The Wing Will Fly
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ย. 2024
- This is the VHS show about Jack Northrup's flying wing that was converted to DVD & uploaded here. At least Mr. Northrup got to see the end result of all his research & testing on the YB-35 & YB-49; which evolved into the B-2 stealth bomber. A very touching comment by Mr. Northrup when shown the model of the B-2 is the ultimate highlight! RIP Mr. Jack you did it!
My grandfather loved this documentary. He was a civil engineer in the Air Force, and served from 1944 to 1970. We had this on vhs, and he used to watch this all the time.
Thanks
A huge flying wing, powered by both turbo-prop and jet engines, flew very low (taking off) right over my head when I was a young kid. This flight had been unexpected and unannounced. I went completely ballistic. I ran inside my house to tell my folks, but by the time they came outside it was out of sight. They almost accused me of being crazy, but they had heard the engines, so my mental reputation was intact. I sincerely believe the Northrup YB flying wing design is more beautiful than any other avionic machine ever seen. Great memories are made of wonderful things like this.
Jack was finally vindicated. Now here we are in 2020 and Northrop is working on the B21. What an engineering legacy.
This is a really terrific documentary from the early days of Discovery Channel. Hats off to Writer/Director John Honey. The story of John 'Jack' Northrop and his team. The tragic unfolding of his dream . . .
The surviving XB-70 is at the Air Force Museum in Dayton. It's a spectacular sight to see. Like the Wing, that aircraft also proved to be impractical and only 2 were ever built and of course it was never operational. Yet, amid hundreds of impressive and historic aircraft on display, it is the absolute star of the show. Overshadows the SR-71 and the other big planes, including the Air Force Ones. But the YB-49, with its appearance and history, I think could hold its own as an exhibit of interest. Sad that none of them were preserved.
The unmitigated kindness of showing him that model. It reminds me of the day Ben Rich arranged for Kelly Johnson to be brought out to see the a fly over of "Have Blue," otherwise known as the F-117. Great men and woman need to be shown in their waning days that they will be remembered. Nor their dreams forgotten.
It's a great honor to let the pioneer of the flying wing see his product coming to fruition just before he passed away, and seeing all his efforts in the concept not forgotten all along. At least it might looks like Jack Northrop is very fulfilled and happy that his passion have bore fruits.
@@michaelkevinmirasol8256 Amen to that. This is history I am glad I was alive to see.
I served as an FE in a squadron whose chief Flight Engineer was on both flying wings. The operating manuals were awesome.
Jack Northrop: I feel the need! The need for SPEED!
But in all seriousness, this man is a literal aviation giant.
So glad Northrup got to see the B-2 before he died.
Northrop.
Yes but if we had at least one YB-49 would be amazing. I'd love to see it in a museum.
I'd rather we got some Horten Ho 229s
@@righteousred723No one cares😅
What a wonderful documentary , and an eye opener too so many intrigues and political reasons behind the contracts !!!
I met Jack Northrop a few years before he died. It was an honor and he was quite an approachable human being.
I was a kid in the late 40s and Fifties and early Sixties, following my Army Engineer dad around the world and to various Air Force bases, etc., and finally to Cape Canaveral aka Kennedy Space Center in Cocoa Beach where he worked for NASA. He introduced me to lots of men like these, steady, smart, slow-talking, highly conventional grown-ups in suits and slacks and white short-sleeve shirts with plastic pocket protectors. As a teenager I used to think -- all these seemingly stogy guys -- it's amazing the stories they told about planes and rockets and H-bomb tests. They were the engineers who brought our country victoriously and safely through the Cold War. This movie gives me a tremendous case of nostalgia. Thanks to Ken R. for bringing back those days to me. I'm 75, and it's now up to you young people to save America from being stolen out from under our feet by the billionaire zombies. Good luck.
@TurnTimeTable Thirty year old kids only exist today. Axgoodofdunemaul said born in the late 40's. If he was born in 47, he would be 3 in 1950. Then, he would be 13 in 1960 and turn 18 in 65. His childhood spanned 3 decades.
