lauren%rand-unix@sri-unix.UUCP (06/16/83)
a006 2148 15 Jun 83
PM-Topic Advisory,
Managing Editors:
Wire Editors:
Early in World War II, when the Pentagon asked aircraft designers to
provide the ultimate bomber, aeronautical visionary Jack Northrop was
ready with an ''all wing'' concept he first developed in 1929.
But despite some impressive tests, the futuristic Flying Wing was
scrapped by the Air Force in 1953. Now, it could be taking off again.
A squadron of volunteer aviation workers is restoring a version of
the boomerang-shaped craft and plans to fly the 40-year-old plane
within two years.
In Today's Topic, slugged PM-Topic-Flying Wing, AP writer Tom
Harrigan looks at a bold vision that could see flight again.
Laserphoto LA1 will move before 5 a.m. EDT.
The AP
ap-ny-06-16 0048EDT
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a007 2157 15 Jun 83
PM-Topic-Flying Wing, Bjt,800
TODAY'S TOPIC: Designer's Bold Vision Could See Flight Again
Laserphoto LA1
By TOM HARRIGAN
Associated Press Writer
CHINO, Calif. (AP) - The futuristic Flying Wing, scrapped by the Air
Force in 1953 despite a decade of impressive tests, could be taking
off again.
A squadron of volunteer aviation workers, including some who worked
on the original Flying Wing project, is restoring a version of the
boomerang-shaped craft and plans to fly the 40-year-old plane within
two years.
And the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is exploring
possible redevelopment of the bold design for large cargo craft. It
commissioned a study several years ago by the nation's three largest
aircraft builders that showed that such designs, up to twice as large
as the Boeing 747, would be more efficient than other large cargo
carriers.
Early in World War II, when the Pentagon asked aircraft designers to
provide the ultimate bomber, aeronautical visionary Jack Northrop was
ready with an ''all wing'' concept he first developed in 1929.
Although radical, even by today's standards, the design was approved
for testing and a series of prototypes were built through the 1940s,
ranging from a small twin-prop model to the huge jet-powered YB-49
version.
Mechanical problems plagued the prop models, but when jet engines
were installed, the Flying Wing soared flawlessly with one tragic
exception.
On June 5, 1948, a YB-49 crashed, killing the five crewmen including
Capt. Glen Edwards, the test pilot for whom Edwards Air Force Base is
named. It was the only crash in the Flying Wing's 10-year test
program. Its cause has never been determined.
In 1951, a YB-49 flew across-country in a record four hours and 20
minutes, averaging 511 mph. At the end of that flight, President
Truman toured the YB-49 and decided the planes were needed by the
military.
But soon after Dwight Eisenhower became president, the Air Force
gave its large bomber contract to Convair's six-engine B-36. And the
Pentagon ordered workmen with acetylene torches to cut remaining
versions of the Flying Wing into tiny pieces to be sold as scrap.
Northrop, in an interview shortly before his death in 1981, said the
Department of Defense killed the Flying Wing development project when
Northrop would not agree to merge his company with Convair. But the
Air Force maintained the B-36 was simply a better aircraft.
''Anyone whoever saw the wing fly, never forgot it,'' said
71-year-old Max Stanley, a Northrop test pilot for 27 years. ''It's
absolutely inconceivable that someone would order them destroyed...The
airplane of tomorrow was flying 35 years ago.''
Just two Flying Wings survived the government torches - a pair of
smaller N9M prop versions with 60-foot wingspans. One is displayed at
the Air and Space Museum in Washington. The other was kept under a
tarpaulin for 30 years at Chino Airport, about 50 miles east of Los
Angeles.
That plane, its wooden-strut wings rotted and its metal center
section rusted, is now being restored by a dozen volunteers at the
Planes of Fame Museum at Chino Airport. The museum hopes to be flying
the Wing to airshows around the country in a year or two.
''We're rebuilding the N9MB as a tribte to John Northrop,'' says Ed
Maloney, director of Planes of Fame. ''Pilots who flew it said it was
one of the best planes they had ever flown.
''The government was conserving metals during World War II, and only
the center section of the first flying wings were made of steel,''
says Maloney. The volunteers have removed four decades of rust from
the center-section, which looks like a bent automobile frame with
three bathtub-sized openings for the cockpit and twin engines.
Meanwhile, NASA has expressed an interest in redevelopment of a
''span loaded'' aircraft, another term for an all-wing design.
In 1979 Northrop talked with NASA officials about his design, and
soon after received a letter from NASA chief Robert A. Frosch.
''We sometimes lose track of historical lessons,'' Frosch said in
the letter. ''Our studies of technical requirements of potential large
cargo logistical aircraft have led us to consideration of span-loaded
configurations, during which we have rediscovered the Flying Wing.''
Boeing, McDonnell Douglas Corp., and Lockheed each did further
studies of ''span loaded'' large cargo planes under NASA contracts a
few years ago. An aeronautics engineer for NASA, Matt Winston, said
the studies agreed that all-wing designs would be ''a more efficient
flying machine'' at weights up to 2 million pounds and wingspans to
500 feet.
Some drawbacks were cited, he said, including engine noise and the
need for extra-wide runways.
But a Northrop Aircraft spokesman and aviation historian, Ira Chart,
says he has little doubt Jack Northrop's aviation dream will be
resurrected in the next 15 years as a cheaper, more efficient
alternative for airborne transportation.
ap-ny-06-16 0119EDT
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