YB-49 Video

Old style reminds me of this FAA vid on density altitude:

 
Somewhere I read a story that Jack Northrop was taken to see a B-2 bomber demonstration. When asked what he thought about it, he said, "I've waited all my life to see this."

Can't find the article.
 
I have always had a fascination with the early flying wings.
If I could find actual plans for 1 or 2 person Horton, I'd consider building it.
Thanks for sharing.
 
Shepherd said:
I have always had a fascination with the early flying wings.
If I could find actual plans for 1 or 2 person Horton, I'd consider building it.
Thanks for sharing.
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Run over to the Planes of Fame Museum at Chino, California. You could probably scale something off of their N9M, which is/was a demonstrator for the B-35 planform.
 
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SoCal RV Flyer said:
I saw it fly recently at the Chino airshow. Impressive! Mostly constructed of wood.
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Ha. I was out at Planes of Fame about 15 years ago and got in the way... I mean helped... while they troubleshot a gear problem.

Neat airplane and I'm glad a flying example survived.
 
SoCal RV Flyer beat me to it - by about 90 minutes and with a great image. Here's another picture...
It was amazing to see this fly! So many terrific airplanes. GDK_1052.jpg
 
I saw it make an early flight at Chino airport. It flew but seemed to be a bit unstable in yaw, especially noticeable when flying directly overhead, most likely due to lack of vertical surfaces. Also, being so short coupled, it porpoised during the flare and went around a few times before making an actual landing. It was nice to see it fly after so many years of being moth balled.
 
One of the coolest features of the N9M to me is it's coupled transmission to the engine to reduce shaft vibrations. Almost looks like a torque converter straight off a car. Really cool airplane

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1RTK1 said:
Love those old reels
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That particular guy on YouTube uploads hundreds of the things. He must spend all his free time digitizing them. On stuff with no audio he picks a license-free song to match, etc. And the topics are all over the place.

But he does quite a few aviation ones, so I stay subscribed to see what he’s posted every couple of weeks. Many times he posts one a day when he’s really cranking.

I suspect he’s doing some sort of interlibrary loan thing constantly and taking them home and uploading them and is retired or something.

He’s got some fun/funny aircraft training videos for WWII era aircraft. Training was apparently “here’s a film, go fly with Bob and try not to kill yourself”.
 
Zeldman said:
Somewhere I read a story that Jack Northrop was taken to see a B-2 bomber demonstration. When asked what he thought about it, he said, "I've waited all my life to see this."

Can't find the article.
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I believe you're thinking of a History Channel 'Modern Marvels' documentary about the B-2. They dramatized a scene where an actor playing an elderly Jack Northrup was taken to a Northrop-Grumman hangar and shown the B-2.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1220025/

The N9M is one of the coolest airplanes ever. It's a wonderful thing that its been restored and is flying. Someone mentioned above its lack of lateral stability. That was a big problem with the XB-35 and YB-49, and as a result it was a poor bomber platform.

Bomb sights and autopilots of the period were unable to overcome the adverse yaw characteristics, and the program was near termination when the YB-49 test article flown by Captain Glen Edwards crashed north of Muroc Dry Lake.
 
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I could fly the N9M and die a happy man.
Not concurrently. Hopefully, years after.
 
3393RP said:
I believe you're thinking of a History Channel 'Modern Marvels' documentary about the B-2. They dramatized a scene where an actor playing an elderly Jack Northrup was taken to a Northrop-Grumman hangar and shown the B-2.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1220025/
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There’s also a reference to it in the Wikipedia article on the YB-49:

“Thirty years later, in April 1980, Jack Northrop, then quite elderly and using a wheelchair, was taken back to the company he founded. There, he was ushered into a classified area and shown a scale model of the Air Force's forthcoming, but still highly classified Advanced Technology Bomber, which would eventually become known as the B-2; it was a sleek, all-wing design. Looking over its familiar lines, Northrop, unable to speak due to various illnesses, was reported to have written on a pad: "I know why God has kept me alive for the past 25 years." Jack Northrop died ten months later, in February 1981, eight years before the first B-2 entered Air Force service.[12]”

The source of which appears to be:

Withington, Thomas and Chris Davey. B-2A Spirit Units in Combat. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2006. ISBN 1-84176-993-2

Haven’t read it.
 
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