Restored Vintage Northrop N9MB Flying Wing---Rare Sight !

This is a video that I took of the Planes of Fame Museum's (Chino, California) Northrop N9MB Flying Wing while performing a display at the Palm Springs Air Museum in 2006. This aircraft was painstakingly restored over a 13-year period.

As part of the November 1941 contract that Northrop was awarded for the proposed XB-35 Flying Wing included the construction of four, 1/3-scale aircraft, designated N9M, that were to act as flying test beds for various flight systems and also to familiarize Air Force pilots with flying-wing operations. The Planes of Fame Flying Wing in this video is one of those aircraft, and the only one remaining. Aviation greats such as Jack Northrop himself, Chuck Yeager and Bob Hoover actually flew this exact aircraft. I understand that this aircraft has a lot of idiosyncrasies that every pilot that ever flew her fell prey to, with interesting results!

Unfortunately, this aircraft experienced an in-flight engine fire just a short time after this video was taken in its left, 300 hp., 8-cylinder Franklin 0-540-7 engine. Pilot Ron Hackworth skillfully landed the aircraft safely. The Flying Wing has since been pretty much restored, but the restoration of the rare Franklin 0-540-7 engine is another matter. There were only about 27 of these engines ever built and it is believed that only three of them exist today. The needed parts may be newly manufactured as necessary, but the factory drawings are needed. They have not yet been located to my knowledge, as of Nov. 2007.

NOVEMBER 2009 UPDATE: New cylinder heads are being manufactured for these engines. Not a simple nor inexpensive task. Once the engine rebuilds are under way, this aircraft will once again fly, and not in the too distant future! But in the meantime, enjoy the rare video of this historic aircraft!

May 2010 UPDATE: The rebuilt, rare Franklin 8-cylinder engines have arrived and are in the process of being installed. The "Wing" will be ready for flight very soon!

Best,
- Octane130 -

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[barmtrail]

Was this aircraft once owned by the U.S. airforce?

Is this the aircraft that will fly to half moon bay 20 miles south of San Fran on may 1st? And if it is, how long will that flight take? Refueling needed? Is the aircraft air conditioned? Does the pilot wear a parachute?

[octane130]

@barmtrail: This is the only 1/3-scale Northrop flying-wing demonstrators surviving today. It first flew in 1942 and served as a technology demonstrator and also as a trainer for future flying-wing test pilots. It took 13 years to restore this aircraft to flying condition and it very recently (within the past year) received a complete, two-engine overhaul (a story in itself due to the extreme rarity of the Menasco eight-cylinder engines-only three in existence!).

[jetviewer]

Beautiful,

I think I saw this fly over my house today.

At first I thought it was a B2, but then I heard it, and realized it was too small.

I Live in Corona.

There is an Airshow in Riverside today.

I'm sure that a lot of hard work and dedication went into restoring that beautiful plane.

Nice work!

[octane130]

@jetviewer: Yes, that was the 'Wing that you saw. It was flown from Chino to the Palm Springs Air Museum for one of their events and came back that same afternoon. That aircraft has a very unusual sound, doesn't it?

[EnterpriseXI]

what was that pop sound form the engine at 0:09 and 0:19? and is she flying again?

[octane130]

@EnterpriseXI : This video was taken shortly before "the wing" had an engine fire that grounded it for about 4 years. There were other engine problems also with the very rare 8-cylinder Franklin engines. I'm happy to say that, as of 2 weeks ago, she is back in the air and she flew in the annual Planes of Fame airshow May 15 + 16, 2010. Both engines were completely rebuilt. Not an easy task considering that there are only 3 left in the world of the 27 originally made.

[TheRattleSnake3145]

@octane130

So no other motors in the world would fit?

[aseglkj]

that's a weird shape for a coffin, but to each his own I guess

[maddogmcrae]

@wandawong No, I made that conclusion on my own. I always loved airplanes and was intrigued by odd designs. I always thought that design would be unstable and the use of computers would make it flyable. Just like some of the new fighter that are designed to be unstable like the F-16 where it is the computer is what keeps the plane in the air. All the pilot does is tell it where he wants to go via the stick, and the computer would make all the necessary adjustments.

[workingstiff76]

@wandawong I was thinking that without a tail, flying something this shape would be a handful since the nose would want to pitch up and down. I am actually kind of surprised we haven't seen any commercial passenger aircraft use the flying wing design since it is so efficient, and I always thought none have ever made because of the inherent stability in the design. Of course, that could also be due to the feds and FAA too I guess.

[wandawong]

@workingstiff76

No, it was not difficult to fly. The man who flew these the most was Max Stanley and he always said that the YB49, especially, was "...a pleasure to fly." Even the YB49 with its102 foot wingspan could actually turn within the minimum turning radius of the best USAF fighters of the day.

[wandawong]

@maddogmcrae

Actually, you may have gotten this impression from a number of people on YouTube trying to throw cold water on the capabilities of Northrop's wings in an effort to cast a favorable view of the Horten's wings or the unfounded claims of old USAF test pilots with personal agendas. These planes were exceptionally maneuverable with manual control and the YB49 only needed Honeywell's "Little Herbert" stability augmenter to cancel minor "dutch roll" in bombing runs.

[maddogmcrae]

Wouldn't this be a very difficult plane to fly without the use of computers? The B2's computers do all of the flying. The control stick is for telling the computer where you want to go and the computer will make the necessary adjustments.

The old prototype had none of that.

[workingstiff76]

I imagine this aircraft must be a really wobbly goblin to fly.

[RoninTXBR549]

Incredible...  Northrup was certainly ahead of his time. Great video.

[RonBand01]

Thank you for sharing this footage. I didn't know that there was still a flyable "9" in existance. A long time friend who died about 10 years ago worked for Northrop and in the flying wing program. He would be so proud to see this prototype fly again.