Worked as an engineer in aerospace most of my life. I remember the plastic pocket protector. Didn't like them at first, but after you ruined a few dress shirts, and the effects on your household budget with young children, you changed your mind. As a side effect, you now carried several pens (One was always running out of ink), a few mechanical drafting pencils, and even a six inch ruler for when you ventured into the shop. And it all swapped out with the sliding of the plastic pocket into the clean shirt you'd put on that day.
victoriously through the cold war. Luckily there never broke out a war, as you guys gloriously designed it in a way that would be mass suicide. (MAD) It ain't looking much better today in the world, but at least the following generation saw the absurd idea of mutally assured destruction.
Y Fox
My dad was also one of these engineer with Rockwell , North American , Saberliner and McDonald Douglas . We was in St Louis Mo . 1953 - 1966 . He had burn out by that amount of time . John Mullinix He is 92 years old now and still kicking .
"Now I know why God has kept me alive for these last 25 years." Gets me every time. The flying wing was the passionate idea of Northrop's career, and it was just too far ahead of its time. Ideas are the cruelest of taskmasters, and Jack Northrop had his with the flying wing.
It was a stolen idea
I saw this documentary many years ago, when I was a little kid, and I remember every part of it. It made a huge impression and left me with the idea that the flying wing is the ideal aircraft. It changed my impression of aircraft design for the rest of my life.
In fact, a few things are glossed over in this. flying wings do have some major aerodynamic upsides, but some huge downsides too. They're all but impossible to recover from stalls. They are inherently unstable in yaw, unless you add a tail, and they have issues with control. They have issues with the amount of internal space that can be used, and they can sometimes even generate too much lift, making them hard to land.
That said, they are very efficient. They have a kind of elegance about them.
Like I said, this program did have a huge impression on me.
Thank you for making this available in TH-cam. It is the best story of the Northrup flying wings I have ever seen. It also gives you an idea of how brilliant Jack Northrup was.
Whoever wrote the introduction to this film ought to be congratulated. It is beautiful, close to poetic, yet truthful.
Jack Northrop flew his first manned flying wing in 1929, but it had a tail attached to twin booms coming out of the wing trailing edge. It was a stepping stone towards a flying wing configuration. The Horten H.1 of 1933 was a pure all-wing aircraft with no tail surfaces. Yes it was a glider, but it flew, and was followed by motorized versions that evolved into the twin jet Horten 9 which flew in 1944.
Now this is how you make a documentary, no back ground effects so loud you cannot hear what they are saying, just true honest facts by the people who were there, one of the best documentaries i have ever watched.
In 1953 George Pal made a movie called, "War Of The Worlds". He used film of the YB-49 to show them dropping atomic bombs on the Martians, even though they were on American soil, but the Martians had an invisible shield surrounding their "flying saucer"-inspired tripods. (Although their tripods didn't have physical legs, as in H. G. Wells's book, but three invisible force beams to hold their craft at a set altitude.) In a few shots, you can see the ground effects of the three beams. I was only three years old when the movie was in theaters, but I've seen it often on television since. I can remember one night when it was to be on at 11:30 PM, and set my alarm clock to wake me, as there was no school the next day. It rang, and my Dad, who was just going to bed, came into my room to see what was up. I told him. He told me to go back to bed. I reminded him that there was no school the next day, so I could sleep in. He finally allowed me to watch it. I fell asleep after a half an hour or so. I was still there when the sun woke me up in the morning. I went to the bathroom then crawled into bed. Great movie!
Awesome documentary! I wish my dad were alive to have seen it. My dad worked at Northrop, as did my 2 brothers and myself. My younger brother worked on the B2. Great place to have worked.
One thing you notice watching these old Discovery channel shows is that after where the commercial breaks would be, they aren't cutting show costs like they do today with 30-60sec reshowing what they just said before the commercial break. Watch current shows with the cheap video game CGI animation, and after every break you get a stupid amount of repeating pre-break footage. Which can mean instead of the 22 min actual air time in a half hour show, it's maybe only 18-20 min of actual production.
Ya, I can hardly ever get thru a single episode that does that unless it is a very impressive show... They just killing off repeat viewership is how I see it ultimately.
I agree with you there. I hate those shows that do that
That was so nice to let him know before He passed on about the top secret B-2 ,
Great educatonal film!!! I learned more about the development of experimental aircraft from this film than any other. God Bless JackNorthrup anf his team.!!
"I'm ready to go! ~in a MINUTE !" that says WORLDS. How cool.
