Sorry but the Ho.XVIII & YB-49 projects are unrelated. The Northrop YB-49 is a jet-powered development of the piston-engined X/YB-35. All the YB-49 built were, in fact, YB-35 converted. The US Army Air Corps signed the XB-35 development contract in 1941, two weeks before Pearl Harbor. In 1945 the airframe of the first XB-35 was virtually completed. By the way: the XB-35 was the 13th flying wing flown by the Northrop company. Cheers, Aleks P.S. : the Ho. XVIII was never built.
@@eottoe2001 The Horten brothers did not get funding to begin the 229 program until late 1943. They deserve credit for their own flying wing research and experiments before and during WW2. I think volunteering to build a wing bomber was a means to fund and legitimize their unusual and experimental wing research. Northrop had done his own wing experiments before WW2 independently. The wing Northrop began designing in 1941 was a more sophisticated and advanced design as a long-range precision heavy bomber. The Horten brothers started small and did not get very far while Northrop was already building the equivalent of the proposed Horten XVIII that was never started.
I want to thank you for straightening this out. I am tied of people commenting on aviation posts and continually saying OH yeah the Germans had it first. The Ho XVIII never even flew except as a glider The flying wing principle was well known well before WW 2 It is true some German designs did influence post war aircraft such as the Mig 15 and F 86. But on the other hand a lot of their proposals were totally impractical. As least you have pointed out the lack of relationship between German and American designs of flying wings
The wingspan of this wing and the wingspan of the B-2 are the same, Jack figured it out with a pencil and a slide rule. He was ahead of his time by a few decades.
@@davecrupel2817 The B-2 is designed to look smaller than it is. Even in the visible spectrum its passive stealth characteristics make it seem smaller, if not by the many many orders of magnitude that it dose in lower frequencies.
Love these late 40s early 50s films with their martial music and overblown narration. Hopefully this material will continue to be preserved for folks far into the future.
Beginning of the atomic- and jetage and the cold war. New technologies and geopolitics and spies everywhere. Its hard to believe optimism knew any limits back them.
I lived through the 50's and late 40's. It always sounded like the same guy was narrating every newsreel and PR film ever made at that time, even though it couldn't have been!
I must have been about 8 or 9 years old when I was standing beside the house I grew up in when I saw one of these flying over going to the Air Force base at Pittsburgh. Was something to see.
The narrator is Paul Freese. He also was the voice for Boris Badanov in the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons. You will also recognize his voice as the "Ghost Host" in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.
Interesting how this wing model resembles a saucer or aircraft of the future wow I was vaguely aware of this wing craft much thanks for uploading airmen bob
Shortly before his death in February 1981, Jack Northrop learned from the Northrop Corporation of the company's flying wing bid for the future B-2; he remarked: "I know why God has kept me alive for the past 25 years."
For all of you that have made comments on how sad it was, this plane never went into production you need to know the YB-49 had major stability problems and actually killed a crew while it was being tested.
Bingo ! You're correct. The handling was not easy at all, as the narrator was saying. In fact the B2 wouldn't have been any easier to fly if it wasn't for the computers. The german designer Lippisch toyed with the pure wing or tailess concept for years. A rudderless wing is very tricky and tough to maneuver. The Horten brothers experimented with the design in the HO 229, but never got into production.
Before it's cancellation the engineers solved the stability problem with a 3 axis mechanical rate gyro, but by that point it was too late. Basically it would take pilot inputs as rates and operate the control' surfaces to make those rates happen. Like a drone flight controller but it used mechanical gyros and analog PID control loops. Bell Helicopter would later use a similar system in the AH-1 cobra to replace the stabilizer bar on the rotor head which was not updated to digital until the 80's. PID control is the basis of stability augmentation, today it's done with computers but it can be implemented with gyros and analog circuits or even gyros and mechanical clockworks. The first PID control was a clockwork and compass based "mechanical steersman" for ships at sea designed in the 1900's
I just finished reading a very interesting book by Daniel Ford highlighting Glen Edwards' life as a WWII combat aviator and test pilot at Muroc. After his demise in a B-49 the airfield was renamed to what we all know as Edwards AFB.
