Northrop N9M crash.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/27594/rare-and-historic-northrop-flying-wing-crashes-into-prison-yard-in-california

 

Very unfortunate. Sounds like a fatal crash.

 

So awesome, the N9M. So sad. RIP to the pilot.

 

I always struggle philosophically with flying airplanes like that. Never been able to come up with a fits all answer. The loss of the pilot is an obvious tragedy but the loss of the last of its kind historic aircraft is another thing.

 

I'm with you 100% on that. But if I had to choose, preservation of the last remaining example would mean exactly that. In other words, indoor static display. Which is sad because aircraft are meant to be flown.

Regarding the N9M, in hindsight, building a flyable replica is probably on par financially to maintaining flight-worthy status of a 77+ year old aircraft.

According to today's article in Hemmings:

"The aircraft had been owned by the Planes of Fame Air Museum since the 1950s. It was restored in the 1980s and then once again in 2010, after an in-flight fire in 2006. It had been flown at air shows in the Chino, California, region for several years since its last restoration and was flown at the 2018 Planes of Fame Air Show in Chino last May."

"The N9M flying wing originally employed two Menasco Buccaneer 8-liter six-cylinder air-cooled inline propeller engines on the rear of the wing, however, during the restoration, they were replaced with twin Franklin OX-540 eight-cylinder engines that were capable of air speeds of 220 mph and a fuel range of 480 miles. The metal and wood air frame weighed almost 5,900 pounds. The N9M planes were the first aircraft to utilize a total hydraulic flight control system that gave feedback to the crew based on air speed. The yellow-above and blue-below paint scheme was exclusive to the N9MB, the other three models were all painted differently to tell them apart."​

 

Exactly my thoughts.

 

Since we've had warbirds build from scratch, maybe someone will build a new N9M. I wonder if the plans still exist.

 

And mine, too. Whenever there is only one of the specie left, and especially if it has some "particular historical interest", after thinking much about it, it should be grounded, even if they are meant to be flown.

Rgds

 

Forget a replica N9M, we need a B35 or B49 flying wing replica Very sad news for both pilot and aircraft. It's really to bad the USAF scrapped all the real flying wings in the late 1940's when the powers that be decided on the Consolidated B36 instead and shut down the flying wing project. It was nice to see Boeing win the next generation heavy bomber contest with the B52 5 years later, although Boeing has had some questionable military contract wins over the years. Also the flying wing B35/B49 were not ready for use supposedly due to stability issues.

 

Can you think of a military contractor or any government contractor who hasn't?

 

Flight control technology was not advanced enough for either the B-35 or B-49. USAF almost shot themselves in the foot over the B-49, though, until good sense prevailed.

 

The flying wing planform is inherently unstable and only a preemptively acting computer will make it a stabile platform . In the most early days it was obvious that there had to be a stabilizing element in the configuration of an airborne vehicle. The birds had this long ago and although short coupled they had a computer that made certain that they would successfully aviate. Northrop was too far ahead of his time with his early designs. Wing twist and elevons required too much human input to keep things on an even pitch. The B-52 eventually proved the correct combination of power and configuration.

 

No question but it would have been nice if they had kept one for a museum. Chopping them all up just set them up for all nature of stories as to why. Not like they haven't saved examples of mistakes before.

 

Stewart Symington, Sec. of Defense, ordered that all of Jack Northrop's "wings" were to be destroyed in place as a retaliation for Northrop's refusal to be gobbled up by a company chosen by Symington. I think that it was Gen. Dynamics.

 

Not yet, still Consolidated soon to be Convair. Someone would go to jail if this happened now. Was he later appointed as president or was on the board of directors of the latter company?? Can't find the info now, but I read that he had a great deal of influence and was connected with Convair.

 

I can't remember all the details but this act of retaliation broke Jack Northrop's heart when he saw his airplanes hacked up while some were still on the line.

 

Completely agree...hard to say what the right answer is with these last of a kind planes. Sad for pilot loss equally of course. Just sucks all around.

 

Very sad to see this.

 

It was many, many years ago that I met Jack Northrop at a large gathering celebrating his accomplishments. I'm guessing now this was about 1979-80 or somewhere like that. It was in Hawthorne CA I believe in a hanger at the airfield. He was very old and in a wheelchair but he described every detail of the events leading up to the destruction of the planes, which made him very angry and bitter -- especially with the AF and a few specific people there who I forgot who they were.

At the time there were rumors of a new flying wing being developed but Jack had no details. The amount of respect associated with Jack was amazing.

 

Not sure when work started on the B2 but I have read he was told about it not long before he passed.

My uncle spent his entire career as an aerospace engineer in So Cal for all of the big players. B2 was his last job before retirement. It was a long time before he was able to tell the family what he did the last few years at work. Jack was considered by him and many others one of the greats of the industry.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Northrop
"Shortly before his death, he was given clearance to see designs and hold a scale model of the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, which shared design features of his YB-35 and YB-49.[13] The B-2, for example, has the same 172-foot wingspan as the jet-powered flying wing, YB-49.[14] Northrop reportedly wrote on a sheet of paper "Now I know why God has kept me alive for 25 years".[14] B-2 project designer John Cashen said, "As he held this model in his shaking hands, it was as if you could see his entire history with the flying wing passing through his mind."[15] He died 10 months later. "

 

This rings a bit close to home in regards to what happened to the Avro Arrow. The planes were well ahead of their time, 5 flew, with a few others on the production line..then it was chopped. All aircraft were destroyed along with tooling and the drawings. To this day it leaves a sour taste in the mouths of Canadians who have an interest in our avaiation history.

 

The Arrow had a few technical problems, but they should have saved at least one for the museums.

 

I agree. The Arrow had great potential and the way it met its end was disgraceful. Odd, but I seem to remember that gen. Dynamics was a part of this , too.