The thing is that the B2 has an aerodynamically unstable airframe. It needs a sophisticated computer controlled auto-pilot to avoid getting into unrecoverable flight attitudes. This technology was not available at the time. R.I.P JN.
Damn. What a brilliant man, he knows more than we ever will.
i work a bit in the industry , as a kid I always found Northrup to be an inspiration, ga. tech 1993
Ignored, reviled and almost bankrupted for his brilliant designs god bless you Jack.
And it almost killed him. A man before his Tim's. What an exciting time for firsts all over the world. Nobody cares any more.
My Dad was hired by Jack Northrup and worked on the flying wing. He had nothing but great stories to tell of those days. Sad about how it all went down.
I agree. I worked down the road from Hawthorne Airport for 15 years. The high point for me was seeing the B-2 fly out one afternoon without warning. What a day that was. I hope Jack was watching.
The YB 35 was a plane that happened too early. Yaw instability made it a poor bombing platform for that day of limited computer control. I always felt that the YB-47 was a complete failure. With the advent of jet engines, A new airfoil (Plan form?) was needed to take advantage of what jet engines could offer. I think it was a tribute to Mr. Northrup, that the aerodynamicists made the B-2 the same wingspan as the YB-35
@@mattinsley1721, I have a post card that was carried in the bomb bay on her maiden flight from Palmdale to Edwards.
We where at Edward's waiting for her to land. Our names are on the letter.
Politics ruins everything.
@@krystalbrooks6869 *That is **_incredibly_** cool!*
@Ken R. Thank you so much for uploading this. The Northrop B-2 is very near and dear to my heart. My late father worked on the B-2 project for several years, until his retirement in 1988. Now that I know the history of the B-2's development, the plane means even more to me. I am so very happy that Mr. Northrop got to see his vision materialise. As you said, "RIP Mr. Jack, you did it!" What an extraordinary man.
Respect to the Compeny they did not forgot a 83 years old man Jack, and did pick him up in he's roolchair, and show it to him, big respeckt from here to do this kind of things for a old man there did live all he's life with this stranges wing design in he's mind and dream's, they cut just have forgotten him, but they didden't, nice to see they did not forgot him, and really nice to see what they all did to make Jack smile again, i'm sure it was one of the best day's in Jack's life ecept to be a father and get kids, i gess it always will be the best day for eny man, so i gess on sekend place did come Jack's flying Wing, now Jack's dream was to fly passengers in he's flying Wing and not a Bomber, but i gess it was better with a Bomber then no Wing att all,. big respect from Denmark.
God bless you Jack Northrop, an Engineers Engineer, shame you had to wait so long to be proven right.
At 75 years old and a lifetime in aircraft design I am not a believer but I admit to having uttered more than one prayer under my breath when testing a design, shithead.
I am neither insane nor an infant (75) just believe in covering all my bets and when you grow up you will know what I mean.
These days some numpty would have just promoted him into "management" and left him to rot.
Rest easy jack rest easy mr. flying wing, sir.
Fun fact they found out by accident that the YB-49 was nearly radar invisible. During testing they had the pilot fly directly towards the radar. At first they thought the radar was malfunctioning, because it didn't show up until it was nearly on top of the radar station. So they did it again with the exact same result. Intrigued they noted it & reported the unexpected development to military brass. However, at the time "stealth" didn't exist & the brass thought dramatically reduced radar detection was useless & of no benefit. They only cared about carrying the most powerful nuclear weapons, as far as possible.
Military brass, another oxymoron. More like military rust, right down through the centuries.
"Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats." -- Howard Aiken
In 1980 I was living in Los Angeles near Northrop's old factory. One day on the first page of Los Angeles Time showed a picture of YB-49, and the article said "US government is considering flying wing for its next generation bomber design" I guess this was around the time Jack Northrop was invited back to his factory, and shown the B-1 bomber's model.
Why? the B-1 bomber is not a flying wing design. Do you mean the B-2?
There are a lot of misconceptions about this type of airframe designs. Let us look at the truth.
1. The airframe design when following the principles laid down by Jack Northrop. A computer is not needed. The YB49 was not impossible to regain control when power stalled. Robert Cardenas did. He specifically described the problem and how he did it. When power stalled the YB49 did go into a circular roll parallel to the ground along and about an imaginary line from one wingtip to the other wingtip. Due to centrifugal force by the rotation the pilot was affected in one of two ways.