Both companies were working on tailless designs at about the same time... The program was classified as top secret at Northrop, and I'm reasonably sure that the drawings of the Horten aircraft were not published in the German public media sources during ww2.
Never heard of the Horten brothers ? They built the first flying wing fighter bomber to take to the air. It was mostly built of wood so almost invisible to radar of the day. Also armed with 2 30 MMM cannon. The only existing one i know of sits in a US museum. First flying wing was Russian and parabolic in shape.
@soaringtractor YOU SOME KINDA MAGA MORON ? THERE IS TEST FLIGHT VIDEO OF THE HORTEN IN FLIGHT. I GUESS YUH GONNA TELL ME THAT GODDARD INVENTED ROCKETS BEFORE KONSTANTIN TSIOLKOVSKY.
Northrop flying wings were developed before and during WWII independently of German designs and the earlier Northrop prop engine versions solved the problem of broken interior propeller shafts that plagued the earlier Horten designs.
This aircraft was flying in 1/3rd scale (Northrop N-9M) in 1941/1942. The Hortons didn't even have a powered aircraft in 1941/1942. This aircraft used technology pioneered on the N-9M, like the split drag rudder. Something the Hortons NEVER had.. There is absolutely no German influence in the XB-35/YB-49. They're 100% based on the N-9M, which was actually far more advanced then any German wing in 1941/1942...
My Dad built them. The day the B-36 got the Air Force contract, USAF crews showed up at the Northrop plant with chain saws and destroyed every plane. Lowers the incidence of embarrassing questions, I suppose.
Costs and reliability. At the time, the flying wing simply was not mature enough for organizations as the Strategic Air Command (SAC) or a big airline. Furthermore, in the early-mid 50s there were some fantastic, capable, reliable and relatively cheap aircraft like the B-52 Stratofortress, Boeing 707, KC-135 etc.
No, not of German origin. This aircraft was based on a purely American design from 1941, that was based on Jack Northrop's experimentation with flying wings dating back to the late 1920s and early 1930s.. Look up the N-1M, which was flying in the US under power while the Horton brothers were still playing with miniatures and gliders...
This was 1947....same time period as Kenneth Arnolds sighting. He def probably saw either this flying in the air or the Horten Wing repurposed for test flights by the USAF/AAF. Makes sense....I wonder if any of the flight dates match up with his sighting?
another possible reason that they were destroyed, was that the Soviet Union would copy our designs instead of developing their own, and by destroying them it would appear that it was a dead end project and they would not copy the design, Why you ask was that a concern? The video even stated it, even in it's early stage it did not show up on radar until it was to late to stop them. Remember the Soviets would have flown across the polar cap to attack and the radar had problems dealing with that.
Looks like a pre B-2 from the side. From what I have read, these wings gave about 10-percent of the radar signal of the traditional bombers but it looks as if Boeing may have greased some palms to get their B-47 and B-52 projects accepted and these wings scrapped. Also, there's no mention of the bomb bays on these wings; where did they plan to put the ordinance?
These wings were scrapped because contrary to what the narrator in the video said, they were a triple handful to fly. They required way too much corrective adjustment of the control surfaces by the pilot during flight to be practical for one pilot to handle on longer missions. In contrast, the B-2 uses computers to make all of those constant adjustments to the control surfaces to keep the plane in the air and make it a viable weapon platform.
@@ralfie8801 The engineers developed a three axis electromechanical gyro system to address that but by that time it was too late. Bell Helicopter would later use a similar system on the AH-1 Cobra see: th-cam.com/video/EHsiBSTdjyA/w-d-xo.html Basically it would take the pilot control inputs as rates and then treat attitude changes that fell outside expected attitude rates as error and apply corrections. This is exactly how a drone flight controller works except instead of a software PID control loop and angle rate sensing chips it used a PID implemented with analog circuits and mechanical rate sensing gyros.
