Peregrine Falcon vs. B2 Bomber

[schurmann]

“Jack Northrop’s Flying Wing, predecessor to the B-2 Spirit.
Which was preceeded by the Horten Bros. flying wings.”

Not so. Northrop’s N-1 and N-9 flying wings were built and flown 1939-42; Horten did make tailless gliders in the early 1930s, but their Ho229 bomber did not fly until late 1944.

Northrop’s N-1 and N-9 were used to prove the concept, and contribute to the development of the B-35 (propeller) and B-49 (jet), which were proposed as very long range bombers. Controllability problems and unforeseen engineering difficulties caused USAF to terminate both bomber programs.

Not until the late 1970s did work start on what became the B-2.

[Rodamala]

Not so. Northrop's N-1 and N-9 flying wings were built and flown 1939-42; Horten did make tailless gliders in the early 1930s, but their Ho229 bomber did not fly until late 1944.

"The N-1M made its first test flight on July 3, 1940, at Baker Dry Lake, California, with Vance Breese at the controls. Breese's inaugural flight in the N-1 M was inauspicious. During a high-speed taxi run, the aircraft hit a rough spot in the dry lake bed, bounced into the air and accidentally became airborne for a few hundred yards. In the initial stages of flight testing, Breese reported that the aircraft could fly no higher than 5 feet off the ground and that flight could only be sustained by maintaining a precise angle of attack. Von Karman was called in and he solved the problem by making adjustments to the trailing edges of the elevons."

The Horten H V (five) was built in 1936-1937 and first flew (and crashed as it rotated... knocking out Walter Horten's 2 front teeth) in 1937.

That aircraft was rebuilt (with the 2 powerplants reconfigured to move the CG forward) and flew successfully as the H Vb in the autumn of 1937.

All these aircraft are simply amazing to me.

You may enjoy reading some of the history of the Horten Brothers' efforts here:

http://www.warbirdforum.com/horten2.htm

[PLMerite]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_N-1M

“Jack Northrop became involved in innovative all-wing aircraft designs in the late-1920s, with his first Flying Wing being built in the 1928-1930 time period. That first prototype, the 1929 Flying Wing X-216H, evolved from earlier design studies.”

[Rodamala]

That first prototype, the 1929 Flying Wing X-216H...

You are comparing apples and orangutans, FRiend.

Similarly, the Dunne D.8 of 1912 might be considered a contender as a "flying wing", but it has vertical stabilizers:

Pure flying wings were a Horten affair.

You may enjoy this page with loads of pictures from the NASM restoration facility, circa 1997:

http://www.nurflugel.com/Nurflugel/nurflugel.html

[Rodamala]

Oops... link had an aliased address or sumthin'.

Here is the direct link to those NASM Paul Garber facility photos from 1997 (pretty much how I remember it being):

http://www.nurflugel.com/Nurflugel/NASM/body_nasm.html

[PLMerite]

"You are comparing apples and orangutans, FRiend."

Perhaps, but all I ever claimed was that the Horten brothers studied Jack Northrop's early designs, and that's because I'd just read it in a book: :)

[Rodamala]

It's really just something to consider how all these pioneers of aviation took real risks putting their own lives at peril, and in the end all these men legitimately improved the world that we now live in.

In comparision, I look at what goes on today with a precious snowflake class of spoiled rotten social justice warriors coming to bear on society and foresee a net ZERO positive contribution to the advancement of mankind from them.

It's alarming, bordering on disgusting.

[RFEngineer]

They have the same RCS.