A. If the rotation commenced with the cockpit rising up and rotating to the rear of the airframe, the pilots body would be pinned to the seat by centrifugal force. He would not be able to reach the throttle to only one wing to start one bank of 4 engines to full thrust from idle.
B. If the roll started with the cockpit going forward and down a centrifugal force in the opposite direction would ensue thrusting him against the safety belts of the pilot seat and pulling his arms out in front of him allowing him to be able to reach the throttles of one bank of engines so that he could start them at full thrust modifying the roll to a rotation in a 90 degree angle to the long axis of the wing resulting in the YB49 modifying the roll into more of a spiral that it is possible to recover the YB49 into normal flight.
2. The yaw problems encountered on a bombing run with the YB 49 were solved by special modifications of a Norton bomb sight.
3. This is a debatable problem that was accidental and at the time, impossible to forsee. The clean lines of this airframe, it's aluminum skin and it's curved surfaces make it unable to reflect enough radar waves back to the radar source. Radar uses electromagnetic radiation to in an assigned frequencies to shoot out into the air in all directions. A portion bounces off of moving things back toward the source. In the case of the YB49, an unintended consequence is, it was invisible to the radars of the day. Today, that's termed as stealth. Immediately, I would expect this to be classified as top secret with knowledge of these properties to be on a strictly need to know basis. Apparently, this is the main reason no further investigation into this airframe and it's unique properties were conducted. If put into production at that time, it would destabilized the cold war. With radar rendered useless a nuclear attack could be accomplished with no warning.
Stealth depends upon, as you may know, what's known as radar crossections. The YB49 had a radar crossection that was so small it would be filtered out as electronic noise. The project was scrapped, Jack Northrop was not told until he was old, sick with Parkinson's disease and and very frail, the real reason why. As you may know, the existence of stealth technology was revealed by President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970's in a slip up in a public address. I don't know if it was on purpose or by accident. Why is not important. NASA looked into unconventional aircraft. Jack Northrop went there and gave them a presentation regarding the flying wing. He got a letter from the investigators at NASA. It said that their examination of his principles and materials revealed that the flying wing design was valid and at some point in the future it would be used again. That's all I have...
@@panzerabwerkanone
In a delta wing configuration it has some "stealthy" capabilities. Don't ask me to explain. It's just a piece of information I picked up somewhere. But, of course, it's not a B-2 bomber.
Thanks for uploading this! I remember seeing it on TV back in the '90's and I'm pretty sure I recorded it on VHS.
gosh I enjoyed this.......Thankyou Jack and Northrup for being aviation icons!
The scene starting 1:28:40 always brings me to tears!
50:00 "Man, either that's one fast rabbit or I'm in a helluva mess" - LMAO.
Thanks very much for this gem Ken R.
Excellent thx fer sharin'. a true genius or aeronautics. At least Jack got to see his dream finally come to life.
Excellent,well researched and factual,once more the story of a aviation genius.
Thank you so very much for posting this. I've been searching for over ten years, and hoping someone would post this. This is without a doubt my all time favorite video! It also shows the caliber of men in those days, honest, dedicated and loyal. Best part, when Mr. Northrup says , " I want Northrup to be a good place to work" Oh and yes, I think the government murdered Sgt Cunningham for not crashing the second wing.
William Sanders: would be interesting to investigate if Cunningham could have had ties to the Northrop competitor CONVAIR, who had a direct financial interest. In those days it was pretty easy to buy off governmental officials whose approvals were needed. I cite the case of Howard Hughes' TWA versus Pan American. But here, we have a sergeant in question. Someone in that pay grade would always need to make some more money. Look at the spies who sold out America over the years. Same thing. I think more likely Convair was behind it, and how better for them than to buy off an Air Force Sergeant who was never going to get much higher in rank. They may have convinced him their airplane was better for the nation - and he would feel justified in addition to getting tax free cash.
Was out golfing with a good buddy of mine when a giant B2 came screeching over us flying very low and turning, from a nearby air show at local air force base (Dobbins)... I was in such awe at the beauty and brawn that I simply fell to the ground in pure admiration. Admiration of the engineering and our wonderful country...
My first memory of these marvelous craft was watching the first "War of the Worlds" movies, when the flying wing attempted to nuke the invaders.