"has a small front profile, making it hard to hit"... really... that thing is half a flyin football field, I doubt a fighter had issues hitting it. xD But after all, I think those designs were killed by the lobby, I'd think they would be better than the normal layout. And that aside, they look much cooler. :P
As a matter of fact, the YB-49 flying wing turned inside the fighters of its time. The reason said for cancelling production and scraping all YB-49 remaining was an accident where the wings' tips were found several miles away from the rest of plane remains, structural failure was blamed for the event
Was Mr. Frees the one who gets cut off when the radio truck gets vaporized? Next question-War Of The Worlds is in color so how did George Pal doctor up the B+W footage?
That looks like it belongs in the air...coming in to land only for fuel or to change crews. It's a pity the political differences between the new Air Force and the Old Army caused its cancellation. Yes it had problems, and Yes, they could have been fixed. The Horten bros. in Nazi Germany developed a jet powered flying wing fighter that actually flew (crashed because of an engine failure). There was plenty of tech, but politics got in the way of what was the most advanced airframe of the time. Thus we lost decades of possible advances because a couple of Generals couldn't agree on what they wanted done with the project.
A payoff was made to go with the B-36 instead of the B35. Just like it did to buy the Raptor aka F-22 instead of the faster, more maneuverable and stealthier F-23.
Pauk Frees narrated the opening credits of TWOTW, and plays the reporter making a tape-recorded account of the atomic-bomb drop. This film is a black-and-white print---the original footage was shot in color.
If it has such great handling and is so extremely efficient, why wherent more wing only planes build? What was wrong with them? Did they crash too often? Where they instable? Not controllable under certain conditions?
I had heard as a bomber, they had way too much yaw wobble for accurate bombing, before active correction from the bombs themselves. For the fighter roll ya need to be unstable to outmanuever other fighters. Flying wings needed to very stable before computer flight assist was invented so they lost out there as well. The statement about cargo ability was not wrong, but cargo aircraft don't get much support from generals who were fighter pilots:)
The B-49 was sabotaged by the Defense Secretary because Northrop refused to merge with Convair. As a result all contracts were canceled and the aircraft gestroyed
So this is one of the first developments of stealth, without relying too much on the very expensive stealth technology (don't know if stealth tech already exist in those times) But it is a very impressive aircraft. I even thought this craft can't do impressive maneuvers because of its shape. I also like how thin it is i its front, side, and rear area, making it kinda invincible craft against gun fighters (since guided missiles arent a thing in those times, I guess)
Stealth tech wasn't really known back then, I think, but they definitely noticed that the YB-49 had a smaller radar cross-section Also hi, I wasn't expecting to see you here OvvO
If you Google "Nuke powered B-49 " and click image, it is a hoot and a half with the crew pod on one wing tip and the reactor on the other . Patent 672256, 3190554 , 3013505 .
What we see on this film is from 1950s, jet engine an american version of a flying wing, which was developed by germans. The german flying wing that during the WWII was shiped from germany to usa, was the prototype to all american versions of a flying wing, developed due to german engeeners naturalized as american citizens under an operation: "paper cilp".....
false, Northrop designed and began construction of flying wings before the US even new about the german fighter. As you can clearly see there is no german influence on this plane or its predecessor.
Gotta love that Ra Ra music. To bad the fix was in when the XB-35 was up against the XB-36 and someone in the government probably got some huge kickbacks to send the contract to Consolidated instead of letting the better XB-35 be turned into our first real strategic bomber. Take all the ram materials to build one B-36 and you could probably build 2 B-35s. Take all the fuel for a B-36 and fly 3 B-35s the same distance with the same bomb load and probably at higher altitude and without the extra jet engines. It's a sad thing when the people in government are more interested in their own financial gain and self aggrandizement than they are in doing their best for the country.
"low noise and vibration levels" Bullshit. That thing sounds like a db level equal to the B-1. Those of you that have heard a B-1, you know what im talking about.
+@bluesky5542 Northrop was given the contract and money to start building the YB-35 in 1941, long before the Horten brothers started the 229 project in late 1943. The YB-35/YB-49 program was far along before the Horten brothers started and long before Patton's army stumbled across the unfinished Go-229 V3 in mid-April 1945.
+kdelacy Because flight instability in flying wing designs could not be overcome until modern computerized flight control systems were designed. Even Northrop's big YB-49 had yaw issues, although mechanical yaw dampers were being designed. Yaw issues were not good for an aircraft designed to be a long-range precision bombing platform.
