Are any of Northrop's "flying wings" from the 1940s still around?
What ever happened to the YB-49 and the XB-35?
- By Rebecca Maksel
- AirSpaceMag.com, August 16, 2011
A Northrop YB-49 in flight over desert, probably in the vicinity of Muroc, California.
NASM SI-97-15291~Am
John Canady, of Festus, Missouri, asks us: "Does there exist anywhere any pieces or artifacts of the Northrop flying wings YB-49 or XB-35?"
Unfortunately, the short answer is “no.” The U.S. Air Force reports that all of the XB-35s and the YB-49s were scrapped by 1953; Northrop’s beautiful flying wings today exist only in reports and photographs. So we headed over to the National Air and Space Museum’s archive to take a look at the technical files on the XB-35 (Northrop’s original, piston engine version) and the YB-49 (the turbojet version). The files contain a plethora of information, including wartime reports of spin-tunnel tests of scale models, case histories, various contemporary newspaper accounts, test pilot interviews, an accident investigation report, and analysis of long-range test flights.
One of my favorite items in the files is this press release about the YB-49, from Northrop, dated February 9, 1947: "Designed to knife through the air before the push of eight giant engines, developing a total of 32,000 horsepower under best conditions, the monster new 'bat bombers' are the latest refinement of a new 'family' of aircraft in which Northrop Aircraft, Inc., is noted for world pioneering."
The XB-35’s “Brief Narrative History” notes, “The maiden flight of the first XB-35 was made on 25 June 1946, covering the distance from Northrop field at Hawthorne to Muroc Lake. Cost of the one aircraft had been about $14,300,000 to this time. After 11 September, the aircraft was grounded because of the difficulties involving the gear box and propeller control; the aircraft had by then completed three tests for three hours and four minutes of flight testing.” (In our 1997 article about the flying wing, “The Edwards Diaries,” author Daniel Ford writes that the -35s “would manage to fly for a total of 36 hours, for an amortized cost of $1.8 million per hour.”)
The YB-49 wasn’t easy to handle. A case history summary put together by the U.S. Air Force reveals that “flight test personnel stated that the B-49 was ‘extremely unstable and very difficult to fly on a bombing mission,’ that the pilot had to be constantly on the controls, and that ‘even then it was impossible to hold a steady course or a constant air speed and altitude.’… [I]t was generally agreed that, in its current configuration, the plane was unsuitable for either bomber or reconnaissance work.”
“By June 1948 the usefulness of the flying wing as a bomber appeared to have been thoroughly disproven,” the narrative history continues, “and the Air Force and Northrop entered into a letter contract looking toward the construction of a reconnaissance version of the YB-49. It was under this contract, the formal version of which was approved on 16 September 1948, that the flying wing program with Northrop finally ended….”
By 1949 there was a series of complex agreements: the two XB-35s were to be scrapped; the first two YB-35s were also to be scrapped; the one remaining YB-49 was to continue in flight test; four YB-35s and three YB-35As were to be equipped with six J35-A-19 engines each, and converted to YB-35Bs for flight test; one YB-35A was to be converted into a prototype of the RB-49A and designated the YRB-49A; and one YB-35A was to be equipped with six jet engines and fitted to act as a T-37 "turbodyne" test bed. The case history concludes, "[By 1950,] the only full-scale flying wing aircraft [then] remaining in existence was the YB-35A which was being modified to the jet reconnaissance configuration and designated the YRB-49A. This aircraft was tested under contract ac-2172 until it was authorized for reclamation in November 1953."
The Museum’s technical files also include an oral history of Brigadier General Robert L. Cardenas, who was a test pilot on the YB-49. We'll leave you with this tidbit from his undated (but post-1973) oral history:
“[Dan] Forbes and I were the military test pilots on the YB-49 along with Max Stanley of Northrop. There were two aircraft, one instrumented for performance, the other for stability and control. Danny Forbes flew left seat on some performance flights (every third flight). We didn’t wear parachutes because the canopy could not be jettisoned and there was no seat ejection. To bail out, you had to rotate the seat, jack it down four feet, walk back to the hatch, put on the parachute there, and drop out.”
Got a nagging question about aviation or space? Use our online submission form, and we'll do our best to answer it. Or maybe we already have.
Comments (11)
Has the N-9M been forgotten?
Per "The Flying Wings of Jack Northrop" by G Pape, J Campbell and D Campbell, the four N-9Ms built were "intended as engineering tool(s) to aid in the design of the B-35".
Also, "as engineering requirements for these craft decreased, they were pressed into a training role where both Northrop test pilots and Army Air Forces future would be pilots recieved flying wing familiarization training."
The sole surviving N-9MB has been restored and is flown at airshows in the southwest by the Planes of Fame Museum located in Chino, CA.
Posted by Kevin Helm on August 24,2011 | 02:12 PM
As a student at Northrop Institute of Technology en 1962, we were shown "bootleg" film of FBI "goons" armed with "tommy guns" standing guard over men destroying the dies and in-build aircraft at the Northrop plant. Symington did NOT want ANY possibility of Northrop building any of these on their own!
Truly great aircraft, destroyed by politics.
The good news? Our highly successful B-2 traces its lineage directly to the XB-49 and YB-35. Jack Northrop was privy to the nascent B-2 shortly before this giant-of-the industry passed on.
Posted by Ron Regehr on August 24,2011 | 03:23 PM
What version of the flying wing did I see this weekend?
