Damn...

"user314" (user314) 04/23/2019 at 11:14 • Filed to: Planelopnik, planelopnik history, Planes, Northrop, n9m, high flight

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The last surviving Northrop !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a prototype of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! flying wing, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Norco, California yesterday, killing the pilot and utterly destroying the aircraft.

The N9M- B was the last of 4 N9M aircraft built by Northrop to test the flying characteristics of the Flying Wing design Jack Northrop championed for his entire life. The N9M-1 crashed in 1943 after entering a spin, and the -2 and -A were scrapped after the end of the B-35 program. The -B languished outside for several decades until the Planes of Fame Air Museum bought the aircraft in the early 1980's and began restoring it. After its first flight in 1993, the N9M was part of of the POF regular air show appearances, even surviving an in-flight fire in 2006 that grounded the plane for 4 years.

The NTSB is investigating the accident, and the pilot (who has not been named as yet) is the only casualty.

Future next gen S2000 owner > user314 04/23/2019 at 11:39

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Wasn’t that design notoriously unstable during flight? That is why it was scrapped back in the 40's. Then fly-by-wire was invented and micro- computer adjust ments allowed the B2 to work.

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > user314 04/23/2019 at 11:41

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That’s a sad story all around. Seemed like an amazing plane but no doubt tricky to fly. 

For Sweden > user314 04/23/2019 at 11:42

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I know Planes of Fame had a tough decision with who would fly N- 9M. The only rated pilot (who I assume is the casualty) was getting to retirement age, and how do you teach someone to fly a single-seat piston flying wing?

facw > user314 04/23/2019 at 11:50

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Sad, but probably pretty close to inevitable given a difficult to fly 77 year old plane.

The similar Northrop N-1M is at the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy center (and obviously not flying) :

Chariotoflove > user314 04/23/2019 at 11:56

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That’s so sad. It’s cool that this amazing plane was kept flying as a novelty, but not cool that someone died as a consequence. 

user314 > Future next gen S2000 owner 04/23/2019 at 12:07

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Well, the earlier N1M would Dutch Roll like nobodies business, and there was the fatal crash of the first N9M-1, which led to changes in the controls, but otherwise they were supposedly very nice flyers. The B-35 cancellation was due more to problems with the engines and contra-rotating props, both of which were provided by the Army Air Force. By the time Northrop got the issue sorted, the war had ended, and the B-35 canceled. The B-49 swapped the props for jets, but in doing so the range and payload suffered, and the plane was too expensive for its performance. 

user314 > Chariotoflove 04/23/2019 at 12:11

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Yeah. On the one hand it really should have been in the Smithsonian next to the N1M (and a YB-49, but that ship sailed a long time ago), but by the same token seeing it in flight had to have been indescribable. 

Chariotoflove > user314 04/23/2019 at 12:34

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T hat’s why it was flying. Because of the love of the pilot and the people who restored it.

ttyymmnn > user314 04/24/2019 at 12:18

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The B-35 would have been a kick-ass long range bomber. But the USAF had a hard on for jets. I think there were also a lot of stuffy generals who don’t like weird-looking planes. 

user314 > ttyymmnn 04/24/2019 at 12:33

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Had Northrop not been saddled with a crap power train, or had WWII continued into ‘46, absolutely. 

ttyymmnn > user314 04/24/2019 at 12:36

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They were flying B-50s for quite a while after WWII. There was still a place for a piston-powered bomber.