Amazing how they was able to make that fly without the help of computers like we do today back then they used slide rules and math today we have to run simulations and let computers do the math for us
That was another of Northrop's flying aircraft and it was good, but the Air Force decided not to by them. The new bomber which the service did my decades later is a great bomber and now they are about ready to produce the B-21 bomber which is suppose to be even better than the B-2.
+Sidney Mathious The YB-49 program was terminated by Sec. of the Air Force Stuart Symington to retaliate for Northop not playing ball and merging with Convair. Convair won and the Air Force got the B-36 monstrosity, but a cool airplane on its own.
Sorry but the Ho.XVIII & YB-49 projects are unrelated. The Northrop YB-49 is a jet-powered development of the piston-engined X/YB-35. All the YB-49 built were, in fact, YB-35 converted. The US Army Air Corps signed the XB-35 development contract in 1941, two weeks before Pearl Harbor. In 1945 the airframe of the first XB-35 was virtually completed. By the way: the XB-35 was the 13th flying wing flown by the Northrop company.
Cheers,
Aleks
P.S. : the Ho. XVIII was never built.
So it the YB-35 and YB-49 preceeded Ho. XVIII? Good to know.
@@eottoe2001 The Horten brothers did not get funding to begin the 229 program until late 1943. They deserve credit for their own flying wing research and experiments before and during WW2. I think volunteering to build a wing bomber was a means to fund and legitimize their unusual and experimental wing research. Northrop had done his own wing experiments before WW2 independently. The wing Northrop began designing in 1941 was a more sophisticated and advanced design as a long-range precision heavy bomber. The Horten brothers started small and did not get very far while Northrop was already building the equivalent of the proposed Horten XVIII that was never started.
I want to thank you for straightening this out. I am tied of people commenting on aviation posts and continually saying OH yeah the Germans had it first. The Ho XVIII never even flew except as a glider The flying wing principle was well known well before WW 2 It is true some German designs did influence post war aircraft such as the Mig 15 and F 86. But on the other hand a lot of their proposals were totally impractical. As least you have pointed out the lack of relationship between German and American designs of flying wings
The hoxviii may have not been built but the ho-229 flying wing was built
YOU ALMOST SEEM LIKE YOU USED TO WORK AT NORTHROP ❣️👍
The wingspan of this wing and the wingspan of the B-2 are the same, Jack figured it out with a pencil and a slide rule. He was ahead of his time by a few decades.
This thing looks ALOT bigger than a b-2
@@davecrupel2817 The B-2 is designed to look smaller than it is. Even in the visible spectrum its passive stealth characteristics make it seem smaller, if not by the many many orders of magnitude that it dose in lower frequencies.
@@gottjager760given visible light is on the same spectrum as radio waves its logical
Love these late 40s early 50s films with their martial music and overblown narration. Hopefully this material will continue to be preserved for folks far into the future.
I suspect that the Ra Ra music and narration was from Northrup's PR people trying to sell the government on buying it.
Beginning of the atomic- and jetage and the cold war. New technologies and geopolitics and spies everywhere. Its hard to believe optimism knew any limits back them.
I lived through the 50's and late 40's. It always sounded like the same guy was narrating every newsreel and PR film ever made at that time, even though it couldn't have been!
It was always cool to see an actual USAF film production. No budget now I guess.
I must have been about 8 or 9 years old when I was standing beside the house I grew up in when I saw one of these flying over going to the Air Force base at Pittsburgh. Was something to see.
That was back in the days, when they built amazing aircrafts in the 40's / 50's... Golden era of military aviation! :-)
With Paul Frees narrating, this sounds like a Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon!
The narrator is Paul Freese. He also was the voice for Boris Badanov in the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons. You will also recognize his voice as the "Ghost Host" in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.
He made an appearance in "War of the Worlds" (1953). Same movie some of this appeared in.
The take off scene was used in the 1953 sci-fi film “The War Of The Worlds”.
Paul Freese had an appearance in 1953's "War of the Worlds".
This is were i first saw the flying wing as a child in the film
I was about to say that! Thanks for providing the name!
