[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