Best and only real part of the film. I remember seeing the film when it first came out. I was so scared when the Martian appeared in the basement that I dived below the seat in front. My mum used to take my younger sister and me to the Capital Picture House, Antrim Road, Belfast, in the early 1950s before our abortive emigration to Canada, August 1957 (remember the panic about Sputnik a couple of months later?). Cinema and mom (prematurely) both gone now, sadly. A piece of Art Deco demolished to make way for a supermarket. Progress, don’t you just love it?
Cool documentary. Thanks for posting.
Such a sad film, but inspiring. Jack's flying wing was the most beautiful piece of technology ever made. Watching it fly was special.
The B-2 is a pale imitation of the original.
…okay, I respect that that’s your personal opinion, but I have to disagree, and if I could cite but one reason: the B-2 actually flies.
Let’s cite a few more reasons: it entered production. It serves a viable role in warfare. It doesn’t crash if you look at it funny. The engines don’t overheat and blow out every few minutes. It successfully utilizes Stealth technology (all hail Skunkworks). It isn’t my favorite plane (Blackbird, followed by Nighthawk), but it’s far and away better than any flying wing design that has come before it.
AT LAST, a good documentary where the music complements the narrative and dosn´t obliterate it in the most annoying way. Video editors please take note.......this is how it should be.
The N9M was amazing to watch at socal shows. It's a shame it was lost. My kids and myself loved to see it go.
Jack Northrop's '49 didn't fail.........it was simply ahead of it's time, electronically speaking. The controls systems that enable the B2 to exist were not around in the 40's.....but Jack Northrop shines as the flying week innovator and pioneer.
not to mention the ending days of ww2 the horten brothers built a simaler style bomber, but people only want to credit that to the germans after all we americans are too stupid to be able to do things that that, or not without german help right? though was not the case in the days of the greatest generation, for all the so called problems of an earlier age, they say the same thing of rockets and nasa, and jets, but they forgot about ol kelly johnson, and the ls1 or the one the germans sciantests before the nazis got their ideas for the v1 and v2 from american robert hutchings godard an american of dutch decent, who also designed a bazooka like device in ww1 that came too late for use on tanks, and liquid fueled rockets as well as fin stablized and multi stage rocket concepts.
we did it eventually and I remember the story at age 10 or so watching this on the wings marathan on the discovery channel, it was very touching that Jack finnaly got to see the product of his early concepts, made me kind of sad on the part about the gov making them cut up and scrap all the designs earlier on, would have been neat to see one of those in the museume, but yes they finally got wise and have limiters on what angle you can pull up to with the b2 spirit, and its a very efficent low radar design by nature. back when the discovery channel was actually educational, not just reality tv for certain curiousities, and had a broad variety of topics they covered, history was also good till the stopped with the documentries in egypt under dr hawas, right after the arab spring, but I will leave politics out of this for now wax fond memories of the past.
Thanks for uploading this, I've been searching a long time for this film.
+Pops Brink you are very welcome sir!
Pops Brink
me too. those were the days when men were giants!!! we are now a fallen people.
Pops Brink .
@@bassmith448bassist5
I think we were tripped.
Excellent documentary about the flying wing and the people involved in its inception to its fulfillment in the form of the B2. Thanks for the upload!
*Im glad Northrop lived to see the realization of the B2, his complete vindication.*
I remember seeing a B2 Spirit flying wing bomber demonstration flight at an air show a few years ago. Except for the sound of the engines, it looked unreal, like a kite.
Planes of Fame in Chino, California has a flying wing. The NM9B, still flys. Jack Northrop’s design is available to be seen.
Ralph Curran NOT anymore !!!! They crashed it and killed the pilot about a month ago !!!! Sad but the last flying wing is gone !!!
I have read Ted Coleman's book and it is basically the same story. Really so sad for such a great innovator. Jack Northrop was a brilliant visionary. The B-2 Spirit is proof of his vision.
Horton brothers flew their jet-powered "B2" in the 40's - it took Northrop pretty long to make it bigger/better...
What a great story. Thank you for uploading it.
I certainly saw this once on TV. The ending part of the B-2 well try not to cry because it was really something that meant a lot.
Excellent.
Rest in Peace, Jack Northrop
Yeah nice documentary I love it very good God bless
This is a story that you need to see. A story of the triumph of intellect over bueracracy.