A significant improvement over the old B-17, this aircraft has it all.
Interesting how this wing model resembles a saucer or aircraft of the future wow I was vaguely aware of this wing craft much thanks for uploading airmen bob
Shortly before his death in February 1981, Jack Northrop learned from the Northrop Corporation of the company's flying wing bid for the future B-2; he remarked: "I know why God has kept me alive for the past 25 years."
For all of you that have made comments on how sad it was, this plane never went into production you need to know the YB-49 had major stability problems and actually killed a crew while it was being tested.
Bingo ! You're correct. The handling was not easy at all, as the narrator was saying. In fact the B2 wouldn't have been any easier to fly if it wasn't for the computers. The german designer Lippisch toyed with the pure wing or tailess concept for years. A rudderless wing is very tricky and tough to maneuver. The Horten brothers experimented with the design in the HO 229, but never got into production.
Before it's cancellation the engineers solved the stability problem with a 3 axis mechanical rate gyro, but by that point it was too late. Basically it would take pilot inputs as rates and operate the control' surfaces to make those rates happen. Like a drone flight controller but it used mechanical gyros and analog PID control loops. Bell Helicopter would later use a similar system in the AH-1 cobra to replace the stabilizer bar on the rotor head which was not updated to digital until the 80's. PID control is the basis of stability augmentation, today it's done with computers but it can be implemented with gyros and analog circuits or even gyros and mechanical clockworks. The first PID control was a clockwork and compass based "mechanical steersman" for ships at sea designed in the 1900's
Great aircraft. On a side note, the B-2 is the same wingspan length as the XB-35/ YB-49.
I just finished reading a very interesting book by Daniel Ford highlighting Glen Edwards' life as a WWII combat aviator and test pilot at Muroc. After his demise in a B-49 the airfield was renamed to what we all know as Edwards AFB.
The Flying Wing was so far ahead of its time This plane had to wait for technology to catch up with it.
Falcon this is just a copy of the Horten H IX/229
Both companies were working on tailless designs at about the same time... The program was classified as top secret at Northrop, and I'm reasonably sure that the drawings of the Horten aircraft were not published in the German public media sources during ww2.
@@CredeFX morons...the Horton's were nothing compared to Northrop, and also after Northrop.
Never heard of the Horten brothers ? They built the first flying wing fighter bomber to take to the air. It was mostly built of wood so almost invisible to radar of the day. Also armed with 2 30 MMM cannon. The only existing one i know of sits in a US museum. First flying wing was Russian and parabolic in shape.
@soaringtractor YOU SOME KINDA MAGA MORON ? THERE IS TEST FLIGHT VIDEO OF THE HORTEN IN FLIGHT. I GUESS YUH GONNA TELL ME THAT GODDARD INVENTED ROCKETS BEFORE KONSTANTIN TSIOLKOVSKY.
Northrop flying wings were developed before and during WWII independently of German designs and the earlier Northrop prop engine versions solved the problem of broken interior propeller shafts that plagued the earlier Horten designs.
This aircraft was flying in 1/3rd scale (Northrop N-9M) in 1941/1942.
The Hortons didn't even have a powered aircraft in 1941/1942.
This aircraft used technology pioneered on the N-9M, like the split drag rudder. Something the Hortons NEVER had..
There is absolutely no German influence in the XB-35/YB-49. They're 100% based on the N-9M, which was actually far more advanced then any German wing in 1941/1942...
where do you think the design came from sheesh
@@Sccrd4Lfe From in-house pre-war Northrop prototypes, not from anything German.
@@Sccrd4Lfe god you german larpers are stuck up
2:46 I get goosebumps every time.
For it's time; it was quite powerful. Today, we are use (even bored) by the 8 engine B-52 bomber but back in 1947 it was certainly a sight to behold.
My Dad built them. The day the B-36 got the Air Force contract, USAF crews showed up at the Northrop plant with chain saws and destroyed every plane. Lowers the incidence of embarrassing questions, I suppose.
