Northrop xb-35

The chief designer of the aircraft, Jack Northrop, has been passionate about the concept of an aircraft such as a flying wing from the very beginning of his career. Northrop made the first attempt to create such an airplane in 1939. As a result, the light saw the experimental fighter XP-56 Black Bullet . It was designed according to a tailless design and had a pushing screw. In fact, it was a Flying Wing. Unfortunately, the plane was lost during tests - it turned over during maneuvering on the ground.

In parallel, Jack Northrop worked on the prototype XP-79. Aircraft type flying wing with liquid rocket engines. Unfortunately, this car was also lost during the tests. But Northrop did not stop it.

In late 1941, in response to the United States Air Force placing an order for a new strategic bomber, Northrop proposed ^{[2] to the} military his new project, the XP-35. A promising bomber of an unusual design had a number of undeniable advantages over its counterparts of the classic layout. Due to the absence of the fuselage and the tail unit, virtually the entire surface of the aircraft created lift. Thus, the designers were able to increase the fuel supply and payload due to the saved weight. In addition, the drag also dropped, which allowed, in addition to increasing the range, also to increase flight speed without additional costs.

Without waiting for the end of the prototype test, on December 17, 1942, the U.S. Air Force orders a trial series of 13 bombers from Northrop. The series received the designation YB-35 (pre-production version) for military trials. For the production base of the company in Houghhorn, this order was maximum. Airplanes had to be assembled in the open air due to the lack of hangars of the appropriate size.

Jack Northrop was absolutely sure of success. He began the search for a partner with the production capacity to complete an order for more than 200 units. That partner was Glen Martin, with whom Northrop entered into a preliminary agreement at the end of 1942.

The official order from the Air Force was received on June 30, 1943. Under the terms of the contract, Northrop was supposed to betray the Air Force's first serial bomber by June 1945, however, this was not destined to happen. Northrop threw all its efforts into working on this, but already at the beginning of 1944 it became clear that the company did not meet the agreed deadlines. In addition, a reanalysis of data from tests of Northrop's previous developments showed that the actual characteristics of the B-35 would be lower than the declared ones.

So, the flight range turned out to be less by 2592 km, and the maximum speed by 39 km / h ^[3] . Of course, this could not please the Air Force. To top it off, Martin constantly lagged behind the work schedule and kept tearing down the date of construction of the first production model. As a result, the Air Force canceled its order for 200 production vehicles. Formal notification confirmation came to Northrop in December 1944. The Air Force demanded to complete the construction and begin flight tests of only experienced XB-35 and pre-production YB-35. By this time, only 7 unfinished machines were in the workshops of the Northrop plant ^[4] - two XB-35 and five YB-35.

Consolidated, Northrop's primary competitor, has been less fortunate. She ordered a total of 100 production V-36 machines (order of July 23, 1943) with the delivery of the first production aircraft by May 1944. This decision traces the obvious sympathy of General Arnold for the creation of John Northrop.

The aircraft was equipped with four star-shaped air-cooled Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major engines - two types of R-4360-17 and two types of R-4360-21 with a capacity of 3000 liters. s. each, all engines were also equipped with General Electric turbochargers, calculated on the delivery of 10,000 pounds (4,540 kg) of bombs to a range of 5500 km. The design range with a combat load was to be 12,400 km. To cool the engines, slots were made in the leading edge of the wing, through which air entered the special discharge chambers. The armament of the bomber was to consist of six remotely controlled turrets equipped with 3x4 + 4x2 12.7-mm Browning M2 machine guns and 2 × 37 mm aircraft guns mounted in the stern.

Subsequently, the aircraft was upgraded to the Northrop YB-49 model with installation under jet engines. After the program was closed, all planes were scrapped.

Data Source: An article on the Sky Corner website ^[5]

Specifications

• Crew : 9 people
• Length : 16.18 m
• Wing span : 52.43 m
• Height : 6.12 m
• Wing area: 371.6 m
• Empty weight: 43,284 kg
• Normal take-off weight: 76,340 kg
• Maximum take-off weight : 95000kg
• Powerplant : 4 × 2 PD Pratt Whitney R-4360-17 + 2 R-4360-21 Wasp Major
• Engine power: 4 × 3000 l s
• Propeller: coaxial four-blade Hamilton Standart Supermatic (on YB-35 four-blade)
• Screw Diameter: 4648 mm / 4597 mm

Flight characteristics

• Maximum speed: 629 km / h
• Cruising speed : 294 km / h
• Combat radius: 5500 km
• Ferry range: 13,113 km
• Practical ceiling : 12,100 m

Armament

• Suspension points: 8 bomb bay
• Bombs : Bomb load - 23,245 kg maximum and 18,700 kg normal

machine guns 3x4 + 4x2 12.7 mm Browning M2 2x37mm aircraft guns

• XB-35 Flying Wing and XB-36 Film Clips / YouTube
• B-35 Flying Wing (Russian)