- 1 day ago
For educational purposes
In their quest for flight efficiency, some designers thought the ideal shape would be just a wing, nothing else, flying through the air.
Though successful development of flying wings has often proved illusive, Northrop's designs proved feasibility, and the B-2 Stealth Bomber brought the configuration into production.
Featured Aircraft:
- Northrop N-1M "Jeep" flying wing
- Northrop YB-35
- Northrop YB-49
- Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber
In their quest for flight efficiency, some designers thought the ideal shape would be just a wing, nothing else, flying through the air.
Though successful development of flying wings has often proved illusive, Northrop's designs proved feasibility, and the B-2 Stealth Bomber brought the configuration into production.
Featured Aircraft:
- Northrop N-1M "Jeep" flying wing
- Northrop YB-35
- Northrop YB-49
- Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:01Hi, I'm Neil Armstrong. Join me for an adventure through time.
00:53I'm Neil Armstrong.
00:58The first successful airplanes had a tail, sometimes in the front, like the Wright Flyer, but most often in the
01:06back, like a bird.
01:08In their quest for increased flight efficiencies, designers looked at radical new designs.
01:15Some thought the ideal shape would be just a wing, nothing else, flying through the air.
01:23With no fuselage or tail surfaces, it would have less drag.
01:29The problem was to provide acceptable handling qualities for such an aircraft.
01:41The wings of an aircraft provide its lift.
01:44Everything else, the fuselage and tail, adds weight and drag that must be overcome.
01:54Early in aviation history, creative designers struggled to minimize drag and increase wing surface.
02:05A number of early aviators lessened drag by eliminating the tail.
02:10Englishman John Dunn built a stable tailless biplane, and the Horton brothers flew tailless gliders in Germany.
02:20But it was American designer Jack Northrup who proved that the flying wing design was practical.
02:27Wings are all metal and plenty heavy enough and strong enough so that a person can walk all over them
02:32almost anywhere.
02:33All right, Eddie, well, if you're all set, let's go.
02:40Goodbye, Eddie.
02:42Northrup's first experimental design in 1929 eliminated the fuselage, housing the engine, fuel, landing gear, and crew all within a
02:51thick wing.
02:52But the X2-16H still had a tail, supported behind the wing on long booms.
03:03The first true flying wing was Northrup's N-1M.
03:08It was the result of his continuing pursuit of clean design, an attempt to reduce drag by eliminating protruding structures.
03:16The entire surface of the aircraft contributed to lift.
03:22The N-1M's first flight took place on July 3, 1940.
03:27It was a small aircraft, built to explore and demonstrate the capabilities of flying wing design.
03:35The structure of the N-1M was simple wood and metal, so it could be modified throughout flight testing.
03:42The wings originally turned down at the ends to give the directional stability usually provided by a vertical tail.
03:50Flight tests showed this was not necessary, and the wings were straightened.
03:55All of the control surfaces were placed on the trailing edge of the wing.
04:01Elevons combined the functions of the elevator and ailerons.
04:05A split flap at the tip of each wing provided rudder control.
04:11This basic control configuration would be used on all of Northrup's flying wings.
04:19The N-1M made over 200 flights.
04:22Though underpowered, its pilots found it stable and easy to control.
04:26It demonstrated that a practical flying wing aircraft could be a reality.
04:42Jack Northrup was not alone in his dream of maximum lift.
04:46Beginning in the 1920s, Vincent Bernelli built a succession of lifting body aircraft.
04:52Their primary feature was a huge fuselage, whose large area and airfoil shape was designed to provide up to 50
05:00% of the airplane's lift.
05:02Though Bernelli continued to produce prototypes and designs throughout his lifetime,
05:07he could not find the financial backing and contracts necessary to turn his designs into production aircraft.
05:16For private use, Waldo Waterman had produced tailless-winged aero cars, but they attracted little commercial interest.
05:25Another variation on the flying wing, called the Flying Pancake, was the brainchild of Charles Zimmerman.
05:33The Chance Vaught Aircraft Company built the V-173 as a testbed for a proposed fighter.
05:40Two large, slow-turning propellers washed the entire wing surface with their airflow.
05:47The U.S. Navy was impressed enough to contract for a twin-engine fighter.
