Notes & Queries
'Flying Wing' (Tailless) Aircraft
Thread starter Comfortably Numb
flying wing
Antediluvian
This thread was spun off from:
Historic UFO Encounters: Newspaper Articles
https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/historic-ufo-encounters-newspaper-articles.65811/
EnolaGaia said:
The Northrop flying wings weren't just retired - they were scrapped. The last surviving airframe was written off and designated for scrap in November 1953. That's why not a single one of these fascinating 'birds' is on exhibit somewhere today.
Our Northrop and Horten 'flying wings' are a subject dear to my heart and when initially researching Arnold's sighting all those years ago, it was essential to investigate a possible connection.
Thankfully, l kept copies of relevant photographs/images and have just discovered where they are on an old backup.
If they might be of historical interest, I have uploaded them and retained the original file names as hopefully some are a means of identification.
www.forteanmedia.com/byellow.jpg
www.forteanmedia.com/fly_wing.jpg
www.forteanmedia.com/ho229.jpg
www.forteanmedia.com/ho95.jpg
www.forteanmedia.com/ho_ix_v-1.jpg
www.forteanmedia.com/hortenfr.jpg
www.forteanmedia.com/hortenr.jpg
www.forteanmedia.com/n1m.jpg
www.forteanmedia.com/yb49.jpg
www.forteanmedia.com/yrb-49a.jpg
Last edited by a moderator: Feb 7, 2021
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blessmycottonsocks
Wessex and Mercia
If that's an actual aircraft it's not a military or experimental flying wing.
The date of the photograph is not in question.
The main problem with the Redlands photo is that the oddity in the sky wasn't noticed when the picture was taken - it was first noticed as a glitch in the photo after it was developed. This didn't correlate with claims concerning the mystery object's direction of travel and behavior. I suspect this obvious clash is the main reason the sighting wasn't taken all that seriously.
The Northrop N9-M appears to have been the last one flying.
It was a single-seater with a 60 ft wingspan.
It was fully restored by the California Planes of Fame Air Museum and flew until 2019, when it crashed into a prison compound, tragically killing the pilot and completely destroying this last of the legendary aircraft.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_N-9M
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We may start to see a whole new range of flying wing type aircraft in the near future though.
Netherlands airline KLM has been testing a remote control scale model of its planned "Flying V" airliner, with passenger compartments in the wings:
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/flying-v-maiden-flight-intl-scli-grm/index.html
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blessmycottonsocks said:
It was fully restored by the California Planes of Fame Air Museum and flew until 2019, when it crashed into a prison compound, tragically killing the pilot...
Goodness sakes... completely unaware about that tragedy. Thanks for highlighting this shocking incident.
I thought for a moment there we had the shout for a simulacara - kinda smiley/angry looking airplane.
It reminds of something from my archives:
www.forteanmedia.com/spanload.jpg
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Comfortably Numb said:
Rather like some of the Star Trek hardware, that looks like a prediction that could well come true.
Until people get used to spotting aircraft like this, I can see them spawning a lot of UFO reports (or indeed claims that previous sightings were brief time slips into the 21st century):
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Rather like some of the Star Trek hardware, that looks like a prediction...
That... is... simply majestic...
Further to my report of the Northrop N9-M fatal crash in 2019, I found that there is still one extant Northrop Flying Wing.
The N1-M has been restored to a presentational but non-flying condition and now resides in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC.
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Bigphoot2
Not sprouts! I hate sprouts.
A very early British attempt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westland-Hill_Pterodactyl
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If we're going waaaaaay back into aviation history, then the first powered heavier than air machine has to be Clément Ader's Eole.
This bizarre, steam-powered, bat-winged but tailless aircraft made a short (alleged 50 metre) powered "hop" into the air in 1890:
At least Ader had the good sense to put his propellers at the front, rather than pusher-propellers on the trailing edges, which is less efficient and resulted in aerodynamic turbulence problems.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ader_Éole
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Trevp666
It was like that when I got here.........honest!!!
Welwyn Garden City (but oddly, not an actual city)
No Mention of the Northrop B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber yet then?
The successor to other US 'flying wings'.
And then as well, of course, there are many UCAV craft.
Here is Russias Suchoi S-70 'Heavy Strike Drone'.
