This Stealth Bomber Prototype Flew in 1947 - It Was America's First Flying Wing: the YB-49
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Pictured: the YB-49 Flying Wing prototype and stealth bomber inspiration vs. the Convair Peacemaker B-36 that was chosen for production over it.
As early as 1938, Germany raised the concept of a long-range strategic bomber that could complete a round-trip of over 7,200 miles from Germany to strike at the heart of America. This “Amerikabomber” never left the prototype stage, but the threat it offered, especially in the event that Britain fell early in World War 2, was enough to spur the Americans to action. In 1941, the Army Air Corps awarded prototype contracts to develop its own strategic bomber capable of carrying 10,000 lbs of bombs on a round-trip of up to 10,000 miles.
The immense engineering requirements called for the consideration of radical new aircraft designs, and the Northrop Corporation responded with a maximally-efficient flying wing structure. The entire surface of the aircraft would be engineered to create lift, eliminating the unnecessary weight and drag created by tail and fuselage components. The first propeller-driven concepts, the XB-35 and XB-36, only made it to the pre-production stage. Their successor, the jet-powered Northrop YB-49, would emerge with the striking appearance of a proto-stealth bomber...
As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Docs sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect. All content on Dark Docs is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. -
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You forgot to mention that Jack lived just long enough to experience the sweet taste of vindication, when his company was awarded the contract for the first stealth bomber... a flying wing with an identical wingspan to his original prototype. That guy died with a smile on his face.
@John Camilleri Yeah it put a smile on my face when I found out about it. Old dude died happy.
And now the next big bomber is the new B-21 which is supposed to be a bigger brother to the B-2. Thing is a monster.
Artorius The'Bear whats crazier is. The B-21 is actually smaller than the B-2: but can carry more payload (this is all you can know. There’s no numbers on anything)
@@Hexigonic that is interesting. With such small wings, it has higher payload. That's, really interesting.
@@Hexigonic the aircraft industry must've been a fascinating and exciting place to work.
The prop-driven flying wings continued flying in the 1950's. As a kid in California I saw one overhead one day. Never forgot it.
Wabi Sabi that’s awesome
Wow, you must be old af.
@@jayasuriyas2604 Ha Ha, so what? I had an interesting life and traveled the world. Wouldn't trade it for anything and plan to be around for a long time.
And what have you done except try to insult someone that is wiser and more experienced than you?
interestingly their N-9P (which first flew in 1942) has been flown by a museum up through this year when unfortunately it crashed so technically they never stopped flying till this year in April
@Wabi Sabi How well known was it back then
It was a beautiful aircraft! I wonder if it was responsible for more than a few of the UFO sightings of those days?!
The Vulcan did in England Huge white flying Triangle
I vaguely remember that being addressed on TV in the early 50's, when people saw them flying around.
My mate saw a flying wing doing at least 2000kms an hr fly hi over his and his mates heads in 98 in Auckland nz
StalinTheMan0fSteel I absolutely guarantee they were responsible for the Mount Rainier UFO sighting in 1947.
Look at the picture the witness drew of what he saw 😂
was beautiful if you mean a captured nazi flying wing Horten Ho 229
I love flying wings they just look cool af
All wings fly
Hammer 001, the Germans didn’t invented the flying wing.....the French did
They do ey... they actually look cool.... although... yeah.... they look like... well... wings... 😅🙏🙏
@@nissanferrari1 there must be something wrong with my pet penguin then.
The Germans during World War II had a prototype flying wing it was jet powered then technically it worked they were the inventors of the Original Flying Wing.
You just gotta love those HUGE Donald Duck tires on the B-36!!!
That plane was so heavy that many runways would crack under its weight and so they went to different configurations of undercarriages to spread out the point of contact.
At the time of it's creation there were only 2 runways in the world that could handle it.
Gizmoduck tires.
Absolutely agree with everyone here, your channel is killing it keep going!
Now repeat after me, "The stealth bomber is a flying wing, but a flying wing is not a stealth bomber".
Apparently every flying wing is a stealth bomber to this channel XD
honestly this is one of the most common misconceptions I've seen being a fanatic of the Hortren 229 and other flying wings. they were never intended for stealth but the aerodynamics of flying wings making longer range flights possible, Northrop even had to do those large bombers on there own funds from what I remember since the military wasn't really interested at first. stealth was never part of it. it just happens flying wings have a smaller radar signature due to the nature of its shape no one cared about that then.
Finally someone who gets it!, been saying this, with flying wings, they were after efficient aerodynamics and range, not stealth, it was just a happy side effect that they noticed it was harder to pick up on radar, they didnt start capitalizing on stealth tech until have blue
It is rumored that when the B-2 was reviled, Jack Northrup was quoted as saying God allowed him to live long enough to see his design get accepted into service or something to that effect.