05:51Because of its rather short takeoff capabilities, it was planned for shipboard operation.
05:58One prototype was built and put through taxi tests, but never flew.
06:04Mechanical problems and changing priorities had delayed completion until 1948.
06:09By then, the Navy had entered the jet age.
06:13The Pancake fighter was scrapped.
06:22Flight tests of this N1M Jeep were a success and led to a series of Northrop flying wing designs.
06:32Jack Northrop proposed a huge flying wing to the U.S. Army Air Forces.
06:38To test the configuration, he first built four one-third scale models, the N9Ms.
06:45Though one crashed, the others were flown extensively at Muroc, California, yielding valuable test data.
06:51Based on this flight research, Northrop then designed the large flying wing, XB-35, and eventually an all-jet version,
07:01the YB-49.
07:07As war clouds gathered over Europe, the U.S. Army sought an intercontinental bomber capable of carrying a huge payload.
07:15Two prototypes were ordered.
07:17The Convair XB-36 and the Northrop XB-35 flying wing.
07:27Northrop began by building four scale models, slightly more than one-third the size of the projected bomber.
07:34The N9Ms, as they were called, provided flying laboratories to test design features for the huge wing.
07:41The first N9M flew on December 27, 1942.
07:46On its 50th flight test, it crashed, killing the test pilot.
07:50The remaining three N9Ms flew successfully for three years.
07:55Their performance and control characteristics were recorded and analyzed, providing important data for the development of the large bomber.
08:04Max Stanley was a Northrop test pilot on the flying wing programs.
08:07When I was first employed by Northrop, one of the conditions of my employment that I laid down was that
08:13I'd like to go to work for them,
08:15providing I did not have to fly the flying wing.
08:17But as I flew for them and was put in contact with the N9M, I watched it fly, and I
08:25flew chase for it.
08:28Pretty soon my curiosity kind of got the better of me, and I asked to be able to fly it.
08:33And I was very pleasantly surprised.
08:35It was a quite simple airplane to fly.
08:38It didn't require any special skills that I could see.
08:42And I really enjoyed flying it.
08:45A unique byproduct of the N9M research was the XP-56 tailless fighter, the Black Bullet.
08:53Developed for the U.S. Army, only two were built.
08:56They had turned down wingtips like the original N1M.
09:00The XP-56's pod-like fuselage concealed a formidable arsenal of two 20-millimeter cannons and four .50 caliber machine
09:09guns.
09:11About the same time, engineers built three wooden gliders designated MX-324.
09:17They were intended to assess low-speed flying characteristics as they glided to Earth after a rocket-propelled flight.
09:25Early on the morning of July 5, 1944, near Muroc, California, test pilot Harry Crosby piloted the glider,
09:32equipped with a small nitric acid and aniline rocket engine, on a four-minute, 270-mile-per-hour flight.
09:40When the rocket engine sputtered out, Crosby glided the flying wing down to the lake bed.
09:52Wartime shortages of supplies and personnel delayed the development of the XB-35 bomber.
09:58But the aircraft showed such promise that support for the program continued after the war had ended.
10:04The XB-35 was massive, with a wingspan of 172 feet and a loaded weight of over 100 tons.
10:13It carried a 15-man crew.
10:16Its design called for 20 machine guns and a 10,000-pound bomb load.
10:20The craft was powered by four 3,000-horsepower engines, driving contra-rotating propellers.
10:28The first prototype flew on June 25, 1946, with Max Stanley at the controls.
10:35The airport at Hawthorne was bordered on each side by a very thick growth of weeds and brush.
10:43And it was the home of a large number of big jackrabbits.
10:47And just as I started the roll, one of these jackrabbits jumped out and started to run down the runway
10:52ahead of me.
10:54And pretty soon it seemed to me like I wasn't gaining on this rabbit.
10:59Then I can remember the thought flashing through my head that,
11:02Boy, this is either one hell of a fast rabbit or I'm in real trouble.
11:06And about that time, the rabbit disappeared into the weeds and we took off and made a normal takeoff.
11:12And upon reaching 500 feet, everything was going fine.
11:15So we got the gear up and then it throttled back to a normal climb power.