I believe it came out of the Chino Museum.
Posted by Richard Wells on August 24,2011 | 04:46 PM
I heard that Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington suggested Northrop be merged with Consolodated Vultee. When Jack Northrop refused to do so, Symington (in a fit of pique) ordered all of them to be scrapped.
Posted by Joseph Thomas on August 24,2011 | 09:35 PM
Is there more to the story of the demise of the Northrop flying wings of the 1950s? A documentary I saw on TV years ago alleged that then Secretary of the Air Force Stewart Symington played a role in have the Northrop program cancelled in favor of the Convair B-36. Also,a flight stabilization system was to have been installed to cure the B-49 stability problems. And why were ALL of the wings scrapped? Wouldn't there have been some additional testing and trouble shooting possible with at least one or two?
Had the B-49's problems been fixed, which bomber would have been the best choice: B-49 or B-36?
Robert Clemens
Rochester, NY
Posted by Robert Clemens on August 25,2011 | 09:49 AM
Per the original question of pieces or artifacts remaining of the Northrop flying wings, in fact pieces do exist. I met the “X-Hunters”, Peter Merlin and Tony Moore in October 1997 at the Wing And A Prayer bar near Edwards and they recounted their stories of finding the remains of numerous crashed experimental and service aircraft around the area of Edwards Air Force Base. Some of the recovered pieces have indeed included parts from the wooden Northrop N9M flying wing as well as the second YB-49. Their stories have also been told in the March 1995 edition of Air & Space/Smithsonian as well as their book “X-Plane Crashes” published in 2008.
Posted by Bill Upton on September 14,2011 | 08:52 AM
Regarding comments that the Northrop Wings were unstable, this is incorrect. In 2003 I, a former bomber pilot myself, interviewed for many hours Charles Tucker, Northrop's test pilot who flew all the Air Force's excessive stall tests after AF pilot refused to fly the Wing, following the crash of the No. 2 YB-49 caused by Major Forbes starting the stall tests too low, and without a G-meter, stressing the wing. The outer wings failed at 4.8 Gs, in excess of the ultimate design load. Tucker also had chase-plane photos of the spin from which he recovered the huge wing. After flying the YB-49 for more than 100 hours his comment re stability was "The AF comments about the wing being unstable were 'bullshit' It was rock-solid, and a good airplane."
Tucker also described to me his flying the Wing when they discovered it was invisible to CGI at Half Moon Bay north of San Francisco, in 1948. It was Stealthy, but the AF ignored it. For the complete interview refer to my just published book "Goodbye Beautiful Wing". Its 1000 pages of facts mined from 998 pages of government microfilmed records of the Northrop XB-35 and YB-49 Projects, and 744 pages of similar microfilmed records of the Convair B-36 Project, plus other interviews, published records and biographies of the high-level persons involved. There was no way the Convair B-36 configuration could equal the performance of the Wing. Both used the same engines, and the Wing had lower wing loading, higher power loading a higher lift-drag ratio, higher critical Mach, and was Stealthy. The B-36 huge radar signature and poor performance could never survive the AF top mission:" to destroy enemy war making ability", i.e. the secret A-bomb war plants 4000 miles from the US in the Ural Mountains, guarded by 19,000 Russian interceptors guided by nine radar rings, UNESCORTED. The Stealthy Wing could have.
Posted by Terrence O'Neill on April 18,2012 | 12:05 PM
One flying wing made passes over my Los Angeles home not far from Northrop in the late 1940s, and all of us kids recognized the distinct engine sound and ran outside to watch it. What a sight! But I always thought I remembered it having 6 engines, not the 4 shown in photos. I ended up working at Northrop on the Laminair Flow aircraft project in the early 1960s. It worked successfully on its first flight and I never heard another word about it. Then came the great layoffs of 1964, and my life took off to greater things.
Mike
Posted by Mike K. on July 9,2012 | 10:38 PM
So the Northorp N9MB is all that is left?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxIdAy6OksM
Posted by Julie on November 14,2012 | 01:30 PM
In the lat 1970 as an airplane buff I had the chance to climb on board of the Spruce Goose whilw still heavily guardaed in Long Beach I had a completee tour of the airplane , what was even more interesting at the time I was not a US Citizen , I took dozen of photo and was given an history course of the plane by one of the engineer on board of that plane that day , they had pionneer many of the features we do consider standard today ,then it was sold to disnet which used chain saw to make display for tourist ...
while speaking with Him the Northrop flying wing came up and yes he said they were all destroyed, on the order of
washington for refusing to give out His technology , he was so far ahead of his time it definitly would have given birth the space shuttle 20 years earlier if not more , He wa very hot about it , and told me that yes all were destroyed and even escorted to the scrapyard by the fed one portion made it to the desert , I went there and seen it took pictures of it was in very bad shape , was much bigger than my car it ressembled nothing like any airframe o ever seen , all the photo were lost at the photo lab in los angeles which i found peculiar , time went by I always wanted to go by never did , if someone did not cut it in piece to make easy money it is still there before AFB my problem is I do not recall the location I had brain surgery and some memoriees are clear other lost .
Posted by joel rambaud on March 28,2013 | 12:55 PM
My father in lawwork fornorthrop on the flying wing I have a picture of the wing and all the men that worked on it and its signed bythem all including John Northrop
Posted by Barbara Fraker on April 8,2013 | 01:16 AM