Northrop N9M Video- Planes of Fame

Three of the N-9Ms survived flight testing, one is the preserved and flying N-9MB mentioned above in California, it seems unclear what happened to the other two, scrapping being very likely.
The first example crashed unfortunately killing its pilot Max Constant.

The earlier and similar (prettier?) N-1M also survives and has been restored and put on display at the Smithsonian NASM Silver Hill, Maryland site.

Also at this museum is the second XP-56 Black Bullet awaiting restoration, not strictly a flying-wing but none the less a striking tailess fighter.

The two X-4 ‘Bantams’ survive, again they are not strictly ‘wings, and could be considered swept-wing jet powered XP-56s.

It is unfortunate that none of the fifteen large Northrop wings that were completed survive.
The two piston engined contra-prop XB-35s (42-13603 & 38323) and the sole single prop YB-35 (162366) survived the flight test programme only to be flown from Lake Muroc to Northrop Field, Hawthorn to be scrapped by August the 23rd 1949.
The two eight jets powered YB-49s (42-102367 & 102368) were both destroyed in crashes. No2 was lost fatally 5 June 1948 as in earlier post, No1 crashed and burned during taxi trials on 15 March 1950, fortunately the crew escaped.
The six jets YRB-49A (42-102369) was by far the nearest big wing to a production type and conducted a successful flight-test programme, but it was clear by the early 1950s that the flying-wing wouldn’t be gaining any USAF contract, and it was flown to Ontario Airport in April 1951 and broken up in late 1953.
The remaining nine aircraft went through a complex redesignation process (for non-flyers!) all starting out as YB-35s, becoming XB-35s, while some then went on to become RB-35Bs and others EB-35Bs before all being scrapped at Hawthorn between mid 1949 and early 1950.

Thank you for this great information on the Northrop flying wings!

PlaneVideoArt

Survivors

Three of the N-9Ms survived flight testing, one is the preserved and flying N-9MB mentioned above in California, it seems unclear what happened to the other two, scrapping being very likely.
The first example crashed unfortunately killing its pilot Max Constant.

The earlier and similar (prettier?) N-1M also survives and has been restored and put on display at the Smithsonian NASM Silver Hill, Maryland site.

Also at this museum is the second XP-56 Black Bullet awaiting restoration, not strictly a flying-wing but none the less a striking tailess fighter.

The two X-4 ‘Bantams’ survive, again they are not strictly ‘wings, and could be considered swept-wing jet powered XP-56s.

It is unfortunate that none of the fifteen large Northrop wings that were completed survive.
The two piston engined contra-prop XB-35s (42-13603 & 38323) and the sole single prop YB-35 (162366) survived the flight test programme only to be flown from Lake Muroc to Northrop Field, Hawthorn to be scrapped by August the 23rd 1949.
The two eight jets powered YB-49s (42-102367 & 102368) were both destroyed in crashes. No2 was lost fatally 5 June 1948 as in earlier post, No1 crashed and burned during taxi trials on 15 March 1950, fortunately the crew escaped.
The six jets YRB-49A (42-102369) was by far the nearest big wing to a production type and conducted a successful flight-test programme, but it was clear by the early 1950s that the flying-wing wouldn’t be gaining any USAF contract, and it was flown to Ontario Airport in April 1951 and broken up in late 1953.
The remaining nine aircraft went through a complex redesignation process (for non-flyers!) all starting out as YB-35s, becoming XB-35s, while some then went on to become RB-35Bs and others EB-35Bs before all being scrapped at Hawthorn between mid 1949 and early 1950.

He also said that the guys flying the large one’s were very brave indeed, he was not there when i went about 4 years ago though.

Including Captain Glen Edwards and Major Daniel Forbes, after whom the US Air Force renamed Muroc Dry Lake as Edwards AFB and Topeka AAF as Forbes AFB in their honour after the loss of the YB-49 and its crew.

Still cynical 😀
Other a/c in the shot are quite normal for a/c in the circuit/pattern…why edit them out when it ruins the continuity??

Yes I did notice that they did not show the actual take off or landing and wondered if she is a little ‘twitchy’ near the ground.
Tailless a/c did tend to be sensitive/unstable in pitch especially near the ground !cynical moi ??

The lack of take off and touch down footage was due to other aircraft in the shot. The wing did just fine at both areas of flight. Thanks for the great comments guys!

PlaneVideoArt

When i was at Chino one of the guys working on her was still a Northrop guy in semi retirement (i think) and he told me that the N9 was a precursor to the handling issues of the flying wing concept but Jack Nothrop believed in it so much no one could change his mind.

He also said that the guys flying the large one’s were very brave indeed, he was not there when i went about 4 years ago though.

curlyboy

It’s also a stretch comparing flight control of the original wings with that of the B-2, the advancement in avionics and flight computors effectively made the technology a viable one in a production aircraft.
Gentle in flight oscillations were another problem which effectively brought the B-35 and 49 development to an end.

I saw it a few years back at Chino it is quite small and is apparently a handful to fly to boot.

curlyboy

Yes I did notice that they did not show the actual take off or landing and wondered if she is a little ‘twitchy’ near the ground.
Tailless a/c did tend to be sensitive/unstable in pitch especially near the ground !cynical moi ??

Thanks for posting that, I’ve always been a huge fan of the Northrop ‘wings’ (especially the B-35 and 49), although Jack was closest to making it work with that technology let’s not forget the British and Germans were at it aswel.;)

I saw it a few years back at Chino it is quite small and is apparently a handful to fly to boot.

curlyboy

I remember seeing a couple of clips of the impressive YB-49 Flying Wing in the original War of the Worlds movie. Awesome sight and sound.