What Happened To Flying Wings?

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At the start of the 1940’s, flying wing aircraft seemed destined to be the next evolution in aircraft design. By eliminating structural components typically found on conventional aircraft, such as engine nacelles, fuselage and tail, parasitic drag would be reduced down to its absolute minimum. The result would be a high-lift, low-drag aircraft with unequaled speed, range and efficiency.
Despite earlier efforts around the world to develop all-wing aircraft designs, arguably no single person was more committed to the concept than pioneering American aircraft designer Jack Northrop. Beginning in the 1920’s Northrop studied the concept, drawing up countless designs for flying wing aircraft. By 1940, he had successfully produced two prototypes, the Model 1 (“X216H”) in 1929 and the Northrop N-1M in 1940. But Northrop’s ambitions went far beyond just experimental planes.
Responding to an urgent need for the United States to develop the first ever intercontinental bomber, in 1941 Northrop presented the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) with a concept for an enormous flying wing bomber that would offer unparalleled speed, range and efficiency. Not only would the aircraft far outperform conventional bombers, the all-wing design would make it structurally more simple and economical to build. Impressed with Northrop’s concept, the USAAF agreed to fund the aircraft’s development, ordering an experimental model designated as the XB-35 and pre-production models designated as YB-35s. The USAAF would eventually order over 200 production aircraft which were to be designated as B-35s. Later, a jet powered version, designated as the YB-49 would also be produced.
But engineering such unconventional aircraft would be a daunting engineering challenge for Northrop and his small team of engineers. Eliminating conventional control surfaces would maximize lift and minimize drag, but it would also create new unforeseen technical issues, many of which would only be discovered during flight testing - with tragic consequences. Despite best efforts by Northrop to solve technical issues with flying wing aircraft, solutions would prove elusive using technology available in the 1940s.
Thanks for watching!

[@MustardChannel]

Correction: At 10:16 I accidently say "B-57" when I meant to say "B-47". The Canberra is worthy of its own video :)

[@Mis-fe9fc]

all good!

[@Loeb5]

And I can’t wait for that one!

[@remy1340]

BROOO I LOVE YOUR VIDS

[@Drastt]

Hello

[@r2d2hunter38]

Yes Canberra can have it’s own video and hopefully sooner than 2 months

[@Sundae_]

The story of Northrop being able to see his dream come true before passing away is quite heartwarming in a way

[@maxime1776]

That’s a beautiful ending 😊

[@adenkyramud5005]

Gave me goosebumps. Very happy to hear that he got to see this.

[@Alxium]

A nice change of pace, the other videos always talk about inventors who never saw their ideas fully realized, it is always nice to hear about someone being able to see their ideas succeed.

[@polygonalfortress]

a wholesome moment for sure i wish more historical figures could've had, to witness their dreams fulfilled

[@n908qd7]

It really was an emotional moment :)

[@tiadaid]

It's heartwarming how the people involved in the B2 requested top secret clearance for Northrop just to give him vindication. They could have not cared, but they did it anyway.

[@boreddeffy]

Lol 'congrats'

[@urbypilot2136]

Considering that many of the knowledge they used is founded on the experiments that the company's founder did, I think it would've been impossible for them not to care. Those men stood on the shoulders of a giant, and they knew they had to honor him while he was still alive.

[@stefanschleps8758]

Maybe its because they know that "we stand on the shoulders of giants". Peace

[@stefanschleps8758]

@@urbypilot2136 Great minds think alike! Exactly!

[@tomelmore8431]

....oh yes - and even MORE heartwarming to know that Truman Administration Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington got HIS pockets full trashing the B-49 - and sticking the nation with the untenable B-36. Thank the stars above that THAT comic pile of junk never had to actually go to war....

[@cowboyvalley]

My uncle worked on the YB-49. He was called out of retirement to work on the B-2. He told me because so much of the technology for the YB-49 was needed for the B-2, was the reason they called him back so many years later. That, and he already had clearance.

[@dylanjohnson4624]

That’s badass. My grandpa worked on the b-1 bomber after serving in Vietnam.

[@user-lv7ph7hs7l]

@@dylanjohnson4624 Cool. My gramps made decorative concrete blocks that you occasionally see in the city, pretending to be art or a place to sit but failing at both.

[@mattm.5436]

How long would he have been retired for after he was “called back” ? Certainly not a 30 year gap as with the YB-49 and the B-2.

[@blockstacker5614]

@@user-lv7ph7hs7l My grandpa was a steel mill foreman who was killed on the job.

[@wennwenn1422]

my ancestors grew crops 😂

[@lemonzest8650]

It's so sad to see stories where inventors/innovators had ideas too far ahead of their time and didn't have the necessary tools/steps to make it reach its full potential. Thankfully this one had a happy ending with Northrop seeing his "flying wings" realized.

[@nathanteach7266]

could use it today with jet engines and better shape for passenger airlines, and then use it like a boomerang to save on fuel..... Reply

[@Ihavpickle]

It wasn't that far

[@tohro6969]

@@nathanteach7266 I thought about that too but maybe the ones we have are more efficient in terms of person per flight? I definitely would like to see the skies with these planes however.

[@koalabanana1998]

@@nathanteach7266 there is actually a prototype flying wing airliner called the Delft Flying-V

[@dawid12301d]

​@@koalabanana1998 I doubt flying wings will ever make it as passenger airliners due to a simple fact that they are significantly more expensive to build, operate and maintain. No airline will risk tons of money on something like that. It's kinda similar to Concorde story which was an marvelous machine that offered many advantages, killed by the lack of profit in a long run.

[@Kavaeric]

I did not know Northrop himself actually got to see the plans for the B2 stealth bomber. What a feeling that must have been.