It is funny how some people like to claim Northrup stole the wing design from the Horten brothers but he had already working on wing designs prior to the capture of the HO-229
I'll have to bring that up the next time someone says we stole stealth bombers from the nazis. It's a great example of coincidental convergent design, they had similar problems to solve so they ended up with a similar design lol.
A out of print company called Aero publishers has some material on this subject.
Fun fact: Convair made a redesign of the B-36 (swept wings and jet engines) in order to compete against the Boeing B-52 guess who lost.
It’s really frustrating. Jack had the N-1M flying in 1940. The Horten’s were experimenting with gliders as early as 1936 (I believe) but they were gliders. The 229 wasn’t even discovered until after the war. It’s a stupid internet assertion that the B-2 is “German tech.”
@@gregoryhughes The Horten brothers did start with gliders. What some people do not understand as in the case with The Horten brothers and Jack Northrup they were both trying to find the most aerodynamic design possible and concluded doing away with the fuselage.
The accusation that the Russian Su-27 was built from stolen F-15 plans which I thought was true till reading up on it's development and the SU-27 almost got cancelled due to development difficulties.
Something that would have only been a minor issue because the Sukhoi would have using a proven but stolen design. the Russians came up with the same conclusions but just did not have the advanced computing power but this does not mean no technology was stolen.
Northrop obtained special clearance for Jack Northrop to see the model of the B-2 before it was rolled out. He died in February 1981. The design was selected by USAF in October 1981 and the public roll out of the first production aircraft was 1988.
Keep the fast uploads coming! One of the best TY channels around!
Absolutely i love these videos!!
I agree I FVCKING LOVE THIS CHANNEL!!
When he saw the Spirit in flight, Jack Northrop said; “ Now I know why God made me live so long.”
Realy or maybe he saw a captured Nazi Horten Ho229?
@@altergreenhorn atleast in the end northrop was laughing to the bank
@@altergreenhorn This notion of yours is based on what exactly?
@@altergreenhorn That would be hard since Northrop had them flying before they ever saw a 229
@@1993Crag Northrop ? Rofl....he played with wings on primitive level as another guy from US namely R. Goddard with rockets. Why the heck US imported all available German scientists to build US rockets if they all ready have Mr Goddard who played with rockets before Germans ? Why? Can you tell me brainwased snoflake? Maybe because Germans was why better in doing it?
G'day Dark, The Northrop Flying Wing story has always fascinated me. A beautiful looking aircraft that, once fitted with jets, should have worked and flown well. Aviation 'tradition' points heavily to the truism that a good-looking aircraft is, almost invariably, a good performer. After much reading of tech specs and what little performance data that has been released, I can't see why the YB-49 wasn't successful. I don't buy the standard excuse that if they had advanced computers that would have solved all the 49's handling issues.
Why, then, did so many pilots go on the record saying this was a good aircraft to fly and that the problems, as they saw them, were insignificant and point to many aircraft types that have teething problems in development; some of them ending in multiple fatalities in excess of those that died on the YB-49 program.. A majority of these other planes with problems went on to successful careers in the military or commercial aviation.
I've often asked myself why was it that the USAF, at the time of the grounding of the YB-49, stood over the Northrop employees as they were ordered to break up every single 49 that was built, whereby every part of the disassembled aircraft had to be accounted for. Apart from removing ordinance and any secret 'boxes' on decommissioned aircraft, the USAF usually didn't give a hoot about what physically happened to the aircraft in dropped programs.
This strange surveillance of the broken-up aircraft was done, I believe, because forensic examination of the airframes might have revealed proof of tampering or worse. Mr Northrup believed there had been deliberate political and financial forces behind the scrapping of his Flying Wing until the day he died. Somewhere, somehow, there may be some 'dark docs' still extant that may solve this famous aviation mystery.
There is an excellent 80s documentary, 'The Wing Will Fly' at th-cam.com/video/MkhziQF0AiI/w-d-xo.html that tells the full story of Jack Northrop's career and clear statements by at least one ex-USAF test pilot that the fatalities and some of the major problems arising from the YB-49 were, to this day, a mystery. Cheers, BH
Don't forget that Northrop asked to redesign the bomb bays on his plane since they had been created before the nuclear bomb was known but the army air force refused to allow it. Also the YB-35's props had the engine problems been addressed would have provided extra stability to the aircraft and the YB-36 also used props in nearly the same configuration.
The flying wing family was unstable in the horizontal plane. It had a problem with "yaw". BTW, a rear drive car has the same tendency on ice, it's called "fish-tailing". The problem was so severe that USAF personnel said the bomber could not keep straight and level for one minute. That was needed for an accurate bombing run at the time. The B-2 has a computer system that corrects the yaw issue. You can't see the yaw issue on the film but the early flying wings are constantly swerving in the air +- 15 feet. That's unseen to the naked eye on the ground but it means the bomb bay is off center most of the time. What's the point of a bomber if it can't aim? Also, the USAF flyers were not that nuts about the B-36, it was regarded as a whale. Most flyers liked the B-50 bomber better because it was faster than the B-36, flew much better, and was more stable than the flying wing.
