The B-2's Scandalous Grandad - The YB-49

In this video I cover the story of the YB-49, a flying wing created to be an efficient bomber. This plane had a rollercoaster of a story, constantly coming and going from the public eye.
Sources Used:
www.airandspaceforces.com/PDF...
www.smithsonianmag.com/air-sp...
nationalinterest.org/blog/reb...
www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Vis...
Clips:
• YB-35
• First Flights of the N...
• XB-35 Flying Wing and ...
• Newsreel of the Northr...
• Northrop Flying Wing Y...
• Come Fly with the B-2 ...
• I HAD BLOOD ON MY HAND...
• The War of the Worlds ...
• The amazing Convair B-...

[@BenVaserlan]

I like the harmony in your title.

[@treystephens6166]

SCANDALOUS!!! MARVELOUS!!!

[@beverlychmelik5504]

The Northrop YB series wasn't so much unstable in pitch, but if you stalled it it would tumble and there isn't enough surface to stop it. I built some flying wing models in HS and college and when they stalled they would tumble end over end. The biggest killer as far as the AF was concerned was the yaw stability which afffects bombing accuracy. In a few films you can see it hunting. The auto pilots of the day just weren't able to dampen that yaw. The concept just had to wait untill the elrctronics could catch up.

[@szalonakozaone11oneone65]

Please continue your work
Also, 7:11 lmao imagine they just took a 40s airframe and just slapped ram coating on it 😂

[@DavidGalich77]

Did not even realize that there were so many evolutions of the flying wing. Thanks for showing.

[@Jkend199]

... The plane was designed for a new engine, which had teething problems, it had problems with the gear box and it had more problems with the Contra rotating system... All of these problems were solvable, and once solved the plane would have been as billed, a VERY long-range subsonic bomber with a VERY large bomb capacity. Jets were comming into use at the time and the problem is the Yaw Stability DEPENDED on the whole prop/prop Ferring/prop shaft design, when that was all removed the yaw stability went to hell... The solution was turboprops and ditching the whole contra rotating idea, but obviously that never happened... This plane would have been the standard long range heavy bomber in the USAF for Decades if it had been switched to turboprops like the C-130, but turboprops were not a thing in 1949, it was a few years too early for that.

[@koboye15]

Keep it up man ! Enjoyable vid

[@John-jl9de]

Thanks

[@llanzas95]

Great video.

[@douglasstrother6584]

Keep the old drawings ... just in case.

[@redzipper8570]

doesn't the black smoke on take off mean they are injection water into the engine? and when did the military ever worry about being environmentally friendly? kinder gentler machine gun hand?

[@EverydayAero]

My thought was that they were at full throttle and the black smoke was from running fuel rich, but I looked it up and water injection is definitely something they used for extra thrust. It also actually reduces NOx emissions, but it hurts fuel efficiency. I'm not sure if the YB-49 in the picture had water injection but its definitely a possibility. Also I don't think that the military worries too much about being environmentally friendly, I think they're more worried about thrust overall. I was just trying to avoid saying "Wow look at those cool exhaust trails!" Thanks for the comment!

[@thedave7760]

@@EverydayAero It's ok to love those cool exhaust trails we all do if anyone doesn't then that is their problem.
Nice little doco I enjoyed that.

[@redzipper8570]

@@EverydayAero you are welcome!

[@pyro1047]

It's also just a sign of the era, Jet Fuel is "essentially" just Kerosene with a bunch of additives. It wasn't uncommon for military jets to have "A black smoke trail" directly behind them for a certain distance. Even F-4's during Vietnam in the 1960's-70's still were well known for their smoke trails.
So the picture doesn't surprise me that much, also if it was a practice "Scramble" (i.e. Cold engine start, full throttle; just GTFO ASAP) that could reduce engine efficiency and as a result combustion as well. And inefficient fuel combustion is incredibly, and obviously, sooty. Which can be easily demonstrated by holding a lighter too close to something and leaving a massive smudge and trail of black soot.
And the military does care... when it costs them money or makes them look bad. Part of their change from M855 to M855A1 5.56 Ammunition was ceasing the use of lead in the bullets due to heavy contamination at military shooting ranges from a century+ of all the lead core copper jacketed rounds fired.
At the same time I remember a Vets story (I think Habitual Linecrosser? Could be Wrong) about reading a newspaper mentioning burn pits having finally been banned by the US Military and he was like "Uh Huh... Nice to know" *Proceeds to toss paper into burning burn pit*. Also the #1 reason for which bases got closed after the cold war, was massive asbestos and chemical contamination on smaller bases deemed no longer critical or worth the cleanup. (Not that the big bases aren't contaminated to a degree too, they're just too useful and expensive to replace or clean up; so they act like they aren't).