OMG! Thank you for uploading this! I have been searching for this also,I had recored this to VHS in the 90's!
GREAT VIDEO FOR A GREAT MAN WORKING ON A GREAT AIRPLANE
Thank you for the upload. This program was really nice to watch and it goes to show how badly the History channel has evolved into. Gone are the serious, well thought out documentaries. All the History Channel has now is fluff and idiocracy.
Wow I’ve seen lots of space and aeronautical documentaries this is one of the best. Thank you for posting.
This is my all time bat plane or gurmaann sprit of kansas b's stealth bomber.....I love it so much that I made three full scale models of this ......it's like bomrang
The YB 49 was doing stall maneuvers which is documented that Robert Cardenas specifically warned them not to do
I'm still fascinated by Flying Wings! Looks soo futuristic! My alltime favourite plane is the Horten IX / Go-229 and the YB-49 Bomber on 2nd place! And I do believe it was Sabotage from Boeing or Convair...
*Fascinated!!!!*
Not faszinated ;-)
Yes, the YB-49 was a victim of SEVERAL Corrupt Acts. From the Crew Chief to Convair, to Symington and other BOUGHT members of Congress!!
Excellent narration: Nice to see that the HAL5000 found a job.
If you want to watch a bird take command of the air and sky , watch an albatross...........pure poetry and grace..
just as long as it doesn't have to land...
This "little guy controlling big things", BIG respect to him
Your Tutor I reckon! What a dude.
Surprised they didn't mention the Burgess-Dunne flying wing biplane of 1914-1916. Was very successful
Lovely documentary! 🙂
Excellent documentary! Thanks for uploading! Glad they all discussed the sabotage.
Jack Northrop shows us that if you want to soar with the birds you have to aim for the sky
Excellent thanks for posting
It REALLY was one of the most amazing airplanes EVER built from a design and time frame of the late 40's.After reading about its history I was totally taken by it! When I finally saw a B-2 in person fly overhead at an airshow in Ottawa I actually got a little teary! WHY couldn't they have saved just one for a museum?
So other countries can't come look right at it and study it..they also cost a shitload
*In 1987 I was working as a consultant at Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio, and on my way out the [as of then, still unannounced] B2 landed while I was being walked to my car by the Colonel I reported to. I remember staring at the thing, trying to figure out what was "wrong with this picture" for a few seconds - the design was so radically different from anything else that I just couldn't process it! When I asked him what that thing on the runway was, he told me there was nothing on the runway, and it suddenly all made sense. It was **_freaky!_** The B2 was shown to the world shortly afterwards, and all of the people I worked with were like "is **_that_** what you were talking about at Wright?" - why **_yes,_** that would be it! The few people I discussed my sighting with all thought I had just seen a plane landing at an odd angle and had drawn an incorrect picture of it in my mind: the televised proof was quite gratifying! Several years later I saw it at the July 4th airshow, and it really was **_glorious!_** I can't remember many times that I've been quite so proud of American ingenuity as I was with the B2. Not just the wing design either - the fact that it had the radar cross section of a bumble bee was the technological "cherry on the cake". An **_absolutely beautiful_** aircraft!*
Gotta love a story of vindication.
Shoutout to everyone waking up to this
yes me...lol..glad i'm not the only one.....
woah wtf how did you know
One thing they didn't say after they give him the model in the cigar box rolling him into a hanger with beautiful lighting by himself close the door behind him he got to see his wing then he said God let me live to see this
America was a wonderful, positive country. I miss it. I miss the company of the American people. All gone now.
We're coming back. Don't you worry. We refuse to die on our knees as communists try to take over our country.
Jack Northrop was a visionary who early on found a solution to complex problem. He was defeated by corruption both by our elected representatives and competing corporations. I do not believe that 7 of 8 engines can fail by coincidence.
Something called 'systematic error' - say, in procedure followed.
Idea didn't die. it was just placed on a shelf for use later.
Amazing how far in advance they were thinking it out and designing it.
I graduated from the Northrop institute of technology as an A&E aircraft mechanic in 1963. The school was located in Inglewood California. No question there was corrupt political power used to reject the flying wing in favor or the Boeing B-17. The B-17 served the purpose as a bomber without a doubt.
You mean B-47, right?