The YB-49 was never designed as, or meant to have radar deflecting or absorbing features. The design goals were primarily for range from reduced drag.
Right.. he said the exact same thing in the video..
KubiqFeet indeed, then it wouldn’t be a ‘stealth bomber prototype.”
What’s funny though is the US Air Force in flight test found it odd that at certain angles it’s radar signature was reduced to how small it’s cross section was. They were seeing the magic of stealth before they ever knew it.
Jack Northrop was building flying wings well before anyone was even aware of the Horten. Flying wings had been researched since at least the 20’s.
Very true, It seems history is getting a bit fudged lately
Yep, the N1M made it's first flight in 1940.
@@epikmanthe3rd That wasn't even his first flying wing, that was the X-216H which flew in 1929.
The flying wing concept was developed in france in the turn of the century... late 1800s and early 1900s....
NorthCORrupt like Thomas Edison...stole most ever 'great' design they "came up" with...
Dark docs and curious droid are the best youtube channels for space/military tech videos.
Johnny Yen and Mark Felton Productions
Yeah but I hate how he'll put up video of systems that have nothing to do with what he's talking about. This one's not so bad but on many he'll be, for instance, talking about some satellite and show video of the skylab space station. He also makes lots of mistakes. For instance, in this video it says the B-2 flew in 1980, but it's first flight was really 1989
@@blurglide Do you know how hard it would be to find that specific of a photo all the time?
+Johnny Yen
Yeah no. I agree with ^^^ Danilo J ^^^
Mark Felton Productions' videos are much more accurate in every sense of the word, and the quality of the research is excellent too.
@@jdsd744 Mark Felton never shows clips of systems that have nothing to do with what he's talking about, and he's typically finding clips from before 1950
Do one on the USS liberty
That would be interesting, also one on the USS Pueblo!
It pisses me off that the Nazi, Horton, is widely thought to be the origin of the flying wing. Northrop was flying a twin engine, 100 HP, 200 MPH flying wing in 1927. It sits in the Udvar Hazy Smithsonian Air and Space museum today.
I tell that to whichever ignorant says the Horton brothers were first. Always pisses me off too.
Dennis Moore Exactly. Their goal was to build and produce aircraft that produced far less drag than a conventional aircraft. Jack managed to achieve this in the size of a bomber in 1947. The Horten brothers simply managed to make a fighter version first. That’s it.
The first object to touch space must really upset you. Lol
I imagine recovering from a stall, would be practically impossible with a wing aircraft.
These other bombers like the B36 wouldn't fair much better in stall recovery.
It was. That's how the first one crashed. Until fly by wire, they weren't easy to fly.
@@CAL1MBO Glen Edwards found out the hard way what can happen with a flying wing design.
Jack Northrop actually found a way to fix many of it’s stability problems though. Props to that mans genius for doing so.
I believe that the way to pull a yb-49 out of a stall was to kill the engines on one side and full throttle the other side to start aircraft into a bit of a spiral that you could then recover from.
Edwards Air Force Base was named after Captain Glen Edwards who died in a YB-49 crash.
True. I been to Edwards AFB many time when i was in Air Force in the 80's and 90's. A lot of history there. Hugh base and a lot of sonic boom's. Loved it. RIP Capt. Edwards.
@C.S.Allen I want to read the biography of Mr. 51.
@C.S.Allen Wasn't serious, but didn't feel like it was full snark, either. My father was a powerplant engineer for Lockheed 1939-84. Am well aware.
@mips
NO....it was renamed Edwards after him in 1949. beforehand it was named muroc army airfield and then muroc afb.
@@josemoreno3334 I did alot of work at dryden, now armstrong flight research center...edwards was always a great base to work out of.
"Stealth Bomber Prototype" "America's First Flying Wing" both wrong.
jp secret word : Horten Ho 229
@@altergreenhorn ?
Indeed, Northrop built and flew his first flying wing in the 1920s, and as far as I know, his goal was to achieve unmatched aerodynamic efficiency, not stealth. The same is true of the later aircraft designed by the Horton brothers in Germany. They started building flying wing gliders at a time when other glider teams were using flying wings, because such a design has far less drag.
Greenhorn Should you ever respond to the person that left you a question mark. The US Air Force put the 229 in inventory storage(where it still is today). No one was allowed to study or see it. Jack Northrop was not either. NACA(later NASA) was never once given clearance either. So who gave who clearance to, ahem “copy” the 229?
When the engineers just winged the design, they ended up with the YB-49.
Well done m8!
*punch*
So, you say the designers decided to "wing" it when they got the design specifications?
If I were to see this thing flying around in the late 40s, I would for sure think it was a UFO
It’s a shame one couldn’t be saved for history’s sake and be placed in one of our nations air & space museums. Excellent content yet again Dark Docs, you have one of the best channels on this platform. 👍🏻👍🏻
It was all worth it in the long run. Once the technology caught up, it evolved to the Spirit.