[@pilotgeorge2000]

Not the plans, he saw S/N 001

[@rockzs74r]

And yet some self proclaimed enthusiast didn't give him one bit of credit because they taught B2 was a Nazi made

[@satagaming9144]

@@rockzs74r Wait, you mean a plane (Ho 229) that flew three (3) times under jet power, that nobody over here saw technical details of until 1945 (after Northrop had already flown many flying wings); the designers of which never set foot on American soil, much less spoke to anyone from Northrop. A plane of which we recovered one broken wingless prototype, whose only similarity to the B-2 is that they look similar if you squint; not designed with stealth in mind; the supposed "charcoal paint" to make it so both never existed and didn't work if it had; one that Northrop tested with their own equipment, used to design the B-2, only decades after the B-2 had been designed, and found it to be worthless? You mean that plane isn't solely responsible for the B-2's existence? You mean to tell me the country that developed nuclear weapons, fire-and-forget (unlike the Fritz X) gliding AShM's (ASM-N-2 Bat, struck the escort ship Aguni from 20mi away, also Azon), the fucking B-29, etc. had technical and practical expertise with flying wing bombers by 1945? Shock and horror. Yet when you tell a wehraboo that Von Braun plagiarized all of Goddard's work, you get a 1000 word schizo-post that borders on genocidal.

[@wingren13]

ayy hi kav! and yea the feelings i would have in that position 'i freaking told you so' to the quote 'i now know why i was kept alive all these years' to see his dream come true

[@rockzs74r]

@@satagaming9144 yeah many of those Bozzo believe that

[@SpacerZVEVO]

It's actually so heartwarming how NASA & USAF let Northrop know his dream wasn't dead, showing him the B-2 model and designs

[@Thesnakerox]

And that model and those designs would then go on to become one of the coolest looking aircraft of all time in my opinion

[@killercards7733]

@@Thesnakerox and one of the best bombers to ever be created.

[@ghomerhust]

"hey old man, let me show you something that i think you're going to like......"

[@garibay711cod]

Isn't the B2 known as the Northrop ?

[@stickpge]

@@garibay711cod no but its made by northrop's company, the B2's nickname is spirit

[@boostio2720]

Them showing the inventor of the flying wing the top-secret prototype to show him it was possible really warms my heart

[@bluedistortions]

One of the only nice things I've heard the military complex do.

[@christophrufle9303]

D'ont forget the Horten brothers, They started the investigation in flying wings in the 1930tis...

[@Attaxalotl]

@@christophrufle9303 So did Jack Northrop. The XB-35 was being built before the Ho-229 was even drawn up.

[@Battalionkitchen]

Northrop started Avion, specifically to develop the flying wing concept, in 1927. The Hortens made an amazing hobby glider though

[@bluesteel1199]

With the B 21 Raider's reveal, I imagine the YB 48 looking down from aviation heaven beaming at its more successful child, the B 2 spirit, grandchild, the B 21.

[@starsiegeRoks]

​@@kingsofthegridiron man, you must be a miserable person to be around.

[@wolfrainexxx]

@@kingsofthegridiron Heaven literally means "from the sky to the stars and beyond," and last time I checked, space was real you f***ing flat earther.

[@informationoverload2487]

Ok but that won’t happen for at least 20 more years. Alot can happen in that span of time.

[@informationoverload2487]

@@kingsofthegridironMy favorite fairy tales are the big bang theory and Stephen Hawking being an actual human being instead of a computer controlled AI that was replaced with uglier and uglier versions as time went on. To give the appearance that he was actually alive. When he was done spouting all the sciency bs they wanted it to they discarded the voicebox and the wheelchair and burried the mannequin.

[@earlworley-bd6zy]

YB-49

[@bernardli9514]

As everyone today in the drone industry is designing or building flying wings, that we still use Jack Northrop's equations for stability of a flying wing from half a century ago. He deserved to have seen it all.

[@rockzs74r]

I would really love to see a biopic about Jack Nortrhop. His rise and fall and the movie ends with him seeing B2 prototypes.

[@0Asterite0]

The ones he stole from the nazis?

[@urbansnipe]

I dont understand why his name is jack when its actually john? Anyone else know??

[@royalblue2229]

@@urbansnipe it was a common nickname for John (I know it doesn’t make sense). Like Bob for Robert or Dick for Richard.

[@nonpartisangunowner4524]

@@rockzs74r kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5zLq5yHe5V0n6s

[@slingshot1961]

Why the airforce didn't keep at least one for a museum is beyond me. They were already built. I would have loved to see one.

[@BobBob-zu2dt]

it never left testing and both aircraft in the airforces possession blew

[@patrickstewart3446]

If it had been a decade later NASA likely would kept one around for research and probably would’ve retired it.

[@thefisherking78]

Air Force* --career officer and pedant

[@CHRF-55457]

You could ask why the Navy didn't keep around their conventionally powered supercarriers. Although, for the air force's case, they basically broke every single one of the planes during testing. Didnt feel like building more of a failed aircraft

[@crapisnice]

i will drop a bomb in your house, so i will make a museum afterwards

[@dpm2937]

That's why I love games like Ace Combat. They see stuff like this and think: Yeah lets make a flying superfortress out of it

[@sohankopparapu5206]

Don't forget Halo, though I don't understand why the longsword has a tail. Don't think they would need it.

[@sethderby9033]

just beat ace combat 7 and came here to same something similar 😂😂

[@frankiefierro7129]

I was just thinking that it reminded me of the arsenal bird

[@sohankopparapu5206]

@@frankiefierro7129 Is that the giant flying aircraft carrier?

[@frankiefierro7129]

@@sohankopparapu5206 Yeah, the drone carrier

[@dodoubleg2356]

The fact that this iteration or the current B-2 can fly w/out a vertical OR horizontal stabilizer is engineering genius!! 👍👌✌️😉

[@dmitryche8905]

in Germany, the brothers Hortons built airplanes like a flying wing back in the 30s, see f.e. Horton Ho229, the first flying wing with jet engines.

[@maximkovac2000]

@@dmitryche8905 They also did it without computers. If the computer system on a B2 fail it crashes. The 229 doesn't have that problem

[@huguesh294]

@@maximkovac2000 yeah it's a pity the Horten designed were completely left out of this video, they are the real geniuses

[@BobThomas123]

Did the horten ever fly?​@@huguesh294

[@nguyentandung42]

It’s always Germans and being decades ahead in technology. They really shouldn’t have lost if their leader wasn’t an fumbling idiot.

[@DARKWIZRDDUDE]

Somehow flying wings seems like such a futuristic things and its wild when your reminded its a an almost 90 year old concept

[@werkgalaxy]

It isn't it's just golden paint applied to dogshit. Same as how all western products are especially today. Randoms serve dogshit and a typical westerner consumer slurps it all up joyfully...

