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It didn’t look like any plane that had ever flown before.
In fact, it really didn't look like it should’ve been able to fly at all.
But eighty years ago, a new kind of aircraft took to the skies that promised to fly faster,
higher and further.
And its visionary designer was convinced that flying wings would transform the way we fly.
But in just a few short years, these futuristic flying machines would be gone.
Every last one destroyed or broken up for scrap.
In 1941, the United States had some of the best bombers in the world.
Rugged and heavily armed.
But loaded with bombs, the furthest they could fly was only about three thousand kilometers.
Which wasn't nearly enough.
Because the United States was about to be drawn into the Second World War.
By the Spring of 1941, Nazi Germany had conquered much of Europe.
And Britain looked like it was next.
Without access to Allied airfields in Europe, bombers like B-17 and B-24 would have no way
of reaching Nazi Germany.
So the Americans would have to build a new kind of bomber.
One that could fly all the way from North America to Europe, strike Nazi targets, and
return home.
But building the world’s first intercontinental bomber would be daunting engineering challenge.
Conventional wisdom suggested that the aircraft would have to be enormous..
At least two or three time larger then existing heavy bombers with massive wings, a bunch
of engines, and a huge reserve of fuel.
It would also be relatively slow and its enormous size would make it an easy target.
But one pioneering aircraft designer by the name of Jack Northrop proposed a radical alternative.
On any plane, the engines, tail surfaces, and fuselage all contribute to drag and structural
weight, reducing aircraft performance.
What if you could eliminate these elements until you were left with only the wing?
The result would be a shape that maximizes lift and minimizes drag.
If you could get it to fly, it would make for much a lighter, faster and more efficient bomber.
Northrop's idea wasn’t as crazy as it sounds.
By 1940, he had successfully flown prototypes proving that highly efficient flying wing
aircraft could handle just as well as conventional ones.
And although Northrop wasn’t the first to develop flying wings, he was about to take
the concept further than anyone else
Northrop promised the Air Force a bomber that would fly nearly a third faster than existing
heavy bombers, and higher.
Making it less vulnerable.
And the efficient all wing design would give it the range to fly to Europe while carrying
twice the payload.
Impressed with the concept, in 1941 the Air Force ordered Northrop and his small team of
engineers to develop the new bomber in just two years.
To make a round trip all the way to Europe, Northrop’s flying wing would have to travel
more than 9,000 km.
A mission that would keep it airborne for nearly 24 hours.
The bomber’s crew of nine, along with six relief crew would operate in shifts.
Working inside a cockpit, equipment bay and crew cabin housed inside the center section of the wing.
Also housed entirely inside the wing were the engines.
With 28 cylinders and twin turbo-superchargers, they were the most powerful piston radials
ever put into production.
Each drove contra-rotating propellers allowing the bomber to dash to over 600 km/h.
But making a flying wing stable required a complete rethink of control surfaces.
Without vertical and horizontal stabilizers, all of the control surfaces would have to
be located on the wing. With the bomber featuring an entirely new kind of control surface called
an elevon.
Northrop's low drag, high lift flying wing would also pack a punch with six underwing
bomb bays capable of holding up ten thousand pounds of armament, and 20 remotely operated
machine guns to fend off enemy fighters..
Pound-for-pound Northrop's flying wing would out-perform any conventional bomber.
And the Air Force had plans to build hundreds of them.
When the first prototype was unveiled in April 1946, the world was taken aback.
No one had ever seen a plane quite like this.
Designated as the XB-35, the bomber’s development had been kept a closely guarded secret.
But it never made it into the War.
Although it had been approved for development in 1941, progress was delayed by technical
issues, a shortage of wartime engineers and production limitations.
And when Britain never fell to Nazi Germany, the Americans conducted bombing campaigns
from British airfields, lessoning the need for a new intercontinental bomber.
These factors all delayed the XB-35.
But the Air Force still felt that Northrop’s flying wing held tremendous promise and was
eager to continue development.
By 1946, thirteen pre-production YB-35s were already under construction.
And with post-war aviation developing at breakneck speed, the Air Force requested that two prototypes
be converted to jet-powered versions to be redesignated as YB-49s.
The prop driven XB-35 made its first flight in June of 1946 followed by the jet powered
YB-49 a year later.
Both aircraft were to undergo thorough evaluation by the Air Force.
And as they took to the skies, many were convinced that the flying wings’ incredible advantages
went beyond just military.