Who knows what's flying around nowadays. Secret, but we can pay for it !
the idea that the YB-49's problems were due to 'sabotage' is bull. even today, a modern B-2 couldn't fly if it's fly-by-wire control system failed. so the fact that the YB-49 crashed and had controlability problems should be no surprise. it was just an idea that had to wait for other technology to catch up to it.
the idea had some merit. Around the same time there was a spade of accidents with Northrop aircraft under testing with the USAF and NACA, just as the government tried to push Northrop into a forced merger they rejected.
It was all highly suspicious.
While each on its own might be nothing, the total made it look like a coordinated effort to destroy the company.
@@jwenting Northrop was also testing some extreme concepts in those aircraft. So, is it more likely that they were sabotaged, or that Northrop just had a string of bad luck?
The way you speak is quite unclear. Try speaking slower and clearer great video otherwise
and each sentence has a hard stop that throws me quite off, and it sounds like he has something in his mouth
Flying wings are basically flying doritos with bomb bombs
Your moms a flying dorito
That is why one of the nicknames of the B 2 is "Burnt Dorito.".
you need to slow down speaking... i work in film
i know disliking for terrible voice
Years ago I was at the Paul Garber Facility and there was a mini flying wing. Bright yellow , not sure if it ever made the Aerospace Museum . Another plane that was under restoration was the one of the planes that the Japanese attached to their submarines during WW2. The only one in existence. That would make a interesting topic for Dark Docs
I saw a 1/3 scale XB-35 prototype fly at an air & car show in N. California about 5 years ago. *Very* odd sight, a triangle-shaped aircraft making passes and circling the event. It was also painted bright yellow, which added to the novelty. Unfortunately, in April of 2019, that historic aircraft crashed into a state prison's exercise yard and burned near it's home base in Chino, CA. Pilot and aircraft were lost. Also, today's Edwards AFB is named after the test pilot in that crew of 5 that crashed in that XB-49 in the Mohave Desert in the late 1940s.
👽 that was not a remote controlled toy
It was very irresponsible of the air museum to fly that sole vintage plane for airshows. They didn't even make plans or reproductions.
The YB-49 did have a starring role in the original 1953 film version of the classic H. G. Wells novel "War of the Worlds". The YB-49 certainly sorted out those pesky Martians!
Copious amounts of beer and dark docs.
Best off day ever.
@C.S.Allen but I can't really lead with that. It's implied.
willamdafoetv ditto here. Except I’m more of a night time binge watcher lol
B36 6 turning 4 burning The Peacemaker was a great plane. The XB49 was 40 years ahead of its time. At least Jack Northrop lived to see the B2 Spirit.
Pilots said it was variously 6 turning 4 burning, or two turning, two smoking, two choking, two on fire.
@@JFrazer4303 pilot humor with a bit of truth. Thank, you
WOW! You really did your homework on this one, Dark Docs! Excellent presentation, and an in-depth history lesson.
I saw a B2 fly over Toronto on 1982 when I was a kid. On record they say the 1st flight was in 1989
In war of the worlds the flying wing dropped an atomic bomb just fine, regrettably the war machines were impervious to all manner of weapons.
Cameron Smith the use of this plane in that move really was brilliant. It was a plane that most people have not seen and when I saw this movie at the movie theater Sunday matinee in about 1967 it floored me. I lived near the Portland Oregon airport and Oregon guard airbase and I have seen jet planes but never seen that. It made my heart pound and I clapped and yelled with my friends over that plane in that movie.
I grew up literally with that plane...the name of the school I went from k-8th grade was called glen Edwards elementary....the test pilot who died in the @ccident that brought down the yb-49
GUNS, TANKS, BOMBS, THERE LIKE TOYS AGAINST THEM!!!!
This reminded me of an episode of California Gold, also produced in partnership with KCET, which traced the roots of the B2. They showed a small scale model prototype of the XB35 and talked to people who worked on it. The show was was given unprecedented access to video the B2 cockpit.
"Stealth Bomber Prototype" is quit misleading.
This plane was not designed or meant to be stealthy (neither was the German Horten) but a concept intended for minimal drag and maximal performance.
Yes, but northrop did note whilst testing that the plane was harder to detect. Which was probably one of the reasons for revisiting the idea.
So that's why people started seeing UFO's
That nickname adds up to 9, yo.
I remember it delivered the A bomb in The war of the Worlds [original movie]
Damn Germany has made more progress in a short amount of time than Russia has in a lifetime.
Could be worse.
Could have evolved to be a design over a kilometer in wingspan, carry 80 drones and utilize an airborne laser and microwave shield.
Luckily our world isn't strange or real enough for that to happen.
Yet.
jocax188723 go on
Getting some First Avenger vibes here.