[@JWQweqOPDH]

And electric cars are like 130 years old.

[@CATel_]

Oh god the grammar

[@CATel_]

@@JWQweqOPDH ay w h a t

[@Palmtop_User]

Computers are in a similar vein, some of the earliest mechanical designs never built go back to 1830s. The first built go back to the 1940s before the invention of even the transistor

[@Character_Limit]

that little ominous sound effect when the B2 is revealed was a nice touch, sent chills down my spine. Can't even imagine what Northrop must have felt like seeing his dream become a reality.

[@lofdraws7006]

They just look like slits in the sky. So ominous

[@harshvardhan4771]

This scene was the first time I myself experienced what the memes describe and mean when they say "heavy breathing ___".

[@MrMarinus18]

The B2 "spirit" is one of the best named US aircraft. It just fits perfectly with it's almost alien form and unnatural flying charitastics.

[@jb-sq2lm]

@@MrMarinus18 characteristics? I cant found that word in wiktionary

[@rankoyomimusic]

​@@jb-sq2lm 英語の勉強はどうでしょうか？

[@YonsuKu]

One would never mistake the earlier flying wings for being anything else than the predecessors of the B2 Spirit due to their overwhelming resemblance. However, the video's title, as well as the narration made it seem as if they were lost in history. That made the reveal of the B2 at the end of the video all the more satisfying. I could almost feel Northrop's emotions...

[@PhoenixFires]

They were more or less lost to history in that the military had lost interest in wing designs for over 2 decades before asking for a stealth-capable bomber.

[@heatheramp]

My grandfather was one of the engineers who worked on this. At the time you designed your part, machined your part and then installed it. I have a picture of the first (it looks like the jet) flight take off with my grandfather, mother, his cousin and his cousin's daughter watching. It broke his heart when they were ordered to destroy the planes and all the scale prototypes.

[@TheEDFLegacy]

I was going to mention when you said that the flying wings were all scrapped, I was like "...What about the B-2?" That ending gave me goosebumps. Glad to see that the original inventor of the flying wing got to see its final form.

[@WinVisten]

YB-49: "THIS ISN'T EVEN MY FINAL FORM! ...I'll be back. And you'll shit your pants when I am."

[@ItzChickenYall]

@@WinVisten BAHAHAHAHAHHAHA 😂😂😂

[@unifiedhorizons2663]

B-2 I can carry 6 nukes

[@FireAngelOfLondon]

@@unifiedhorizons2663 Not 6, 16 B83 bombs or another type I cannot recall. It can also carry 20 cruise missiles; at the moment these cannot be nuclear as the aircraft lacks the wiring to communicate with, and therefore arm, any US nuclear cruise missile. However I imagine the wiring could be installed in a day or less if the design work has been done. I have not seen an authoritative source on whether the work has been done to prepare the B-2 to accept wiring for nuclear cruise missiles but I would be very surprised if it hasn't.

[@PrograError]

@@FireAngelOfLondon i have the feeling that might be a classified info... if judging by the rate of design and production and the doctrine of the period... it's very likely it's planned as such... therefore plausible of space for such wiring... but then B2 is a "delivery truck" for bombs ain't it?

[@aikendrum4734]

I was at the Farnborough airshow a few years ago. A single B-2 did a flyover. Against a clear blue sky it ... looked like a weirdly silent low budget special effect.

[@DrWhom]

it's funny how reality can look like a badly done special effect

[@JebHoge]

It's neat how the B-2 almost disappears when it's edge-on to a viewer on the ground.

[@PappyGunn]

Well I can tell ya it's not low budget.

[@ShiftyMcGoggles]

similar feeling when I saw the last flight of the vulcan...Until the match cone caught up!

[@isaiahc8390]

This world is rapidly passing away and I hope that you repent and take time to change before all out disaster occurs! Belief in messiah alone is not enough to grant you salvation - Matthew 7:21-23, John 3:3, John 3:36 (ESV is the best translation for John 3:36) if you believed in Messiah you would be following His commands as best as you could. If you are not a follower of Messiah I would highly recommend becoming one. Call on the name of Jesus and pray for Him to intervene in your life - Revelation 3:20. Contemplate how the Roman Empire fulfilled the role of the beast from the sea in Revelation 13 over the course of 1260+ years. Revelation 17 confirms that the beast is in fact Rome. From this we can conclude that A) Jesus is the Son of God and can predict the future or make it happen, B) The world leaders/nations/governments etc have been conspiring together for the last 3000+ years going back to Babylon and before, C) History as we know it is fake. You don't really need to speculate once you start a relationship with God. Can't get a response from God? Fasting can help increase your perception and prayer can help initiate events. God will ignore you if your prayer does not align with His purpose (James 4:3) or if you are approaching Him when "unclean" (Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 59:2, Micah 3:4). Stop eating food sacrificed to idols (McDonald's, Wendy's etc) stop glorifying yourself on social media or making other images of yourself (Second Commandment), stop gossiping about other people, stop watching obscene content etc. Have a blessed day!

[@franswiggidy]

I had forgotten about the B2 stealth bomber. What a story.

[@loschwahn723]

build on german dishes by horton brothers - the testdesigns were build in wood, the sabotage were build by nuts and bolts

[@peterson7082]

@@loschwahn723 nonsense

[@BobThomas123]

​@@loschwahn723not really. Northrop pioneered it. Although horten made it first. Northrop never saw the horten. But he built a flying wing anyways

[@BrapBrapDorito]

@@BobThomas123Northrop had flying wing prototypes in the air before the hortons.

[@BrapBrapDorito]

@@loschwahn723Not really, Flying wings were in testing before any Horton aircraft were captured. If you knew anything about the aircraft, you’d know the only real similarity the 229 and the B2 share are visual.

[@robertlebras3005]

I've never seen a squadron of B-35s even digitally. That was very cool.

[@slavtrooper3851]

the fact that this look so much like the b-2 spirit just tell how advanced of a concept it was

[@furinick]

It think it may have been partly accidental, at some point they prob noticed it was less visible on radar, and when the need for a stealth bomber popped up booom they had the thing, still really cool how the design from that era got so relevant recently

[@alexander1485]

an analog B-2.

