Northrop YB-35
Template:Infobox Aircraft The Northrop YB-35 (Northrop NS-9) was an experimental heavy bomber aircraft developed for the United States Army Air Forces during and shortly after World War II by the Northrop Corporation. It was the first bomber to use the radical and potentially very efficient flying wing design, in which the tail section and fuselage are eliminated and all payload is carried in a thick wing. Only prototype and pre-production machines were built, although interest remained strong enough to warrant further development of the aircraft as a jet bomber, under the designation YB-49.
Design and development
The B-35 was the brainchild of Jack Northrop, who made the flying wing the focus of his work during the 1930s. During WWII Northrop had been commissioned to develop a large wing-only long-range bomber designated XB-35. Northrop advocated the 'flying wing' as a means of reducing parasitic drag and eliminating structural weight not directly responsible for producing lift. In theory, the B-35 could carry a greater payload faster, farther, and cheaper than a conventional bomber. On 11 April 1941, the United States Army Air Corps sent out a request for a bomber that could carry 10,000 lb of bombs to a round-trip mission of 10,000 miles. Requested performance was a maximum speed of 450 mph, cruise speed of 275 mph, and service ceiling of 45,000 ft. This plane would be able to bomb Nazi-occupied Europe in the event that Britain fell. This proposal was originally submitted to Boeing and Consolidated Aircraft Company, and led to the Convair B-36. In May, the contract was also extended to include Northrop, inviting them to submit a design along the lines they were already exploring.
Since the radical design would require a significant amount of engineering work in untested waters, the first orders placed were actually for a one-third-scale version of the XB-35 dubbed the Northrop N-9M. This plane would be used to gather data on the flying wing design, which would be used in designing the XB-35. In early 1942, design work on the XB-35 itself began in earnest. Unlike conventional aircraft, flying wings cannot use a rudder for lateral control, so a set of butterfly-like double-split flaps on the trailing edge of the wingtips were used. When aileron control was input, they were deflected up or down as a single unit, just like an aileron. When rudder input was made, the two surfaces on one side opened, top and bottom, creating drag, and yawing the aircraft. By applying input to both rudder pedals, both sets of surfaces were deployed creating drag so that the airspeed or the glide angle could be manipulated.
Variants
XB-35
On 22 November 1941, the Army Air Corps signed the development contract for an XB-35; the contract included an option for a second aircraft, which was exercised on 2 January 1942. The first was to be delivered in November 1943, the second in April of the next year.
Detailed engineering began in early 1942. A fuselage-like crew cabin was to be embedded inside the wing; it included a tail cone protruding from the trailing edge. This tail cone would contain the remote sighting stations for the gunners in the production model. In the rear of the cabin, there were folding bunks for off-duty crew on long missions. The B-35 would take advantage of a new aluminium alloy devised by Alcoa; it was considerably stronger than any alloy used previously.
In June 1946, the XB-35 made her first flight, a 45-minute trip from Hawthorne, California to Dry Lake. Difficulties on this flight foreshadowed problems to come. Both XB-35s were grounded after only a handful of flights. When they flew again, problems continued to plague them. Nevertheless, the YB-35 program proceeded until the whole project was cancelled.
YB-35
On 30 September 1943, 13 pre-production YB-35s were ordered by the Army Air Force. By the time the first one had flown on 15 May 1948, it was clearly made obsolete by the advent of the jet engine.
Only the first YB-35 was ever flown. Testing lasted only a few months. The YB-35 was scrapped 20 July 1949. The unfinished YB-35 #2, was scrapped August 19, 1949.
The other 11 of 13 YB-35 aircraft ordered underwent conversion to other power plants. Two were converted to use eight jet engines, and designated YB-49 both of which were destroyed. Seven were under conversion to jet power as YB-35B but never finished. One was converted to use six jet engines, and was used as an experimental reconnaissance aircraft designated YRB-49A. The last YB-35B, designated EB-35B, was converted to test two turboprop XT-37 Turbodyne turboprop engines; it was scrapped 30 March 1950.
Operational history
The Army Air Force had originally ordered two-hundred production model B-35s. Since Northrop's facilities were not up to the task of producing them, the Glenn L. Martin Company agreed to undertake mass production. This proved irrelevant when the aircraft proved to be riddled with design flaws. Even disregarding these, so many of Martin's engineers had been drafted by 1944 that Martin pushed the first delivery date back to 1947. Seeing that it would almost certainly never be ready in time for the war, the Army Air Force cancelled the production contract, though the Air Technical Services Command continued to run the program for research purposes.
The obvious setbacks began when the testing of the N-9M showed that the range of the B-35 would probably be 1,600 miles less than the 10,000 miles requested by the Army Air Force. The estimated maximum speed was also less than originally expected. The actual flight of the plane made matters worse. The contra-rotating props caused constant gearbox malfunctions and reduced the effectiveness of propeller control. After only nineteen flights, Northrop grounded the first XB-35; the second aircraft was grounded after eight test flights. During this time, the contra-rotating propellers were removed and replaced with single ones. In addition to having vibration problems, the new single props greatly reduced the plane's performance. Furthermore, the intricate exhaust system was turning into a fiasco to maintain. After only two years of use, the engines already showed signs of metal fatigue.
In the end, the program was doomed due to its endless technical difficulties, the obsolescence of its reciprocating engines, and the fact that the program was far behind schedule and over budget. One large contributor to the program's failure was the tendency of Northrop to become engaged in many experimental programs, which spread a small engineering staff far too wide.
There are long-standing conspiracy theories about the cancellation of the program. Specifically, there is a long-standing accusation that Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington attempted to coerce Jack Northrop to merge his company with the Atlas Corporation controlled Convair. When Northrop refused, Symington supposedly arranged to cancel the B-35 and B-49 program. Critics of these allegations note that the B-35 and B-49 designs had well-documented performance and design problems, and were incapable of carrying nuclear weapons. Furthermore, around the same time the B-49 was cancelled, Northrop received a production contract for the F-89 Scorpion fighter.[citation needed]
At that time, it appeared the B-36 program might be cancelled as well as the B-35. The Air Force desired to have a production program for the Fort Worth factory. Given Northrop's insufficient production capacity, this is probably the source of the 'conspiracy.'
Specifications (YB-35)
General characteristics
- Crew: 9: pilot, copilot, bombardier, navigator, engineer, radio operator, three gunners
Performance
Armament
- Guns: 20x .50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns
- Bombs: 51,070 lb (23,210 kg)
References
- Coleman, Ted. Jack Northrop and the Flying Wing: The Real Story Behind the Stealth Bomber. New York: Paragon House, 1988. ISBN 1-55778-079-X.
- Maloney, Edward T. Northrop Flying Wings. Corona del Mar, California: World War II Publications, 1988. ISBN 0-915464-00-4.
- Pape, Garry and Campbell, John. Northrop Flying Wings: A History of Jack Northrop's Visionary Aircraft. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 1995. ISBN 0-88740-689-0.
- Winchester, Jim. "Northrop XB-35/YB-49." Concept Aircraft: Prototypes, X-Planes and Experimental Aircraft. Kent, UK: Grange Books plc., 2005. ISBN 1-84013-309-2.
External links
See also
Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
Related lists