I mean, fiction is often based on reality, just with some changes that are less realistic. Nazi Germany had a prototype jet powered flying wing by the end of the war, and already had three types of jet fighter in service: The He 162 people's fighter, Me 262 Swallow, and Arado Ar 234 (technically a bomber, but capable of acting more like and attacker). The jet powered flying wing, the Horton Ho 229 ever made it to production, and only a single example really survived to modern day. It is currently being restored at the Steven F. Udvar Hazy air and space museum in Chantilly VA.
The namesake of Edwards Air Force base died in a YB49.
The title is wrong, America's first flying wing was the X-216H which was built in 1929 and if that's not good enough for you there was the N-1M which was built in 1940. The YB-49 can only claim to be the first jet powered flying wing in America. By the time of the YB-49 Jack Northrop had been experimenting with flying wings for 3 decades already. Also calling the YB-49 a stealth bomber is hardly accurate. It only inspired the B-2 Spirit and flight data from the YB-49 was used in it's design but a lot more innovations had to happen to bring about the B-2.
Technically, the X-216H was not a flying wing, since it had a tail. N-1M was a concept platform, never intended for production.
The United States found 1 & a half of these near the end of WW2 in a German hanger , 1 was fully built & the Germans were on there way to building a second one but the United States raided a German airfield & captured both & Brong both back to the States & reversed engineered them & that’s how the United States now has the B-2 bomber flying wing .
Except the flying wing shown was re-engined variant of an aircraft that had prototypes flying before the Ho.IX project (the aircraft you mention) even began... Utter nonsense buddy.
Omg, man. Do you need to talk so fast? Its like you are on speed. Slow down. Do you normally talk like this? I like your videos, but this speed is unnecessary.
click playback speed and slow it to .75
“Under the wings of the Valkyrie. HAIL HYDRA”
I seen this plane fly at Washington DC I think it was around 1950 at Bolling AFB DC
Me too, flew right over my house on armistice day!
It frustrates me when something that exists is called "ahead of its time". No - It's here. Other things are behind the times.
The saying refers to something that defies the logic and knowledge of the time, whether it be a psychological concept or new technology. Usually these ideas are pushed back and replaced with more conventional ones, but they usually come back much later and have a lasting impact. You could say it was ahead of it's time.
Who even defines what the "times" are..
You're right that it's overused by people who don't understand history _or_ technology, but _sometimes_ it is correctly used for something that's 80% realisable but the remaining 20% or so needs 5-20 years to reach reliability.
Well the Flying Wing was ahead of its time, it's a very unstable platform and without computers, there's no way to control it so it came along before the proper support equipment had been invented, so therefore it was ahead of its time
Maybe it's ahead of its time because there is no practical use for it at the current time.
I must have been about 8 or 9 when I saw the Flying Wing one afternoon. I was playing between the houses where I grew up and I looked up and saw the Wing. It must have been on its landing run to the Air Force field in Pittsburgh because it was pretty low. Many years later I saw the B-2 making a simulated bombing run over L.A. one night.
I appreciate and admire this channel and its body of work, but am always frank when it comes to constructive criticism about helping to not alienate my fellow people. I understand the prevalence of the term "America" in referring to a sole country, and how easy it is to capitulate to wide social acceptance of the term, but the fact remains that both there is no country named "America" - even according to the CIA's World Factbook - and that it is insulting to the people of every other country of both North and South America to allow a singular country of those continents to claim their common name for itself. Many of us other North and South Americans have seeming Stockholm Syndrome when it comes to impositions of the United States *OF* America; just look at Canada, where we use their marine security system, rely upon their FDA and other such agencies, and just generally don't make our own rules when it comes to internationally-involved issues. I would never compel speech, but would love this channel's author(s) to take just a minute to review their editorial policies in regards to this. I offer this channel a singular hypothetical comparison: If, say, South Africa in fact was formed as the United States of South Africa, would it not be incredibly insulting to Africans from every other country on the continent for them to solely claim that name Africa?
In any case, I echo my first message: This channel is appreciated. In particular, this channel helps stimulate places in its audiences brains that otherwise might not have been. Much love to the authors of this channel.
Why do foreigners always bitch about this? Nearly all my encounters around the world, for buisness and leisure, its the foreigners who call the USA America. A typical greeting for me goes: Person: "Are you from America?", Me: I am from the United States yes..." People from USA refer the country as the US, the States, or USA. Yeah I know its annoying but its primarily the people from outside the US that perpetuate what you despise so much.
B-2 Spirit: "Hey Grandpa"
It was a brilliant design but until computerized flight control systems became available the concept was not going to be practical. Issues with payload and structure could have been solved with more work. Jet engines were also not up to the application at the time, limiting range. Jack Northrop was able to see the first B-2 Spirit before he passed away, and I'm sure he felt vindicated. Sometimes you can just be too far ahead of your time.
That makes me very happy to know that he was able to see his design reach its true potential once technology had caught up to it.
slow you speech a little, you sound very rushed
Thanks for the all the best military aircraft designs, Deutschland.