[@jackryan4313]

Wanna talk about something being super advanced for the time? The SR71 blackbird was and still is a ridiculous feat of engineering. And it was designed with fucking pencils and paper

[@gokulkrishm51]

@@jackryan4313 Was about to comment that, haha!

[@slavtrooper3851]

@@jackryan4313 sure, but this had the chance to change moder aviation. It's like the Ekranoplan, a concept so advanced it could not be within reach of the mid 20th century. I wonder though what could we do now if we only had the right stimulus

[@julianrandall4232]

Jack Northrop lived to see his work commemorated in one other way too. In 1971 palaeontologist Doug Lawson discovered the first fossils of a new type of pterosaur at Big Bend in Texas. There were two species represented by the fossils, and the larger of the two was 50% larger than anything known before, with a 40-foot wingspan. Lawson named the genus Quetzalcoatlus, after the Aztec feathered serpent god, and to the giant flyer he gave the species name Quetzalcoatlus northropi.

[@JeiHS]

thats a hard to spell one

[@vahe2391]

Quetzalcoatlus northropi was the bigger of the two Quetzalcoatlus species found by Doug Lawson. The slightly smaller species of Quetzalcoatlus was recently named in Lawson's honor as Q. lawsoni. A third pterosaur species was also found at Big Bend, the short-snouted Wellnhopterus brevirostris. Quetzalcoatlus, like other pterodactyloid pterosaurs, has the same wing planform as the Northrop flying wings, and the British built a flying wing named after the pterodactyloids, the Westland-Hill Pterodactyl. People should remember that pterodactyloids were the pterosaur group designed to fly with the elegant efficiency of birds and bats by dispensing with the long tail.

[@julianrandall4232]

@@vahe2391 Thanks for that. I didn't know about the third species, but I'm glad to see Wellnhofer commemorated. I have his book, and that's how I knew about Lawson's story: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Wellnhofer

[@SatelliteYL]

Really heartwarming hearing that Northrop got to see his dream fulfilled. I couldn’t even imagine what he must’ve felt… having a dream, having it fail so painfully over the years, then living with that pain for 3 decades. 3 decades! And finally at the end of his rope after living so unsatisfied, one day his dream is suddenly fulfilled. How tumultuous his emotions must’ve been, arguing with himself for those 30 years about what he could’ve done, and one day everything is solved and concluded. Powerful.

[@FalconWindblader]

The pain of coming up with something wayyyyy ahead of its time & having spent soooo much time trying to make it work with insufficient or even inferior tools. had he been born 20 years later, he might have been actively involved in the development of a flying wing that would actually work & getting mass-produced, with almost all of the problems that held his ideas back being solved by a thing called a computer, or as it became known in later age, avionics.

[@wolfynautious7415]

I grew up in Barstow, CA during the '50s. Barstow is about 50 mi. south of Edwards Air Force base where some secret aircraft are tested. I can remember these aircraft flying overhead. I was sad to hear that none of them were kept for display.

[@JJadx]

i can't imagine what he felt when he saw that his life long dream was anything but useless. I hope other key engineers and workers got a chance to see what they contributed to too.

[@robmausser]

Any smart engineer will know that even doing something that doesn't end up working out is never a fruitless purist in the quest for knowledge. Knowing what won't work is just as valuable as what will.

[@vulpes7079]

In a way, he was too ahead of his time. Although I have to say, it's probably impossible to tell how much weight did his company's advertisement to civilian audiences held

[@chouseification]

this ^^ I remember growing up knowing about the flying wing tests back in the 40s-50s, but we hadn't seen any in recent years, besides some futuristic "what if" sketch in Popular Mechanics, etc. Then when stealth bomber was revealed, a lot of us went "aha"... it hadn't been abandoned, it had just gone black in recent applications.

[@pixytorres7117]

He did nothing, all the technology was stolen by the Nazi Germans,same think with the nuclear weapons.

[@vulpes7079]

@@pixytorres7117 stolen from the Germans in a program that began in 1941? Nazi Germany also didn't even have a working design for a nuclear weapon, they couldn't enrich enough uranium

[@onebridge7231]

J. Northrop’s research and design from the 40’s was relied upon for B2 as even some of the old wind test studies were reviewed and flight characteristics/problems studied as they built the B2. I’m glad he lived to see it in person. Looking forward to seeing the B21 Raider when it’s unveiled.

[@chriswoodbury747]

Interestingly enough, the B-2 flight system will not allow a pilot to put it into the kind of spin that crashed YB-49 No.2. In other words, the automation tells the pilot: Don't do that; it's a really bad idea! ;-

[@JurisKankalis]

The only reference in the entire video given to the true inventors of the flying wing - german aero engineers brothers Horten (look up Ho-229) - in the form of a remark "... and although Northrop wasn't the first one to invent the flying wing" -- seems unfair. Otherwise stunningly animated and well researched (well, for the american part) video. Greetings from Latvia.

[@eveei]

@@JurisKankalis I agree, but isnt the video "What Happened To Flying Wings?" In America's POV the Germans had lost so their equipment was nothing more than extra research for their own in a way

[@onebridge7231]

@@JurisKankalis The Horten Brothers are famous in America too. Some engineers rebuilt their design on a documentary I watched. Either Boeing or Lockheed Martin, I can’t remember, but it was a very cool documentary.

[@solus48]

@@JurisKankalis but the Horten brothers didn't design the first flying wings. Early tailless and flying wing designs date to the 1910's and during the 1920's British, German, and Soviet engineers all worked on the concept. The Horten brothers didn't design their first glider until 1933.

[@siggevibes]

That ending was very touching, how happy he must have been to finally witnessed his dream materialized.

[@rodgersdeloriea4959]

I have great hopes for this channel. Bravo! Keep working! I am your biggest fan.

[@MrPurpleEYE]

This is one of my new favorite stories, Northrop spent so many years heartbroken, and couldn't understand why he lived for so long. Until he finally was given vindication by the next generation who truly saw the potential in his idea.

[@crapisnice]

best genocide history ever, disney will make a movie based in these splendid people

[@JM-zg2jg]

BoycottFacebook/Meta It has stifled our social media, gaming and VR progress for years. All the while destroying our self images, politics and privacy. We have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Time to log out and stay that way. Let’s all watch it die together.

[@MrPurpleEYE]

@@crapisnice Ideals are peaceful, history is violent.

[@crapisnice]

@@MrPurpleEYE ideas are pointless aggregations and people are lazy, and its the present what is violent and what you should care about

[@MrPurpleEYE]

@@crapisnice Then why are you here watching war history videos and leaving troll responses on strangers comments?

[@foxhound24]

Each time Mustard uploads I’m reminded how the wait is so worth it for this amazing quality. Thank you mustard.

[@alieffauzanrizky7202]

Great example of Quality > Quantity

[@Crush0819]

The fact even the double propeller is in the remake to day goes to show how brilliant this man was

[@BurlyMammoth]

Your production value is unparalleled. It is that simple.

[@gkam44]

I am 78 years old, and the son of a AAF flying crew chief, who knew what the flying wing was. In 1947 I was playing with my brother when I looked up and saw it. It was low, and went almost over the house. A few weeks ago I looked it up and it really DID fly over my house, in the only long trip it took. Later I was stationed at Edwards AFB, where our bomber was the XB-70.

[@zsmusic8708]

As a KC-135 Crew Chief, I'm jealous

[@uku4171]

Damn, that's cool

[@BELCAN57]

The XB-70 is one of my two favorite aircraft, the other being the B-36 Peacemaker.

[@highviewbarbell]

@@BELCAN57 a true man for the culture. Those are my two favorites too

[@iBeerus-]

what a story!

[@WonderfulAircraft]

I'm with Northrop, I really do think flying wings/blendid wing body aircraft hold so much potential that remains untapped. Yes, there are numerous challenges to overcome with this type of aircraft, but developing cutting edge technologies is all about overcoming challenges. And the B-2 has, and continues to show that a flying wing is not only possible, but advantageous in many ways. I'm very glad Northrop got to see the B-2 before he passed. He's a legend of the aviation world and the B-2 is a ongoing reminder of that.

[@Director_Orson_Krennic]

And a lot of those remaining hurdles appear to have been tackled by the B-21 Raider, then next-gen flying wing stealth bomber from Northrop planned to replace the B-52, B-1, and B-2 in service eventually with a gradual phase-out towards the B-21

[@HowIsAsh]

Hydrogen fuel aircraft are going back to the flying wing iirc

[@jj4791]

There is a way to make them work. They have the inherent problem that they need a positive pitching moment for stability, and flaps create a negative moment, so they cannot utilize flaps, therefore their lift coefficient is about half or a third that of conventional aircraft, meaning the flying wing must be twice as large for the same payload and same landing speed and T/O/Landing distance. Therefore the flying wing actually has a lot of drag due to being substantially larger. Though it will cruise at a lower CL due to the additional wing area, meaning lower induced drag. There is a way to counter this negative pitching moment, and allow large flaps on a flying wing, its not in textbook's, and ill never disclose it. ;P Besides, the newest propulsion tech doesn't even need wings. Its Green.

[@ablacktemplar1971]

@@ylandrinschweitzer good

[@robertwhite1303]

Did you know my brother Ward White when he was the project manager for the B2?

[@Trashloot]

I really love the look of the video. Great job :D.

[@BookCrux]

I literally teared up at the end. These were tears of relief.

[@VentiVonOsterreich]

Hearing the synth music start playing at 11:12 with the story of Northrop witnessing plans for the B2 Bomber felt like a guy who was born in the late 1800s literally had a first glimpse of 21st century military technology, it's kinda touching

[@XRP747E]

Beautifully made. Thank you.

[@AgricultureTechUS]

Completely captivating! Always something new to learn.

[@thefilodough8066]

Always wondered if the arsenal bird from Ace Combat 7 was based on a pre-existing aircraft or not.

[@mr.crazyshadow]

Was looking for an AC fan

[@dylandevlin2102]

@@mr.crazyshadow same here when I saw the thumbnail I instantly thought of the arsenal bird

[@PrograError]

more of a concept i'd say... IIRC there was a concept of a similar plane of a mothership, that and the 747 aircraft launcher...

[@galm2pixy666]

@@mr.crazyshadow yeah me too

[@dylandevlin2102]

@@PrograError I heard about that

[@Official_Kezzie]

Flying wings are an underrated part of aviation history. The story of one man’s drive single-handedly creating the modern stealth bomber’s grandfather will forever be in the aviation hall of fame Edit: No, the Horten bomber didn’t inspire the B2. ‘Nuff said.

[@EdgyNumber1]

His drive was not to design a stealth bomber. His drive was to design an efficient aircraft bomber. The 'stealth' requirement appeared years after he left the company. Of that post-war period, the Avro Vulcan came closer but still used a vertical stabiliser at the rear and a leading fuselage. Delta wing and flying wing type aircraft were a continuation of captured German technology.

[@BrapBrapDorito]

@@EdgyNumber1 Flying wings were not a continuation of German aircraft, the first real full scale tailless flying wing prototypes flew before the Germans flying wings were even proposed.

[@martijn9568]

@@BrapBrapDorito To be fair the Horton brothers did do experiments with flying wing gliders during the interwar years, but the top nazi officials didn't really about it.

[@kutter_ttl6786]

@@EdgyNumber1 Jack Northrop flew his first flying wing, the N-219H, flew in 1929. By 1934 he was aware the Horton brothers were experimenting with tailess designs and his first tailess plane, the N-1M, was introduced in 1940 and flew in 1941. Any benefit from captured German research didn't occur until after the war.

[@noobus571]

The Ho 229 was not designed for stealth, and the B-2 was designed with no knowledge of the Ho 229

[@hillgallagher3043]

Sir ur videos are informative and knowledgeable. Its amazing

[@bargainbrandmilk9858]

if i had the money i would get nebula, just found your channel not 30 minutes ago when i got home for lunch and i would love to watch even more

[@gokulkrishm51]

I'm actually glad that Jack Northrop got to see the "secret aircraft under development".

[@ledernierutopiste]

He also saw one of the largest flying animal to ever existed named after him Quetzalcoatlus Northropi

[@gokulkrishm51]

@@ledernierutopiste I can't tell if you're joking or not 😂

[@TheSharmanova]

Many of said it; I want to say it: Your videos are among my favourite things. The painstaking effort you must deposit into the animations are worth it, Mustard. It’s an aesthetic that sparks this unmatched realism AND dream-like imagination. Like seeing a future that didn’t happen but was made and unwrapped for the viewer all shinny and new. Thank you for your work. It’s a joy to watch.

[@MustardChannel]

Thank you for the awesome compliments :)

[@williamjordan5554]

Many have*

[@thebigbonk]

@@MustardChannel i always get giddy whenever i see a new mustard video, im came back today to rewatch it lol

[@user-qm3ji1yl3q]

This story is beautiful thank you for sharing it

[@ItzLordeYT]

So basically the video is a really long ad for nebula

[@donaldbadowski290]

Sadly, you are never going to take a commercial flight on a flying wing, because airlines and the NTSB insist on passive stability. A traditional aircraft with a body, wings and tail can accomplish that with trim to the horizontal stabilizer. A flying wing can't. It requires constant computer correction based on sensor data. If that system goes down, the aircraft is a death trap. Military aircraft allow the crew to eject, but commercial doesn't have that option.

[@goldleader64]

And yet: Boeing.

[@Aviator-el1dn]

Not true. The YB-35 and YB-49 were both statically stable without computers, although with a very narrow c.g. range. So was the prop driven proof of concept aircraft seen in the video. The reason flying wings never became popular is that they are inherently less efficient than a comparable conventional tail design; that is why the B-47 outperformed the B-49.

[@grmpEqweer]

I was wondering if horizontal and vertical rudders, multiple, could be used to make a flying wing more stable and more maneuverable? ...Mind you, Im not a physics person. I was thinking here about a rudder control surface for said rudders that would extend above and below the aircraft's body. Hypothetically, there would be 3-5 rudders on the back edge of the wing. Obviously, they would move in synchrony. It would give turning/stability benefits? 5 rudders might lead to really good maneuverability. I do note many fish species have "aft rudders" that extend above and below their "fuselage." Air is merely a very thin liquid... If having such a rear stabilizing shape is adaptive for fish, it might be adaptive for airplanes. Thus I suggest a sort of "guppy tail" rudder. Edit: largest guppy tail rudder at centerline. Second rudders... probably just inside or outside of the engines(as practicable) and a little smaller. Smallest rudders, other side of engines, size predicated on airframe strain.

[@singularityraptor4022]

On point

[@jimjam6958]

Pontification at its finest

[@lanky2610]

My grandad ejected from the AW-52, which was Britain's version of the flying wing. According to him, he got stuck in a flutter which left him completely disorientated and unable to fly. It was also the first Martin-Baker ejection in an emergency (possibly first ever, but I'm not sure of the specifics on the German ejector seats developed in WW2). Thing was, when he ejected the plane managed to glide itself down to a field. I often wonder if now we do have the computer systems that can handle rough flying, and you don't have to rely on just the instruments alone, could a design like that work?

[@user-do5zk6jh1k]

Flying wings are very common today. Maybe not in pressurized manned designs (because a tube fuselage is a very light design for pressurization), but there are dozens of flying wing drones in military use.

[@jordananderson2728]

A flying wing? The B-2 flies, regularly, and bombs things, regularly.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

the b-2 and presably b-21 are both stabilized by much more advanced fly-by-wire. one of the issues with the high power stalls is that other planes had the issue at the time too but the government wanted to merge northrop and grummand and had to axe the yb49

[@noxtorism]

Is your grandad John Oliver Lancaster?

[@lanky2610]

@@noxtorism Yes!

[@followyourbliss101]

this channel is so awesome!

[@Supriya100kar]

Wow! It is so heartwarming to see that B2 story was so emotional and close to Northrop 's 💕heart! 🥰

[@walterfechter8080]

The first time I had ever seen a flying wing was in the Sci-Fi movie, "The War of The Worlds." Upon seeing that aircraft, I was truly amazed. Bravo Jack Northrop!

[@newstartyt3700]

Ah, when they launched the atomic bomb on the Martians, right?

[@walterfechter8080]

@@newstartyt3700 That's it.

[@thomaszinser8714]

Tbh, on a related note, a video on the various eccentric Junkers designs that led up to the G-38 (and probably also the G-38 itself) would be pretty fascinating. Hugo Junkers, after all, had similar ideas of flying wing/blended wing design for long-range aircraft, although he intended it for civilian uses.

[@ArenBerberian]

Yes and also the HO 229 and other planed german flying wings. Also worth noting success such as the Avro Vulcan, although not a true flying wing design.

[@randymurphy]

Excellent piece !

[@iandalton2612]

Me watching this 3 hours before the B21 gets released

[@GABlume]

Hi Mustard I am a military historian specializing in strategic bombardment, currently working with the Hangar Thirteen Foundation to rebuild a Boeing B-17F in Asheville, North Carolina. Just wanted to say how much I enjoy your videos. You do a marvelous job and I cannot stress enough how much I appreciate you taking the time properly research and avoid sensationalizing already interesting stories. I’ve always enjoyed the B-35, and it was fun revisiting it with your amazing graphics and design. Keep up the good work!

[@fone5003]

All my Ace Combat brothers know exactly what I'm thinking right now

[@darkestfami]

*Daredevil OST intensifies*

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

"Jeff Bezos happy noises"...

[@daeveddd7140]

Stick with trigger and you'll make it!

[@bomberharris9322]

i need to fornicate with planes, now

[@chaoscommentary2179]

So where going to use Stonehenge for a long range strike agents the arsenal bird

[@abdulsamadzakria9912]

Very well written and spoken. Good job done.

[@Garfire1]

I love your contents! Its super amazing!!

[@YellowRambler]

I saw one of these aircraft flying overhead when I was very young and ran into the house to tell my parents that a airplane Flew bye that was missing its body only had a wings, I remember being told off for making things up, I was very upset at the time because nobody believed me. Every time I see a flying wing it brings back that memory. That launch plane from virgin Galactic will most likely cause the same problem, a young Child will report seeing two airplane holding hands while they are flying.

[@oscarantoniomoreno5247]

Quit making things up and go to your room. 😜

[@rogerstolt813]

When I was about 6or7 I saw one of these fly over my home in Northern Michigan, when I told my dad about, I got the same reaction," that's just not possible,son" is what my dad told me. I never forgot that plane. After the B-2 was made public I looked up info on it and found that it was based on Northrops 1950s design, I finally knew I didn't hallucinate it. Dad was gone by then and I wouldn't have dared say "I told you so!" anyway. But at least I know.

[@brucewestoby]

Maybe you lived somewhere in Inglewood too! ?

[@gregwaters7830]

I saw one when I lived in LA as a child. My brother told me what it was. A Flying Wing

[@surfernorm6360]

I can see why they were only around for a short time really from the story i'm thinking maybe 2 years. I saw arial photos of them at VanNuys airport in LA I assume the Northrop Plant was near there and then they were taken Edwards for testing . most people would never have heard of them, It was before most people had a TV. There may have been a story in popular science. but that would be it, the first time I saw one it was a simple print my kite. Later George Pal edited a clip of one into "War of the worlds" but that was well after they were all gone.

[@anon73728]

worth mentioning Horten brothers and german flying wings, jet engines and look like B2 from the 30s and 40s, and Soviet designs from 30s, alot people independently invented these around the same time

[@matiasfpm]

And those guy came to argentina to develop more of those crazy wings

[@Texicus_Reddicus]

I feel like I associate flying wings with Nazi Germany more so than the united states or any other country

[@basswarnow]

The idea goes back even further, an Austrian guy draw flying wings in the 1920s for the first time.

[@calessel3139]

I'd also add Alexander Lippisch.

[@jaikumar848]

@@calessel3139 which plane ?

[@Robslondon]

Fantastic video.

[@littlerayofsunshine69]

The B2 is one of the most beautiful aircraft ever produced, alongside the SR71 and the F86. They were the stuff that wet dreams were made of for a kid growing up in the early 90s.

[@ReptilianLepton]

A YB-49 (via footage provided by Northrop) has a small part in the 1953 War of the Worlds film, as the bomber that drops a nuke on a group of Martians.

[@KunoMochi]

Probably slightly as an homage and partly cause of the cool factor, the 1990s film Independence Day also had the B-2 Spirit launch a nuke at the alien ship, albeit with little to no effect due to the advanced shielding they had on their capital ships.

[@PappyGunn]

I though that was so cool when a saw the movie as a kid. Yeah man we were going to stick it to them Martiuns.

[@SamuraiPieter]

I love flying wings. I've got a 1/72 model of the German Horten Ho-229, of which 1 was built.

[@weeklyaviation8910]

Sorry to bother you, but I just started making aviation videos. If you are interested, you should check out my channel✈️

[@Codzilla2181]

3 were built 1 of which was a glider

[@Eaggradruide]

The modell from Revell? I built that too :)

[@RoadRallyLife]

Excellent work!

[@hush6149]

That’s such an awesome story, he made an aircraft so ahead of its time that it was too dangerous to fly but a basis for the perfect design against a problem of the future

[@carlouis1]

The moment I saw the thumbnail, I was reminded of the B-2 stealth bomber. It's awesome to see how the story (and the resemblance) becomes a full circle when Jack Northrop had a chance to see the B-2 plans that are inspired by his design. It proves that there are ideas that are too advanced for a certain timeline. Great production work as always, Mustard! I've always been a fan of your videos; it never fails to be an engaging experience.

[@jack1701e]

I'm glad John Northrop lived long enough to see the B2, finally got to see his dream in the flesh!

[@PappyGunn]

I dunno. He probably saw the thing and said that's no airplane. Kind of like Dekkard with that copy of Rachel.

[@reggievangleason9511]

Beautiful production. 👍

[@Oatfilms]

When Mustard uploads, it’s a good day. This channel is the definition of quality over quantity.

[@GhostOfDamned]

Always, and let it stay that way

[@fratercontenduntocculta8161]

Any time I feel down, I just immerse myself in early aviation. The wonder and ideas always pick me back up. I also love the era-appropriate art style you guys use!

[@DolusVulpes]

I can see this also being a great design for spacecraft and upper atmosphere aircraft as well, and NASA seems to agree, as they've apparently been researching the viability of a bi-directional version of a flying wing for use in those conditions.

[@N0stalgia01]

never realized he inspired the b2,always loved seeing it in generals:zero hour. My favourite aircraft of all time, so intimidating wud love to see irl

[@fnln3181]

American aviation is incredible. My grandfather has his then Civil Aviaonics Administration mechanic's license signed by Orville Wright. I'm so proud of him.

[@peterdemkiw3280]

If you believe A-merican "history" everything A-merican is amazing, they single handed won both world wars despite only fighting in the last 3 months of the 4 year great war 1914-18, also A-merica invented supersonic aircraft, what I've noticed is A-mericans are full of shit, and have their own fictional history. Biggest threat to world peace the world has ever seen.

[@willjones7132]

The B-2 is awesome to see fly in person, especially seeing it in a steep bank.

[@Rocker-1234]

i do love how unlike alot of these cool concepts that just become forgotten relics of history, northrop actually got to see his vision become an actual successful reality

[@LockheedMartinF22Raptor7]

Right up the B-21 Raider. I bet Northrop himself is smiling from ear to ear, knowing that his dream is a success.

[@ronmaximilian6953]

It's crazy to think that we are almost as far away from the first flight of the B-2 as that date was the date that the B-52 first flew.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Great video! It's so nice that they let Northrop see the B-2 before he died! :)

[@lord_scrubington]

information and presentation aside, the production value, pacing, visuals and sound design of these videos is incredible in its own right. The angle at which you depicted the B-2 and the soundtrack accompanying it gave me chills immediately, honestly so well done and far above the cinematography I've seen on any other documentary style content on YT

[@crapisnice]

genocidal value as its best...

[@ericoschmitt]

Hang gliders have been doing well since the 1960s, and are more advanced than ever. The key to their success was the natural washout created by sail billow, that makes the center stall before the tips, keeps them controllable and stable. Now they are carbon fiber slick blades, fast, stable and the most efficient ultralight design. Gotta love flying wings.

[@Gio98art]

Watching the story unfold was nice, of course it was easy to see the military was going ahead with plans for the B2, but it's interesting to see where the B2 started. Way ahead of its time

[@JWONG-pu8ky]

What makes flying wings hard to fly is its inability to self correct instability especially in pitch. Unlike conventional aircraft where the tail section could be adjusted or optimized to balance the aircraft's pitch especially when its airspeed increases, the changes in center of lift and pressures throught the surface of the airfoil affects the aircraft pitch balance, this is why flying wings need complicated computer avionics just to balance itself and make constant corrections by applying control surfaces, this why you can often see videos of a B2 spirit constantly applying its control surfaces to maintain a level flight. With todays technology, it is possible for an flying wing airliner to be built and outperform a conventional tailed aircraft but the cost, complexity and amount of system redundencies cant outweigh its benefits. Flying wings really are incredible and defenitely a design worthy for the future of aviation

[@starga-fr7qx]

I doubt the cost is in the complexity or redundencies, of the plane itself, the real cost is in 1 getting a non conventional aircraft certified for safety in context of passenger transport 2 (re)training cost for the pilots 3 airport facilities that are not suited for such airplanes

[@Vespuchian]

I understand the YB-35's giant propellers provided a form of pitch stability from the sheer scale of the resulting propeller discs and the gyroscopic forces created from them, a stability that was lost in the conversion to jet power. A shame it didn't get its chance to get more testing done, potentially with turboprops.

[@starga-fr7qx]

@@Vespuchian not really, ther was barely any mass in them props to provide enough gyroscopic stability vs the actual mass of the plane. And props cause torque spin, not gyroscopic forces if anything a jet engine would have more gyroscopic mass since the entire engine is a spinning disk turbine..

[@Vespuchian]

@@starga-fr7qx That's fair. I'd heard the -35 was more stable than the -49 because of the props and must have misunderstood the reason for it.

[@PrezVeto]

@@starga-fr7qx Yes, I think a major problem for introducing flying wing passenger jets would be the totally different relationship between passenger capacity and wingspan-and therefore the necessary spacing between gates-compared to traditional aircraft. That could make a mixture of the aircraft types difficult for airports to accommodate without a less efficient overall use of potential gate space. The fact that the number of seats that'd fit across the width of the plane would increase as you went farther aft means that additional capacity would require ever smaller increases in wingspan, which is interesting. A significant downside is probably that there would be much more design work involved in producing variants of aircraft with slightly different capacities (e.g. the A319 and A321 variations on the A320). In fact it could make that sort of thing prohibitive, because you could no longer just vary the length of the tube between the wings. You'd have to change the dimensions of the whole thing. Fewer capacity variants could lead to less overall fuel efficiency for airlines as they couldn't tailor the aircraft used to each route as much.

[@Warhawk971]

I had the amazing opportunity to sit down and interview one of the lead test pilots of the YB-49, Bob Cardenas many years ago back when I was in high school. I remember him saying during the interview that he had said to his superiors that the wing that it would one day be the most advanced weapons system in the world, but only when there was an active control system that could correct the yaw oscillation. And man, was he spot on with that assessment

[@ZboeC5]

People are going to flip when they finally see the B-21. It is literally the same exact shape as Jack Northrop saw in 1980. People forget that the Air Force changed the design criteria for the B-2 in the mid 80s to turn it into a low level penetration bomber. This forced Northrop to almost completely redesign the aircraft and this is why the tail of the aircraft is a W shape. That wasn't in the design that Jack saw and it's not on the B-21 either since we now know that stealth works better at high altitudes. The B-2 lost its contrail mitigation system in the redesign opting instead for a contrail detector that alerts the pilots to the fact they are making a contrail. This was because the aircraft was only meant to traverse the ocean at altitude and then drop down low for bombing. In a lot of ways the B-21 is going back to the original B-2 design Jack got to see and the goal is to "fix" a lot of the flaws introduced into the B-2 with the low level penetration redesign.

[@ghostlyguy.]

im so glad he got to see the end result of his "failed" research, its beautiful.

[@alexnikolaienko]

Excellent work 😮 Thanks a lot

[@valkyrie14]

Jack's ideas along with others on his teams were so far ahead of their time. I didn't know he was able to see the plans for the B-2 before he passed away. I'm sure he was totally vindicated and lionized before he passed away. Good video

[@ASLUHLUHCE]

20th-century aerospace is such a weirdly specific interest I have, all thanks to this channel

[@christianhunt7382]

This guy has a very similar voice to Ryan F9 from the channel fortnine. Good content over there too, good stuff mustard!

[@Admrial-Veshkov-Yuri]

So your telling me that the arsenal bird from ace combat 7 is still possible?

[@jamesnorris1272]

Up until now, the 'Flying Wing' has been just a footnote in aviation history. Thanks for a fine & detailed history of Northrup's dream ending with the B-2 Stealth Bomber.

[@SCHEFFyt]

How have I never heard of this plane before?! Good job, Mustard, this was a stellar video and an eye-opening discovery

[@neiln62]

I worked at Northrop while the B2 was struggling to get complete funding. Great video.

[@edutaimentcartoys]

awesome aircraft

[@kevinford69]

I can't say enough thanks for producing one of you splendid documentaries on the amazing YB-35 and YB-49. I have been fascinated with this aircraft (and the era) all my life. The visuals are breathtaking and I really appreciate your talent and bringing something lost to the past back to life. Again thank you for making this remarkable journey back to the 40s and getting to see a squadron of B-35 in flight. Bravo!!!!!!!!!!

[@trapezemusic]

Let us not forget the Flying Wing's appearance in the 1953 box office hit "War of the Worlds: starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson, a film that received high acclaim by most movie critics and introduced this type of aircraft to many people, myself included.

[@nickh5081]

I found it fitting that in Independence Day (cheesy movie, but that's beside the point) they use a B-2 to deliver the Nuclear bomb - I always thought that was an homage to the War of Worlds movie's Flying wing scene.

[@trapezemusic]

@@nickh5081 You may be right about that and you are certainly right about Independence Day being a "cheesy" movie. I couldn't sit through it.

[@chugwaterjack4458]

Gotta love the Mustard ID cards!

[@Miniconana]

Whenever i see that i always here the arsenal birds' theme 😊

[@DonPirulo]

hell yeah

[@DanTheCaptain]

Northrup being able to see plans for the B2 is amazing, and I can only imagine the tears of joy and the grin on his face if he saw it flying!