Fantastic concepts appeared in popular magazines showing enormous flying wing airliners with
spacious lounges, dining rooms and private suites.
Even Northrop illustrated how their bomber could become a passenger plane, with bombing
equipment cleared to make way for seats and the tail cone, once housing machine guns,
converted into an observation lounge.
According to Northrop, flying wings were the future of air travel.
Enabling passengers to fly faster, farther, and cheaper.
And in comfort that a conventional airliner could never come close to offering.
In 1947, the flying wing seemed to be the next evolution in aircraft design.
And yet, in just a handful of years, every one of Northrop's revolutionary planes would
be destroyed or broken up for scrap.
In 1947, Northrop’s flying wings looked cutting edge, but delay after delay meant
that the design, originally drawn up in 1941, now had to prove itself in the jet age.
The XB-35’s piston engines were no longer state-of-art and they were so unreliable,
nearly every test flight ended early due to overheating, issues with the propeller blades,
or gearbox failures.
After just 19 flights, Northrop abandoned the complex contra-rotating setup for a more
simple single prop design.
But this degraded performance to unacceptable levels.
And by 1947, it was clear that the jet-powered YB-49 was going to be Northrop’s best hope.
Retrofitted with eight jets and given trailing edge fins for stability, the aircraft would
be faster and more reliable.
But jet engines burned more fuel, cutting the bomber’s range down to less than half
the original design.
Two bomb bays had to be removed just to make way for more fuel tanks, while other parts of the
aircraft could never be fully optimized for higher speed flight.
Still, Northrop was convinced that his efficient all-wing design would ultimately win-out against
even the latest generation of jet bombers.
On June 4th, 1948 the first YB-49 was delivered to the Air Force for evaluation.
For Northrop the delivery should’ve been a much needed turning point.
But it was just the start of an even worse saga.
A day after the delivery, a crew of five air force test pilots lifted off on what should’ve
been a routine test flight.
Captained by Glen Edwards, the crew were among the Air Force’s finest.
But just 40 minutes into their flight, disaster struck. Witnesses reported seeing the jet tumbling
out of the sky.
The aircraft had broken up into pieces tragically dooming the crew.
Northrop blamed the pilots for pushing the aircraft too hard.
But The Air Force pointed to mysterious handling characteristics in high-power stalls.
Despite the tragedy, testing continued with the remaining YB-49.
But more odd handling characteristics were soon discovered, including a tendency to yaw
uncontrollably.
Almost imperceptible to the pilots, it was enough to make accurate bombing virtually impossible.
Northrop had spent years developing an autopilot to try and counteract the problem.
But the aircraft needed something more.
A system that could continually adjust and augment the pilot’s inputs.
In an era well before computers, such a system might well have been magic.
In March of 1950, disaster struck again, when the remaining YB-49’s nose wheel collapsed
during high speed taxi tests, destroying the aircraft.
By that point, the Air Force had lost interest in Northrop's bombers.
Because the B-36 had already entered into service, fulfilling the intercontinental role
that XB-35 once promised.
The medium-range B-47, a clean sheet jet bomber also under evaluation far outperformed the
YB-49.
And the legendary B-52 was already on the drawing board.
These newer generation of bombers could carry atomic bombs, while Northrop’s Flying Wings
could only fit smaller weapons from a bygone era.
In one last chance for the flying wing, the Air Force had also ordered development of
a strategic reconnaissance aircraft based on the YB-49.
But the aircraft was already hopelessly outmatched and the program was soon canceled.
Incredibly, Northrop's flying wings were just too out of date, yet in other ways still
too far ahead of their time.
And soon, all remaining flying wing airframes were broken up and sold for scrap.
Devastated, Jack Northrop left his firm in 1952 having never realized his dream of the
flying wing.
Until 1980, when he was given a glimpse into the future.
In 1980, just a year before he passed away, Northrop was given clearance to see a new secret
aircraft under development.
An enormous flying wing with the exact same wing span as his YB-49.
The design would make the new bomber virtually invisible to radar and would allow it to fly
more efficiently.
Aided by a computerized flight control system that Northrop could only have dreamt about
in 1941.
With tears in his eyes, Northrop supposedly whispered that he now understood why god kept
him alive all these years.
The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit is the world’s most advanced aircraft.
A bomber that strikes fear into the hearts of its adversaries, and remains shrouded in
secrecy.
In a few weeks I’ll be releasing my next Nebula exclusive on the legendary B2.
It’ll be my 10th exclusive video on Nebula.
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