Thesw videos are by far my favorite ones on youtube. It's not the quality that keeps me here, though it is good, but rather the topics discussed
Check out Mark Felton Productions my friend, if you want more content like this.
Níłch’i naalkidí ᛏᛖᛚᛖᚹᛁᛋᛁᛟᚾ दूरदर्शन التلفاز Thanks for the recommendation!
Certainly
What aircraft is that in the four man formation at the beginning of the video (0:05)??
slow down give your speech a chance
I remember when the B-49 flying wing dropped an A bomb on the Martian invasion site outside Los Angeles.
very interesting, is this channel ever going to cover the SR91 Aroura myth?
It already did.
Myth?
Whether or not there is an actual aircraft called “Aurora” is debatable, but I fully believe that the USA had an aircraft capable of the type of performance associated with various Aurora descriptions.
Mach 5+ at FL 150,000ft or more.
I mean ISINGLASS was a very real project as early as the ‘60s, then you have DARPA projects like Copper Canyon leading to the X-30 NASP which could’ve been a “white” explanation for studying the type of engines required for hypersonic trans-atmospheric flight and acquiring the titanium for building a hypersonic spy plane.
Even Lockheed’s new promotional videos show a digital representation of their “new” SR-72 which, strangely enough, looks exactly like the “Aurora” was described as looking in late-80s and early-90s descriptions, not to mention Lockheed describes the SR-72 as having the very same type of combined cycle engine that was rumored since the ‘80s as powering the Aurora.
The SR-72 of course just seemingly being an “Aurora” drone.
@@rifleshooterchannel208 I firmly believe something along the lines of the Aurora exists. Maybe not the Aurora itself, but an aircraft like it. I think there was a journalist that visited Skunk Works back in 2017 and caught glimpse of a sub-scale demonstrator for the SR-72's technologies landing at Palmdale. More than likely Skunk Works has been developing & perfecting the technologies in the SR-72 since the 80's & 90's, and have probably perfected it by now and are ready to disclose it to the public in the form of the SR-72. Whatever the Aurora was in the 80's/90's, was most likely some sort of tech demonstrator/prototype. It's also interesting to note how the SR-72 will be powered by a more traditional combined-cycle turboscramjet, instead of the reported pulse-detonation engines that the Aurora supposedly used. My guess is Skunk Works decided to switch to scramjets for their hypersonic vehicles because the PDE's were probably too troublesome. Maybe they weren't as efficient, vibrated too much, or made too much noise. This is all just my speculation though.
JohnnyBoythePilot There’s also, and this is super loose evidence and basically hearsay, an illustration of a painting a journalist claimed was hanging somewhere in the McDonnell Douglas HQ shown from the perspective of an F-15 chase plane showing some kind of white aircraft shaped like a scaled down SR-71 that had F4 intakes for its air breathing (possible) J79s and a XB-70 style intake in the bottom of the fuselage for a ramjet. I’ll try to post a link to the illustration in a second comment because I gotta find it.
But it was purported to be either an evolution of ISINGLASS or something by the codename BRIGHT STAR.
@@rifleshooterchannel208 Woah that's interesting. A mini SR-71 with F-4 + XB-70 style intakes? I can't even imagine how that would look, but it sounds like one ungodly-looking airplane. If you can find that picture, that would be great!
Great video but the first flying wing in the US was the Northrop N-9M-1 in December 1942, followed by N-9M-2 in March 1944...
Make a damn video about me!!!
plane: has flying wing design
sensational youtube titles: StEaLtH
your voice is like soothing and like calm idk how to explain it but tbh thats why i love to come back and watch. very informational for stuff ill never need to know but i want to know. keep up the amazing videos bro :)
Yeah. I like to relax or sleep while listening these
Your narrating needs to improve
3:32 If you listen carefully, it sounded like he had a stuffy nose or he may as well be very, very tired. Either way, stay strong and keep the videos going man, love your content!
Please please make another Drug dark documentation! MKULTRA Project artichoke, Midnight climax, MKOFTEN
This was no stealth bomber by any stretch of the imagination, it was built purely for range and payload. Do some proper research!
I think that a little bit of research was done for this video
Brian fell early... what history books do you read? I remember why i keep trying to block your channel
Not really a 'stealth prototype' as the title suggests, nor was it anywhere near close to being 'America's first flying wing', since Northrop had tested such flying wing prototypes as early as 1929. The purpose of its shape, and similar German efforts such as the Horten flying wing designs, was entirely intended to reduce drag by reducing the cross section and surface area of the airframe, but even if this were not so, the amount of metal used in the YB-49's construction would be unlikely to render it in any way invisible to radar. The Horten flying wing, being developed from a glider type and therefore made from wood - also owing to the limits on using strategic materials for prototypes during WW2 - might have fared better in this regard since wood is at least somewhat radar absorbent. Beyond this, anyone who ever saw the massive smoke plume the YB-49 left trailing behind it in flight, or heard the thing, would be unlikely to imagine it was ever intended to be in any way stealthy!
