam, before being stricken and meeting her fate during a SINKEX in 1969 (or 1970, Wiki shows both years...).

@ttyymmnn

@forsweden That's also me when it's open....

@ttyymmnn It's not as good as chocolate-covered chips, but chocolate-covered bacon's okay. Candied bacon is better though.

@phenotyp All of this. Garlic isn't quite up to bacon-levels of "makes everything better", but it's damn close.

@ttyymmnn I'd be okay with the spinach (something 10-yo Skyfire would be horrified by...) but there's far too many jalapenos (the correct number is zero, BTW).

@ttyymmnn Oh, that looks good.

@svend Yeah, these are the same people who move to an area near an airport, then complain about the noise.