This is awesome. I bet it was a nightmare to fly without fly by wire
no way they flew that :O holy moly
If the Red Skull can do it so can they : )
Costs and reliability. At the time, the flying wing simply was not mature enough for organizations as the Strategic Air Command (SAC) or a big airline. Furthermore, in the early-mid 50s there were some fantastic, capable, reliable and relatively cheap aircraft like the B-52 Stratofortress, Boeing 707, KC-135 etc.
The YB-49 and the B-2 have an identical wing span.....pretty cool.
Did Paul Frees even take a vacation? lol Seems he narrated everything in this era.
Yes, he also played a small part in 1953's "The War of the Worlds", which featured the YB-49 Flying Wing.
No, not of German origin.
This aircraft was based on a purely American design from 1941, that was based on Jack Northrop's experimentation with flying wings dating back to the late 1920s and early 1930s..
Look up the N-1M, which was flying in the US under power while the Horton brothers were still playing with miniatures and gliders...
Imagine having the guts to fly this thing maneuvering like this the 1st flight .
Nope, it's Paul Frees narrating. Weird, because he was in George Pal's WAR OF THE WORLDS, which uses some of this same footage.
While Franks works on starting the engines and watches 50 analog gauges, I will call the tower for clearance.
there is color footage of it in War of the Worlds movie.
This was 1947....same time period as Kenneth Arnolds sighting. He def probably saw either this flying in the air or the Horten Wing repurposed for test flights by the USAF/AAF. Makes sense....I wonder if any of the flight dates match up with his sighting?
The Horten Go 229 v.III was never completed, let alone flown.
But can it land as well or is it still up there?
What a fantastic design. Look what it can do! Must have cost a bloody fortune tho...
another possible reason that they were destroyed, was that the Soviet Union would copy our designs instead of developing their own, and by destroying them it would appear that it was a dead end project and they would not copy the design, Why you ask was that a concern? The video even stated it, even in it's early stage it did not show up on radar until it was to late to stop them. Remember the Soviets would have flown across the polar cap to attack and the radar had problems dealing with that.
Wow is much more smaller than i thought, i expected something like the The Skycrawlers bombers
A plane ahead of its time
Thank you... it looks like a huge Boomerang ✈️👍
Looks like a pre B-2 from the side. From what I have read, these wings gave about 10-percent of the radar signal of the traditional bombers but it looks as if Boeing may have greased some palms to get their B-47 and B-52 projects accepted and these wings scrapped. Also, there's no mention of the bomb bays on these wings; where did they plan to put the ordinance?
These wings were scrapped because contrary to what the narrator in the video said, they were a triple handful to fly. They required way too much corrective adjustment of the control surfaces by the pilot during flight to be practical for one pilot to handle on longer missions. In contrast, the B-2 uses computers to make all of those constant adjustments to the control surfaces to keep the plane in the air and make it a viable weapon platform.
@@ralfie8801 The engineers developed a three axis electromechanical gyro system to address that but by that time it was too late. Bell Helicopter would later use a similar system on the AH-1 Cobra see: th-cam.com/video/EHsiBSTdjyA/w-d-xo.html Basically it would take the pilot control inputs as rates and then treat attitude changes that fell outside expected attitude rates as error and apply corrections. This is exactly how a drone flight controller works except instead of a software PID control loop and angle rate sensing chips it used a PID implemented with analog circuits and mechanical rate sensing gyros.
"has a small front profile, making it hard to hit"... really... that thing is half a flyin football field, I doubt a fighter had issues hitting it. xD
But after all, I think those designs were killed by the lobby, I'd think they would be better than the normal layout. And that aside, they look much cooler. :P
Who flagged it as SPAM, I sure don't recall doing it, This was one of my favorite planes.
ok frank, start the engines...love this machine
As a matter of fact, the YB-49 flying wing turned inside the fighters of its time. The reason said for cancelling production and scraping all YB-49 remaining was an accident where the wings' tips were found several miles away from the rest of plane remains, structural failure was blamed for the event
+Jose G A There was also suspected sabotage; look up the interview with retired Gen Cardenas, and he explains why he believes this was so.
THANK YOU, JACK ❣️
Was Mr. Frees the one who gets cut off when the radio truck gets vaporized?