11:21And we flew straight ahead until we got to about, I think, 8,500 feet
11:27and turned left over the mountains and descended into Murok Dry Lake.
11:33It was actually kind of an uneventful flight, but I think rather a historic one.
11:41But the Northrop bomber program had a troubled history.
11:45The XB-35's coaxial propellers were a major problem
11:49and were later replaced by simpler single rotation props,
11:53which cut performance to unacceptable levels.
11:57More importantly, events during its development process made the XB-35 obsolete.
12:03By the end of World War II, the nuclear age had arrived
12:07and the XB-35's bomb bays were too small for the huge nuclear devices of modern warfare.
12:14Though the competing B-36 was slower, its cavernous bomb bays fitted it for the job.
12:21The war also witnessed the introduction of jet propulsion.
12:27Northrop converted two of the flying wing bombers into jet-powered YB-49s.
12:36Four small vertical fins were added to improve stability.
12:40On the B-35, this had been provided by the drag of the propellers and the propeller shaft housing.
12:45When the YB-49 first flew on October 1947,
12:50Max Stanley was again in the pilot seat.
12:54Test pilots in the flying wing program
12:56remarked at how the wings seemed to lift off almost on their own,
13:00a tribute to Jack Northrop's quest for pure design.
13:04The flying wings were beautiful in flight.
13:07They looked like something from the science fiction films of the era.
13:11The YB-49 was extremely maneuverable.
13:15Its eight jet engines increased top speed to almost 500 miles per hour.
13:20But they also increased weight and fuel consumption,
13:23which led to decreases in payload and range.
13:27A major blow to the program came with the crash of a YB-49 near Mojave
13:33during a stability test in 1948.
13:36The airframe, originally designed for the propeller-driven craft,
13:40had apparently not been strengthened sufficiently
13:42to withstand the speed and stress of jet propulsion.
13:46Test flights continued, but stability problems plagued the aircraft.
13:51In 1949, the Air Force canceled its order
13:55to convert the remaining X-35s to jets,
13:58and the aircraft were scrapped.
14:02When the B-49 program was canceled,
14:05it was also the end of Northrop's plan for flying wing passenger airliners.
14:12Now, a preview of the flying wing transport of tomorrow.
14:16The midsection provides ample room for 80 passengers.
14:22Spaciousness keynotes the luxurious main lounge,
14:24extending 53 feet inside the wing.
14:28Through the plexiglass windows of the front wing edge,
14:31passengers have an unimpaired view of the Earth,
14:33unrolling thousands of feet below.
14:37Jack Northrop's dream became reality with the B-2 bomber.
14:42The flying wing configuration,
14:45built with composite materials and special surface treatments,
14:49was designed to be difficult to detect by radar.
14:54Stealthy.
14:57With the B-2, the Air Force requirements gave the Northrop Corporation
15:02the opportunity to carry out the passion of its founder.
15:07This modern flying wing will provide a stepping stone
15:12to even more advanced concepts.
15:15With the introduction of sophisticated radars and surface-to-air missiles,
15:19the military realized that deception, not speed,
15:23was the new requirement for bombers.
15:25And so, a characteristic that was noticed almost in passing in Jack Northrop's day
15:30made the flying wing a viable option once again.
15:34During the flight testing of the YB-49,
15:37it was found that it was very difficult to pick up on radar.
15:43As a matter of fact, we ran a few tests on this
15:47by, like, against the radar station on the coast up near San Francisco.
15:52And we would tell them that we will be over your stations sometime
15:56and give them a date,
15:57but we wouldn't tell them what time of day
15:59or from what altitude or from what direction.
16:03And we did this maybe half a dozen times,
16:06and at no time were they able to pick up the airplane
16:08until we were almost directly overhead.
16:11The thin silhouette and smooth curves
16:14of the B-2's flying wing configuration
16:16provide a low radar signature,
16:19making it ideal for the stealth bomber.
16:22The futuristically beautiful B-2 first flew in July 1989.
16:28But problems remain,
16:30and the B-2 has become an expensive
16:32and possibly short-lived project.
16:34Projected costs are approaching $1 billion per aircraft,
16:38making the B-2 the most expensive aircraft ever built.
16:45But there are other applications
16:46that may still benefit from the flying wing design.