And then we have Airbus developing their 'Blended Wing Body' design for MAVERIC.
Strictly speaking not a flying wing as it has a pair of vertical tail-fins, but hey-ho, I'm blending bending the rules.
It is damn pretty though.
https://www.airbus.com/newsroom/stories/Imagine-travelling-in-this-blended-wing-body-aircraft.html
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feinman
Account Retired
"One of the UFO cases investigated by the U.S. Air Force was a sighting by famous aeronautical engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson. Johnson was the first team leader of Lockheed Skunk Works, the team responsible for developing super secret high tech airplanes, who eventually took up residence at Area 51."
"I should state that for at least five years I have definitely believed in the possibility that flying saucers exist — this in spite of a good deal of kidding from my technical associates. Having seen this particular object on December 16th, I am now more firmly convinced than ever that such devices exist, and I have some highly technical converts in this belief as of that date. "
http://www.openminds.tv/multiple-witness-ufo-sighting-top-secret-aircraft-engineer-1953/28560
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Johnson_(engineer)
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Nice 20 minute video, combining historical footage and some CGI, about the history (and "curse") of the Flying Wing:
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Bel Geddes "Airliner No.4" was a remarkably futuristic design concept for 1929!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airliner_Number_4
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ChasFink
Justified & Ancient
I think we need to start a campaign to have this built and put into service.
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Priest of the cult of the Dog with the Broken Paw
But does it not have a sort of duplex tail?
I'm not a cat
ChasFink said:
Crowdfunding?
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Cochise said:
It looks as though it's the size of an apartment block
Nosmo King said:
The 528 foot wingspan makes it about 2 1/2 times the width of a 747, and it would carry 451 passengers and a crew of 155!
That's pretty big
No wonder they never bothered making one - not enough crew members.
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Bel Geddes "Airliner No.4"
It does beg the question...."What happened to airliners 1, 2 and 3?"
Were they not big enough?
Did they not remember to include the space for a swimming pool and a tennis court?
Here is an 'airfix' style model
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There was also the K-7, which was actually built and flown.
Here is some information about the K-7 and its fatal flight aswell as some more information about the Bel Geddes #4. It was to be a thing to behold.
https://flyawaysimulation.com/news/3322/
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Trevp666 said:
Idk if you were joking abou the tennis courts, but it was designed to have 4 plus many other wondrous things.
"Main Lounge 36 ft high, 9 decks, 3 Kitchens, 13 pantries, writing rooms, 2 public dining rooms, (the main dining room converts into a dance floor for 100 couples), orchestra platform, 3 private dining rooms capable of feeding 40 people, 4 deck tennis courts, 6 shuffle board courts, 6 quoits pitches, library, 1 gym with dressing rooms and showers, 1 men's Solarium w/16 couches and a masseur, 1 womens Solarium w/16 couches and a masseuse, 1 children's playroom, 1 doctors office with waiting room, barber shop, hairdressers salon, 2 bars, 1 store, 1 huge promenade deck, 1 Veranda Cafe seats 90, 18 single state rooms, 81 double state rooms, 24 suites w/ baths, 179 sleeping rooms, air-conditioning through out, and 155 crew members, from cooks to bus boys."
Idk if you were joking abou the tennis courts,
Hahaha yes I was joking!
But only 2 bars? What were they thinking? I'd never get on an aeroplane which only had 2 bars.
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You could always get take out from the store and drink.it in the library
Aaah good plan I hadn't thought of that.
Also I guess that if the bars were closed you could still get a pint in one of the dining rooms or the café, or (at a push) a nip of something medicinal from the doctors.
Amergin
Foundation and Umpire
I have his industrial design book "Horizons", definitely worth seeking out. And a couple of his chrome soda siphons.
Airliner Number 4 here was very much more of a "sky ship" than a plane. As I understand it, the wing-profile engine platform would actually contain mechanical workshops and whole spare engines that could be swapped out mid-flight in case of mechanical failure. And don't get me started in the sun-deck, tennis courts, shopping malls...
There are also designs for flying cars, very advanced flying wing racing planes with jet power (this is between the wars remember) and a monoplane with contra-rotating dual propellers.
hunck
Hobbs End
Replace propellors with guns & it looks like something out of one of the Star Wars films.