Northrop XB-35 "Flying Wing"
Model Airplane News Cover Art for November, 1946
by Jo Kotula
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Aviation pioneer John Northrop spent decades developing the concept of an all-wing aircraft, trading the weight and drag of a conventional fuselage and tail for greater speed and range. Such a design, not needing a conventional fuselage and tail assembly, would produce much less drag as it moved through the air. The air resistance thus saved could in turn be traded for significant advantages: higher speed, or the ability to carry a greater load at much greater ranges. With no need to confine most of the payload within a narrow and heavily-stressed fuselage, that weight can be evenly distributed across most of the lifting surface, resulting in a lighter and more efficient structure. Northrop devoted much of his career to proving that the all-wing concept could be used in a practical aircraft.

  

The Northrop XB-35 Flying Wing

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The Flying Wing was a romantic concept for science fiction writers as illustrated in this article in Popular Mechanics:

The Flying Wing as a Concept
From the February, 1938 issue
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Aviation pioneer John Northrop spent decades developing the concept of an all-wing aircraft, trading the weight and drag of a conventional fuselage and tail for greater speed and the ability to carry a greater load at much greater ranges. With no need to confine most of the payload within the fuselage, the weight can be evenly distributed across most of the lifting surface, resulting in a lighter and more efficient structure.

Popular Science Takes You Inside the Flying Wing
From the January, 1947 issue
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Northrop devoted much of his career to proving that the all-wing concept could be used in a practical aircraft.

  

Patent Diagrams for the Northrop XB-35
Design Patent D-143,852
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Here is a video about the XB-35 that combines stock footage with animation.

The XB-35 was plagued by mechanical problems of a fairly minor but embarassing nature. Political considerations played a role in the selection of the B-36 (which was almost the diametric opposite of the XB-35) as America's strategic bomber for the Post-WWII era.

In addition to the cover of Model Airplane News, this airplane was also featured in the WINGS "Friend or Foe" trading card series of the early 1950s

Trading card representation of the Northrop XB-35 "Flying Wing"
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Eventually, Northop's vision was vindicated in the B-2 "Spirit", America's strategic bomber for the 21st Century (See below for details.

Click Here for more information about the Northrop Flying Wing project.

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