The similarity to the B-2 Spirit, which is of course genuinely intended to be somewhat 'stealthy' with regard to its radar cross section and the use of saw-tooth panel features and radar absorbent composite materials on the B-2, is coincidental as a result of the fact that in attempting to reduce form and parasitic drag by reducing the surface area of an aircraft, since this also has the effect of reducing the cross section visible to radar too. But since most of Northrop's efforts in this area of development in the 1930s was occurring well before the benefits of radar, and hiding from it, were even known and much less practically demonstrated until the use of the RAF's defences during the Battle of Britain, the notion that stealth was a design intent of early US and German flying wing designs is largely incorrect and more of a 'side benefit'. The first real attempt at radar stealth in combat was with the use of 'Window' by the RAF and 'Düppel' by the Luftwaffe, circa 1942, both of which we would now recognise as being the prototype for the decoy 'chaff' used by modern combat aeroplane types in order to scatter radar returns.
Proved ineffectual against Martians in 1956, but it put on a great show.
saw a B36 flying High over my head when i was a kid, Never forget the sound and sight of it...
By entered service in 97? That's very odd. I saw one of these fly over head when I was about 7 or 8 years old(91-92). I remember it very distinctly. I lived near an airforce base. And I swear it was a known military aircraft at the time that did missions in desert storm. Could this be a mandela effect?
It entered service in 97, but the first prototype took air circa 89. I think the first operational delivery was around 93. So it's possible you saw trials, but it never went into Desert Storm; those were F-117's. The first military engagement for the Spirit was in 99 during the was in Kosovo.
@@luisderivas6005 yeah I looked it up, just seems weird because I remember it so vividly
The YB-49 is such a sexy creation. ^^
Thank you for the compact dokumentary on it.
Hey TH-cam... Putting a midroll ad 3 seconds before the end of the video is REALLY ANNOYING. "... A full 50 years after.... (midroll ad)... the YB-49.(end of video).
why talk so fast. slow down.......
Mr. Cardenas, mentioned in this video, actually tried to purposely stall the YB-49, to compile a report. When it reached its stall speed, the aircraft shuddered bad, and then started flipping backwards, like how a dollar bill spirals backwards end over end when you drop it. Cardenas said he would've died if the throttle controls weren't above his head. He jammed one bank wide open, putting the YB-49 into a flat spin, which he was able to get out of at I think 1,000 feet above the ground at Muroc. He landed and compiled a report that basically long-windedly stated "NEVER PURPOSELY STALL THE YB-49 UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!!!"
Well! You guys finally got one of these mostly right! Not 100%, but you still got an "A".
My dad was a test pilot from 1945 to 1950 and flew the N9M, XB-35, and the YB-49. There were only 100+/- pilots who flew the Wing. There's a lot of memorabilia in our family from this era.
The political side and the fly-by-wire side both played a part, but the stability problems were being solved. Jack Northrop faced loosing other very lucrative contracts that would shut his company down as Symington had threatened. Consolidated's B-36 was obsolete even before it flew. Northrop gave in to keep his people working.
Jack lived to see the Northrop B-2 Spirit roll out become a premier weapons system. You don't think the 179 foot wing span of both the YB-49 and the B-2 were a coincidence, do you?
Up yours Symington!
My uncle was Dale Edwards. His uncle in turn was Glen Edwards, Killed in the YB-49 Muroc crash, subsequently The AFB's Namesake.
Jack Northrup was being honest, imho. But I don't know that for a fact.
What I do know for a fact is the the YB-49 that spun in out of Muroc was Sabotaged.
So let me get this straight. The XB-35 has engine problems with the contra-rotating propellers and their gearboxes. Hmm. I can hear it all now . . . .
Air Force, "Hey Jack, we are having problems with those contra-rotating props of yours."
"We can fix that", says Jack Northrop.
Air Force, "Hey, fix the low bomb capacity while your at it. We want nukes, you know."
Northrop, "Not yet, one thing at a time, please."
A while goes by.
"Gentlemen, I introduce the YB-49 jet bomber.", says Jack Northrop, "It's faster and climbs higher than the XB-35.
Air Force, "Yes, but it uses twice as much fuel, so you can only fly half the distance."
Northrop, "That's a function of these early jets. Just wait until they get improved, then I can show you something great."
Air Force, "Nah. Forget it, Jack. We'll just go with the slower, problem-laden B-36. At least it looks like a plane, (or two, or three)."
The first powered full flying wing was the Northrop N1M in 1940 and since it wasn't a 'secret' the Germans would have known about it. This was followed by the N9M and the XP-56 Black Bullet fighter. The last N9M crashed in 2019 and was unrecoverable. The YB-35 Followed with a first flight in 1946 and two were converted to YB-49s in 1947. The low radar cross section (stealth) was a side effect of the flying wing design not its primary reason. The B2 spirit has the same dimension of the YB49.
