Jack Northrop (1895-1981) was an American aviation engineer best known for the series of companies bearing his name, and his work on flying wings between the 1920s and 1940s. No other company or individual did as much to perfect this unusual aircraft configuration.
Yet in spite of having remarkably advanced aircraft flying at the end of the 1940s, his programs were cancelled and the prototypes scrapped. Why?
In this video I discuss the design and development of these aircraft, and explain that their cancellation was most likely a sound decision and not some big government attempt to silence a nobel and artesian aircraft company.
I mentioned in the video that Millenium 7* recently touched on some of the same points:
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Some sources include:
Flying manuals for the YB-35 and YB49
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Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators
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"Northrop Flying Wings" by Gary Pape. Available at all good book retailers
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"The Death of the Flying Wing : The Real Reasons Behind the 1949 Cancellation of Northrop Aircraft's RB-49" - 1984 Dissertation by Francis J. Baker.
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I got footage of the flying aircraft from Youtube. As these things last flew 70 years ago I would take issue with anyone claiming copyright.
I also used footage from the astonishing 1955 film "Strategic Air Command" staring Jimmy Stuart. The real stars of the film were the B36 and B47 aircraft flown. The film was made using a very high definition widescreen VistaVision format, and the footage is of extremely high quality. Numerous clips are available on YouTube, this is one of my favorites:
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Apologies for the camera moving and wind noise - Nothing was working well for me during this shoot! My wife deserves a medal for her patience during this production process.
Contents:
00:00 Introduction
01:33 What were the wings?
02:00 Shoutout to Millenium 7*
02:31 To Long Didnt Read
03:02 Forces on an aircraft, parasitic and induced drag
05:03 Tube+wing vs Flying wing configurations
07:38 Jack Northrop and piston engine flying wing development
15:21 The development of the Jet powered flying wings
18:18 Cancellation and allegations of conspiracy
19:27 Why I think cancellation was a sound decision (Five and a half reasons)
25:24 Could the cancellation be described as a marketing failure?
28:48 Northrop survived
29:46 Flying wings are used now ONLY for stealth, which was not a consideration of Jack Northrop
31:19 Why no civilian flying wings?
32:49 Tribute to Jack Northrop and close