B-36
William R Warren Jr I was referring to the Northrop Flying Wing which was in direct competition with the Boeing B-17 for the front line bomber job. The 'Wing' was decades ahead of its time. Today's B-117 Stealth bomber is the current iteration of the flying wing concept. NASA Makes use of the 'wing' concept in many of its utting edge designs.
So often great men are blind before the clarity of their vision is recognized .
I love this documentary and remember seeing it when it first ran over 25 years ago. Cardenas is still alive (January 2019) and still sharp. There are some videos showing him interviewed around 2017. John Meyers died about 10 years ago also in his 90s. I read Ted Coleman's book on the wing. It's a very rare publication and I had to ask a friend who is an engineer for Boeing to get it from their company library. Coleman goes into much greater detail about the "conspiracy" and firmly believes there was a plot to destroy this program because of Stuart Symington's anger over the merger refusal. I think the wing would not have been chosen anyway. Dr Young's reasoning in this video that speed and altitude appetites were the name of the game at this time is correct. The wing's advantages over conventional aircraft wouldn't be realized until fly by wire and stealth were manufacturing standards for long range penetration bombers.
Robert Cardenas has stated in other interviews that the YB-49 was not a stable bombing platform due to the tailless wing not being stable in yaw. It kept drifting off target, and did not meet the Air Force specification. It took decades of development of fly-by-wire to overcome this problem, then the B-2 could be built.
Great documentary
I woke up to this video being finished . Idk where TH-cam took me
Lol and me, l was listening to music and also woke to vid finished 👍🏻
And also, what a great documentary.
The YB-49 was far superior to the B-36. To think they spent billions to produce the B-2 which has the same basic design of the YB-49 but with far more advanced avionics. Sorry, someone wanted the YB-49 not to succeed as with the TSR-2. POLITICS OR WHAT?
217rnswr If not because the DoD insist the merger of Northrop and Convair. But Jack is a though guy and won't do it with any reason.
Mr Northrop was proved to be right.....
70 million years later, the bird is made of metal.
I would like to see the cockpit layout, all the battle stations, Captain,First officer, flight engineer,bombmber, etc etc
Jack didn't take the news of the Flying Wing not being built very well. He felt he had gotten screwed and spent the rest of his life screwing the government whenever he could. While an engineer in LA in defense work, whenever a scandal came up, I'd read everything could about it solely to find our where Northrup Corp was involved. In he late 80's I was rarely disappointed.
Pretty sure we have one or 2 of those here at BARKSDALE AFB along with the 40+ B52's.
Love the sound of the B52. I've lived here so Ling now that I'd feel naked if I ever moved away from here and didn't get to here those big bullies shake my windows 3x a day lol
Its 2018 still watchin this never gets old c:
As is often the case there were many others experimenting with 'flying wings' from 1910 onward. Most relevant was the Soviet engineer Boris Ivanovich Cheranovsky with his BICh-3 among others and of course in Germany the Horten brothers (actually mentioned here...amazing) and Alexander Lippisch who discovered just about everything aerodynamic.
Northrop achieved much but historically at any rate was coming in outside the medals.
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@@peterson7082 !
Interesting, that this particular aircraft was featured in the 1953 science fiction film “The War of the Worlds.”
The Northrop company historian confirmed on the Peninsula Seniors channel that the XP-79 was NOT designed as a flying ram!!! It's a ridiculous idea for a fighter plane concept and they're not going to sacrifice planes like that.
THey somehow got this idea that because it was exotic it was meant to literally fly into other planes.
While Japanese and German planes DID ram into other planes and in the Japanese case definitely performed suicide missions Northrop DID NOT intend for the plane to be used this way!
It's amazing how so many misconceptions become "fact" over the years!
Make you wonder just how smart these men are using slide rules ..To build these things.
GLEN Dooer it ain’t common core , that’s for sure
@@leefithian3704 makes me sad when I hear about what common core is doing to my brother 😂 I'm not saying it's a worse way of teaching, but kids are seeming to be more simple minded these days.
They wew beyond smart, they were all brilliant. Sometimes a bit mis-directed, but they were all brilliant. Designing machines that FLY......on paper and that others can build from AND fly at or near the speed of sound to boot.............from that basic design that they come up with is amazing.
The more I watch this doc the more I like it, and also learn about politics !
Jack was not the first .
Nor the only one...
There were other successful designers of this idea before him.
Propaganda sucks, doesn’t it?