B-35 and B-49 Northrop's Flying Wings

[Jschmus]

I don't know if anybody has seen these before, but I thought I'd share.  From the "x planes" blog on Tumblr:

[NARSES2]

That top photo with the B.17 is fantastic  Thanks for posting

[Taiidantomcat]

That top photo with the B.17 is fantastic  Thanks for posting

seconded! Love that blog too!

[Jschmus]

Something I missed on the last pass:

Pilot's Handbook for the XB-35 Heavy Bombardment Airplane
http://avaxhome.ws/ebooks/history_military/xb35_pilots_handbook.html

[jcf]

Northrop Flying Wing drawing from the January, 1942 Air Trails:



A nice bit of period conjecture based on the layout of the N1M, two photos of which appear on page 32
of the same issue.

Did a bit of off-the-cuff scaling using a prop diameter of 12 feet (3.6576 m) as the starting point, all measures are approximate  :
Span: 72 ft 9 in (22.174 m)
OAL: 29 ft 3 in (8.915 m)

[raafif]

love the N1m, yet to start my 48th Sword kit -- will do it with both maximum sweep and dihedral (both setable on the ground only).

Are those remote gun-turrets shown on the wing might have to add those ! 

[GTX]

Modelling that N1M based design as a bomber and then putting that drawing alongside would through some JMNs off.

[Tuck]

This is my whiffy of Jack Northrop's flying wing fighter-bomber that was up on the old What-if site many moons ago....

"Upon commencement of flight testing of the small scale flying wing, the handling qualities warranted the operational testing of the small wing as a fighter-bomber.   Sent to participate in fighter-sweeps and ground attack shortly after D-Day, the small wing racked up an impressive set of kills.  Armed with 4x20mm cannon and 8xAP rockets, the little wing performed well until Allied gunners accidentally shot it down, thinking it was a Luftwaffe Wunder-Weapon......"

[raafif]

where are the D-day stripes

[Patron Zero]

Just my unsolicited two pence but I've always thought the (X)B-35/47 would have been an excellent in-flight refueling tanker or serve in some other supportive role such as command-control or perhaps even AWAC.

[KJ_Lesnick]

I remember Jack Northrop had a proposal of a B-49 design with a partial fuselage formed over the baseline fuselage with a few modifications here and there to allow it to carry a nuclear bomb in a centralized bomb-bay.  Anybody have any drawings of that assuming it's not classified?

[dragon]

Whether prop (B-35) or jet-powered (B-49), the issue with the all-wing aircraft was stability. In 1950 the technology just wasn't there to correct the instabilitites as they happened, and the all-wing projects were abandoned for more "traditional" aircraft. Nowadays, with "fly-by-wire" and instant feedback systems, it would be no sweat.

Which is the main reason why the base in California's High Desert is called "Edwards AFB" and not "Muroc AFB".  Captain Glen Edwards (Canadian-American) was killed testing the YB-49. 

[Stargazer]

A nice bit of period conjecture based on the layout of the N1M, two photos of which appear on page 32
of the same issue.

Modelling that N1M based design as a bomber and then putting that drawing alongside would through some JMNs off.

I believe you guys actually mean "N9M", as the N1M was a whole different bird called the "Flying Jeep".

[Stargazer]

A few images of the XB-35's cockpit arrangement taken from Northrop official maintenance manuals:

[Stargazer]

Also, a modeller calling himself Thlaylie has posted these beautiful shots of his XB-35 cockpit on the Secret Projects Forum: