Northrop YB-49 "Flying Wing" (1947 predecessor to B-2 Stealth Bomber)

The Northrop YB-49 was an American prototype jet-powered heavy bomber developed by Northrop Corporation shortly after World War II for service with the United States Air Force.

General characteristics

• Crew: 6
• Length: 53 ft 1 in (16.18 m)
• Wingspan: 172 ft 0 in (52.43 m)
• Height: 15 ft 2 in (4.62 m)
• Wing area: 4,000 sq ft (370 m2)
• Aspect ratio: 7.2
• Airfoil: root: NACA 653-019; tip: NACA 653-018
• Empty weight: 88,442 lb (40,117 kg)
• Gross weight: 133,569 lb (60,586 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 193,938 lb (87,969 kg)
• Powerplant: 8 × Allison J35-A-15 turbojet engines, 4,000 lbf (18 kN) thrust each
(6x 5,000 lbf (22,241.11 N) Allison J35-A-19 engines on YRB-49)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 493 mph (793 km/h, 428 kn)
• Cruise speed: 365 mph (587 km/h, 317 kn)
• Range: 9,978 mi (16,058 km, 8,671 nmi) maximum[19]
• Combat range: 1,615 mi (2,599 km, 1,403 nmi) with 10,000 lb (4,536 kg) bombload
• Service ceiling: 45,700 ft (13,900 m)
• Rate of climb: 3,785 ft/min (19.23 m/s)
• Wing loading: 33 lb/sq ft (160 kg/m2)
• Thrust/weight: 0.23

Armament

• Guns: 4 × .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns (to be mounted in rotating "stinger" tail cone on all production aircraft)
• Bombs: 16,000 lb (7,260 kg) of ordnance

In the 1930s and 1940s in Germany, the Horten brothers, Walter and Reimar, built a range of planes that they called the `Ho' series. The first of this series, the Ho I, was a simple flying-wing sail plane. By the end of that decade the brothers had developed the Ho III, a metal framed glider that was fitted with a folding blade propeller for flight. Then in 1944 they finished the prototype HO IX, their first combat intended design, powered by the Junkers Jumo 004B turbojets, the craft had a metal frame and plywood exterior It made its maiden flight on 2nd February 1945 and satisfied with its performance, the Air Ministry ordered forty of the craft to be built by the Goetha Waggonfabrik under the designation Ho-229. When the US Third US Army Corps reached the Goetha plant on 14th April 1945 they took over the factory, and shipped back to the US the near completed HO IX V3.

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