16:50For several decades,
16:52designers have explored the flying wing configuration
16:54for huge aircraft,
16:56which could handle the major increases
16:58predicted for air cargo transport in the next century.
17:02Heavy cargo transports, called span loaders,
17:06are designed to carry standard freight containers.
17:12Until then,
17:13the B-2 remains the most sophisticated manifestation
17:16of the flying wing configuration.
17:20Neil visited Edwards Air Force Base
17:22to see the B-2 flight test program firsthand.
17:27What is it about flying wings
17:29that pilots notice
17:30that would be different from other airplanes?
17:33Well, in fact,
17:34I think the most remarkable thing
17:35about the flying wing
17:36is that from a pilot's perspective,
17:39the fact that we have no tail on the airplane
17:41is completely transparent to us.
17:43He doesn't see it.
17:44I think it was Max Stanley,
17:46the first pilot of a flying wing,
17:48that said,
17:48if I hadn't looked behind me,
17:49I'd have never known there was a tail
17:50or was not a tail.
17:52And I think that's true today
17:53with this airplane as well.
17:55This airplane is similar
17:56to the early flying wings,
17:58the XP-35 and the YB-49,
18:00in terms of size
18:02and the trailing edge of the airplane
18:04being all movable surfaces.
18:06And in fact,
18:06our directional control
18:07is provided by drag rudders
18:09or clamshells
18:10on the outer surfaces of the wing.
18:12Like these?
18:13Right here.
18:14It's exactly the same concept
18:15that was used on the XP-35 and the YB-49,
18:18except that now we have computers
18:19to improve the overall flying qualities
18:22of the airplane
18:22that were lacking
18:23in the late 40s and early 50s.
18:25And in fact,
18:26that was the major deficiency
18:27in those early flying wings.
18:29The early machines
18:29didn't have the handling qualities,
18:32but the computers have allowed you
18:34to improve them
18:34to modern-day standards?
18:35This airplane, that's right,
18:37has a four-channel digital
18:39fly-by-wire flight control system
18:40that gives us good flying qualities
18:42throughout the envelope.
18:43And it is a very large envelope,
18:44from the surface
18:45to almost 50,000 feet
18:47throughout the subsonic range.
18:48And what we can do
18:50is tailor electronically
18:51the response of the airplane
18:52to a particular pilot's input
18:54and really improve
18:56those flying qualities
18:57in all phases of flight.
18:58How did you like flying
18:59the airplane the first time?
19:00Well, again,
19:02I'd have to say
19:02that I was surprised
19:04that I noticed
19:05how conventional it was
19:07in terms of takeoff,
19:08landing, refueling.
19:10Very pleased
19:11with the flying qualities.
19:12I'd like to tell you
19:13it's a difficult airplane
19:14to fly, but I can't.
19:16It really is a very,
19:17very good flying machine.
19:18It's going to be a lot of fun.
19:19It is.
19:21It is.
19:26It's going to be a lot of fun.
19:28It's going to be a lot of fun.
19:52It's a very complex airplane, obviously. It's a two-man airplane. Two pilots have to operate
19:57all of the basic airplane control, as well as the navigation and the weapon system. But
20:03we've put an awful lot of effort into the systems integration aspect of the airplane.
20:07We now do in a two-man bomber what we used to do with as many as five or six
20:11crew members
20:12in earlier airplanes. We certainly have demonstrated that you can make a flying wing a good flying
20:17vehicle, one that can perform the mission that you intended to perform. We're able to overcome
20:24the deficiencies that marked early flying wing development. And there certainly are some
20:28aerodynamic values inherent in a flying wing design, as opposed to a conventional airplane.
20:54There's an old aviation saying, if it looks good, it flies good. It may be poor grammar,
21:01but it's a good and generally true statement. And a flying wing in flight is a thing of beauty.
21:11Despite its achievements, they have yet to prove themselves as better than conventional aircraft.
21:17Flying wings have long held promise. And maybe, just maybe, join us again next time for First Flight.
21:47Tell us about the screen.
21:49And this is what we cannot do with The Captain Endeavor.
22:03We are ready at the Florida, Florida State, Florida State, Venezuela Powerşive.
22:03Today we are going to work with the released airplane, California Vip Eats National inspiration,
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