Four Northrop Flying Wing prototypes were built in the 1940's but only one of them, N9MB (Niner Mike Bravo) was flying seventy years later. This new film (June 2024) is of the one-of-a-kind 9MB as seen in 2010 at the "Wings Over Camarillo" airshow.
Jack Northrop had a radical plan to build the most efficient aircraft possible by eliminating tails and fuselages and leaving nothing but wings. Tails provide critical stability, but they also create drag, and drag is the enemy of speed, range and efficiency. But without tails, stability and control were major challenges waiting for new developments to overcome the issues. 9MB was one of the original testbeds of the new flying wing technology.
T...