Witteman-Lewis XNBL-1
| Witteman-Lewis XNBL-1 | |
|---|---|
| File:Barling1.jpg | |
| AS 64215, "Barling Bomber" at St. Louis Air Meet 1923 | |
| Role | Heavy Bomber |
| Manufacturer | Witteman-Lewis |
| Designer | Walter Barling |
| First flight | 22 August 1923 |
| Retired | 1928 |
| Status | Experimental |
| Primary user | United States Army Air Service |
| Number built | 1 |
The Witteman-Lewis XNBL-1 "Barling Bomber" was an experimental long-range, heavy bomber built for the United States Army Air Service in the early 1920s. Although unsuccessful as a bomber, it was an early attempt at creating a strategic bomber.
Design and development
The XNBL-1(Experimental Night Bomber, Long Range) was designed by Walter Barling, who had previously designed the Tarrant Tabor, which was similar in concept but was destroyed in a fatal nose-over crash on its first flight in 1919. Like the Tabor, the Barling Bomber was a large six-engined triplane with a cigar-shaped fuselage. Unlike its predecessor, the XNBL-1 had a crew of seven with all of its engines mounted level with the fuselage. The undercarriage consisted of 10 wheels, including two wheels mounted towards the front of the aircraft (to prevent a nose-over on takeoff) and a tail skid. Components of the aircraft were assembled together to begin flight testing at Wilbur Wright Field. Final cost of the XNBL-1 project was $525,000, not including a $700,000 hangar to house the airplane.
Operational history
Although capable of carrying a 5,000 lb (2,300 kg) bomb load, performance was disappointing. The overly complex structure of three wings and their accompanying struts and bracing wires created so much interference drag that the six engines could barely compensate. A fully-loaded XNBL-1 had a range of only about 170 miles (270 km) with a top speed of 96 mph (155 km/h). In contrast, the "short-range" Martin NBS-1 had a range of about 450 miles (725 km) and could carry a 2,000 lb (900 kg) at the same speed. On a flight from Dayton, Ohio to Washington, DC, the Barling Bomber failed to fly over the Appalachian Mountains and had to turn around.
Although the XNBL-1 was not put into production, it had advanced features such as aluminum fuselage components, adjustable multi-wheel undercarriage, separate compartments for crew, a flight engineer, electrical instruments and advanced engine controls. One unusual feature was that the incidence of the tailplane could be adjusted in flight using a lever in the cockpit. [1] The XNBL-1 was the largest aircraft in the United States until the Boeing XB-15 in 1935.
Frequently characterized as "Mitchell’s Folly" (after Brig.-Gen. William "Billy" Mitchell who had championed the project), later in the decade, the aircraft had been disassembled by Air Service personnel and stored at Wright Field. After lying in disrepair for years, the Barling was "surreptitiously destroyed in 1928 at the order of General H.H. Arnold so that no public outcry would be made over the million-dollar waste of taxpayer's money." [2]
Operators
Specifications
General characteristics
- Crew: Seven (two pilots, five gunners)
Performance
Armament
- Up to 5,000 lb (2300 kg) bombload
- 7 × .30 cal (7.62 mm) machine guns
References
Notes
- ^ Winchester 2005, p. 179.
- ^ Barling Bomber
Bibliography
- Moy, Timothy. War Machines: Transforming Technologies in the U.S. Military, 1920-1940 (Texas A & M University Military History Series). College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-1585441044.
- Tilford, Earl H., Jr. "The Barling Bomber." Aerospace Historian, June 1979, pp. 91–97.
- Winchester, Jim. The World's Worst Aircraft: From Pioneering Failures to Multimillion Dollar Disasters. London: Amber Books Ltd., 2005. ISBN 1-904687-34-2.