Next question-War Of The Worlds is in color so how did George Pal doctor up the B+W footage?
WOW that was great! Now read Clive Cussler's novel, "Blue Gold", for a cool reference to the flying wing.
That looks like it belongs in the air...coming in to land only for fuel or to change crews. It's a pity the political differences between the new Air Force and the Old Army caused its cancellation. Yes it had problems, and Yes, they could have been fixed. The Horten bros. in Nazi Germany developed a jet powered flying wing fighter that actually flew (crashed because of an engine failure). There was plenty of tech, but politics got in the way of what was the most advanced airframe of the time. Thus we lost decades of possible advances because a couple of Generals couldn't agree on what they wanted done with the project.
And no, the Volkswagen bus on a boomerang is NOT a replacement for the original Flying Wing.
A payoff was made to go with the B-36 instead of the B35. Just like it did to buy the Raptor aka F-22 instead of the faster, more maneuverable and stealthier F-23.
Pauk Frees narrated the opening credits of TWOTW, and plays the reporter making a tape-recorded account of the atomic-bomb drop. This film is a black-and-white print---the original footage was shot in color.
If it has such great handling and is so extremely efficient, why wherent more wing only planes build? What was wrong with them? Did they crash too often? Where they instable? Not controllable under certain conditions?
I had heard as a bomber, they had way too much yaw wobble for accurate bombing, before active correction from the bombs themselves. For the fighter roll ya need to be unstable to outmanuever other fighters. Flying wings needed to very stable before computer flight assist was invented so they lost out there as well. The statement about cargo ability was not wrong, but cargo aircraft don't get much support from generals who were fighter pilots:)
Is this what caused the first flying saucer story ! It looks very similar to the shape he said the craft were ! !
The B-49 was sabotaged by the Defense Secretary because Northrop refused to merge with Convair. As a result all contracts were canceled and the aircraft gestroyed
Stuart Symington, Secretary of the Air Force, was behind it. SOB, if ever.
Correct! I was wondering if anybody else knew about Symington and his nefarious deed
Wish I was the pilot. Lucky sob!
Any info or pictures of the cockpit layout?
So this is one of the first developments of stealth, without relying too much on the very expensive stealth technology (don't know if stealth tech already exist in those times)
But it is a very impressive aircraft. I even thought this craft can't do impressive maneuvers because of its shape.
I also like how thin it is i its front, side, and rear area, making it kinda invincible craft against gun fighters (since guided missiles arent a thing in those times, I guess)
Stealth tech wasn't really known back then, I think, but they definitely noticed that the YB-49 had a smaller radar cross-section
Also hi, I wasn't expecting to see you here OvvO
Must be a promotional film as everything I have read from pilots say this thing was a handful and the one thing you never do is stall it.
Better plane than the B-36 Peacekeeper.
leftcoaster67 lol no fucking way but this thing is so awesome :D come on man, 6 turnin 4 burnin you literally can't beat that they were soooo sexy
leftcoaster67 oooh though i just got to that profile shot with the YB-39 lined up maybe you are right :o
Majestic Skywhale YB-49 you moron look at the jets
From wikipedia: The YB-49 never entered production, being passed over in favor of the more conventional Convair B-36 piston-driven design.
leftcoaster67 and??
It’s such a shame that they were all scrapped
If you Google "Nuke powered B-49 " and click image, it is a hoot and a half with the crew pod on one wing tip and the reactor on the other . Patent 672256, 3190554 , 3013505 .
who is the narrator? sounds like the same guy from the original war of the worlds..?
it looks like something from the Thunderbirds from the rear.
What we see on this film is from 1950s, jet engine an american version of a flying wing, which was developed by germans. The german flying wing that during the WWII was shiped from germany to usa, was the prototype to all american versions of a flying wing, developed due to german engeeners naturalized as american citizens under an operation: "paper cilp".....
false, Northrop designed and began construction of flying wings before the US even new about the german fighter. As you can clearly see there is no german influence on this plane or its predecessor.
Keep passing the myth. It clearly shows how smart and deep you are
very much so,had better flight controls been around,it might have been common place today.
Gotta love that Ra Ra music. To bad the fix was in when the XB-35 was up against the XB-36 and someone in the government probably got some huge kickbacks to send the contract to Consolidated instead of letting the better XB-35 be turned into our first real strategic bomber. Take all the ram materials to build one B-36 and you could probably build 2 B-35s. Take all the fuel for a B-36 and fly 3 B-35s the same distance with the same bomb load and probably at higher altitude and without the extra jet engines. It's a sad thing when the people in government are more interested in their own financial gain and self aggrandizement than they are in doing their best for the country.
The great Paul Frees is the narrator. :)
Couldve done without the music
I just love flying wings
Like the electic car, same question; why didin't it go mainstream ??
The electric car is about to go mainstream.
I have a question: the B-2 Spirit belongs to Northrop?
Yes
... and the soundtrack price...
...the winner is...
AMADEUS...!!!!
For some reason, your post was flagged as spam despite being 100% true. That's why I was asking.
первые шаги в этой конструкции...однако страшно...без автоматики ими трудно было управлять...
Oh oh! Keep it down, the Ruskies are listening. 😈
is that paul frees doing the narration ?
And by the way what was the statement?
About 500 mph (800 kph)
Why was this flagged as spam? It was a statement that was 100% true...
"low noise and vibration levels"
Bullshit.
That thing sounds like a db level equal to the B-1.
Those of you that have heard a B-1, you know what im talking about.
Dam,cool
B-2 Spirit's granddad
The narrator sounds just like the alien voice over from the "To Serve Man" Twilight Zone episode. Hehe.
Looks more like The Flying Boomerang
i think so northrop built the b-49 and the b-2
OK and thank you, one of my haters I guess LOL. I have tons of them in this neck of the woods.
Imagine if this machine was selected by USAF instead of B-36 😳😳😳
Sooo, Is he saying it's efficient?
A German idea from the Horton 28 / 29. The USArmy found the drawings and a Plain all you hat to do rebuild it a little different. A German idea.
+@bluesky5542 Northrop was given the contract and money to start building the YB-35 in 1941, long before the Horten brothers started the 229 project in late 1943. The YB-35/YB-49 program was far along before the Horten brothers started and long before Patton's army stumbled across the unfinished Go-229 V3 in mid-April 1945.
Gee those engines are early models 1947....derwent...goblins?
The Good Ol Days!!
在陀螺儀還是機械時代 開這種飛機是玩命..
It was featured in the wars of the world's
So anyone know why there was such a large gap in time between this aircraft and our current stealth bomber?
+kdelacy Because flight instability in flying wing designs could not be overcome until modern computerized flight control systems were designed. Even Northrop's big YB-49 had yaw issues, although mechanical yaw dampers were being designed. Yaw issues were not good for an aircraft designed to be a long-range precision bombing platform.
The tree huggers today would not approve , to much smoke coming out of the exhaust .Screw them Beautiful aircraft.
those coal fired jet engines of the day were very dirty...
The B-2s ancestor
A shame not one was saved
I have collated over 190 videos of the Northrop N-1M, N-9M, XB-35 & YB-49 "Flying Wing" - - - - > click xo ox to see them !!
what a pity that politics killed this one off!!!
After Glenn Edwards was killed first in one.
How did they fly this plane without computers?
Handled like a brick without vertical stabs. would slip in the turns, Killed Glenn Edwards but looked cool.
Amazing how they was able to make that fly without the help of computers like we do today back then they used slide rules and math today we have to run simulations and let computers do the math for us
it would have worked great with fly by wire ,like all plane do today .
Looks like the arsenal bird
That was another of Northrop's flying aircraft and it was good, but the Air Force decided not to by them. The new bomber which the service did my decades later is a great bomber and now they are about ready to produce the B-21 bomber which is suppose to be even better than the B-2.
+Sidney Mathious The YB-49 program was terminated by Sec. of the Air Force Stuart Symington to retaliate for Northop not playing ball and merging with Convair. Convair won and the Air Force got the B-36 monstrosity, but a cool airplane on its own.
The B-21 is to the B-2 what the AH-1Z Viper is to the AH-1 Cobra. It's not a clean sheet design it's an updated one.