Jack Northrop became involved with all-wing aircraft designs in the late-1920s, with his first Flying Wing being built and flown in the 1926-1929 time period. That first prototype, the 1929 Flying Wing X-216H, evolved from earlier design studies. The X-216H had twin rudders with a single horizontal stabilizer running between them; both rudders were connected by twin booms to the thick, all-wing blended fuselage. The aircraft had an open cockpit in the center wing section and single, rear-facing, pusher propeller connected to a piston engine blended into the all-wing shape. The X-216H was first test flown in 1929 with Edward Bellande at the controls;[2] the aircraft displayed adequate performance and was noted for its unique all-metal stressed skin and multi-cellular construction.
Great vid 🤘🏻I spent 22 years in USMC and didn’t know that.
Jack Northrop's first flying wing that he worked on in the 1930's was flown in 1940, that led to the XB-35, then the YB-49. Long before the Horten Ho 229 in 1944-45, even though some people want to give credit to the Germans. If the Germans were so smart, why didn't they figure out the atomic bomb first? Because we know they tried and failed. And the first American jet engine L-1000 was designed in the 1930's long before the German's jet engines. What great inventions has the Germans done since WW2? I mean if they're so smart where's all the technology from them at? America is where all the technology is born, others just buy it, steal it, or try to take credit for it. LMAO
How about the Lockheed L-133... the first supersonic. I saw the first afterburner motor at Hiller air museum......
Fun Fact:Jack Northrop was in a wheelchair and wheeled into the hangar holding the B2 spirit the night before it was introduced to the world." Jack look! It's your baby,its going to fly in the morning for the the Public for the first time."It works Jack, it flies just fine".He died the next day. R.I.P. Jack Northrop.😔
It's just silly hype to say that anything all-wing or tail or fuselage-less was for stealth.
We should expect better reporting.
In the late '20s, Northrop made a winner all-around, with his little Avion 1 or the "x216h" test plane. By all accounts, it was among the best of all planes in its power/weight class in all criteria, and a good deal faster than all others.
He should have kept on with it instead of haring off after the purist's all-wing without a tail.
For the purists, I point out that neither the XB-35 nor the YRB-49 were "flying wings" since they had vertical fins (the prop shaft housings acted as fins to stabilize the XB-35).
Edward's A.F.B. formally Muroc A.F.B. was so named because test pilot Edwards was killed in a early flight in the Y.B....
The Ju-388 was the bomber meant to target the United States. But that project was quickly trashed as the went on. But in 1942, the project was revived, giving light to the Me-264. The Amerika Bomber. Only 2 made it in service, excluding the third one which went down off the coast of Maine.
Germany was already building a flying wing by the time the war ended ...
Yep, he mentioned that in the video you're leaving this comment on...
If you truly believe that the YB-49 prototype wasn't sabotaged then please explain how on a cross country flight from Cal. the engines ran out of oil? The jets of that time not only used oil as a lube but also burned it. The FLIGHT ENGINEER whose job it was to make sure the oil bladders were full before start-up and flight signed off on all the bladders being filled. Yet for some strange reason, they were found NOT TO have been. Also, he asked for and received permission to DRIVE back to the EAST COAST. In the investigation that followed he could not be questioned as he conveniently died in a car crash while returning to base.
Awesome vid! Big ww2 buff and had no idea about these amazing planes!
I saw a B36 up close at.the US Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio
It’s incredibly large and standing next to one of the original wheels from the Original landing gear makes you feel very small
If you get the chance to go you should and you’ll need three days to see the entire facility as I did
Well the original non bogey wheel version of the b36 was so large that only 2 airfields in the us could carry the pressure, i doubt the track version of it would have been better , imagine the track of a tank hitting landing speeds
As a Little Factoid, the B-47 Nortrop Flying WIng is a Movie Star. How do you have a "Top Secret" Airplane featured in a Sci Fi CLassic Film like the 50's War of the Worlds?
I grew up watching WW2 movies. Lately, I've watched many videos here about the War. I've come to a conclusion. The Armed Forces were much more advanced than I was lead to believe as a kid. Anti-Aircraft fired by remote control, advanced radar, 18" cannons aimed by rudimentary computers, flying winds, etc. It looks like the Armed Forces didn't want other antagonists knowing details on our weapons into the 1960s.
Misleading title. The B-35 and B-49 were not built with stealth in mind. They were flying wings because Jack Northrop saw aerodynamic and performance advantages in tailless and flying wing designs. He started work on flying wing projects before he knew radar existed.
Converting a metrics country plane specs into US Imperial just sounds wrong. 2,200lbs 600 miles? It was the 1000/1000/1000 fighter. 1,000kg at 1,000 kmph for 1,0000 km wasn’t it?
I live in southeastern Missouri about 1 hour south of STL. During the early 90s I remember being outside and seeing a triangle shaped plane flying high in the sky (during the day). I assume what I saw was the B2 flying from Whiteman AF Base.