Forgotten aircraft - Armstrong-Whitworth AW-52 flying wing

Through being involved in laminar-flow wing development Armstrong Whitworth was keen to put its experience to practical application
and proposed a jet-powered four-engined 120ft span laminar flow flying wing bomber. The design was to be evaluated through the use
of a 1/3 scale glider. The end of the war brought an end to the project but not before work had started on the AW-52G glider. It first flew
on 2 March 1945. Armstrong Whitworth, after cancellation of the bomber project, maintained its interest in a large flying wing and was
eventually given a contract to produce two prototypes. To give some point to the project beyond research the type was designed to
carry 4,000lbs of mail. The first Nene-powered aircraft flew on 13 November 1947 and eventually achieved speeds of around 500mph.
It crashed on 30 May 1949 through control problems and the pilot, John Lancaster, made the first emergency ejection in Britain. The 2nd
AW52 was powered by the Derwent and it flew on 1 September 1948, later on trials with the RAE until May 1954 when it was scrapped.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Armstrong
• Whitworth
• AW-52
• flying
• wing
• jet
• aircraft
• bomber
• aviation
• history

[SAHBfan]

There is a lot of nonesense in this thread ^_^

As for who 'invented' the flying wing, there were tailess designs before the first succesful flight, right back to the 1870s and perhaps earlier.

Guys who got them to fly include Rene Arnoux (France), J.W. Dunne (Britain), Lippisch and the Hortens (Germany), Geoffry Hill (Britain) Soldenhoff (Germany)and Northrop (USA) - there are lots of others.

Arnoux was racing tailess aircraft in the early 20s - way before any German secret projects...

[datzfast]

stealth is becoming less and less important because it can easily be defeated by missile that use visible imaging, infrared imaging, sound detection, and sniffing the air.

[deltamike33]

Bf 1942: The secret weapons of WWII!!

[slumdogkarlie]

This is cool cause I typed in my last name, which is Whitworth and this came up..may be my ancestor. Maybe not cause I didn't watch The video...

[spyderz1303]

I used to chat to an old fellow who had been a test pilot and he told me that the guy who bailed out of the flying wing, landed in a blackthorn bush and spent the next couple of weeks removing thorns from his backside. The flying wing, recovered itself and proceeded to land itself almost undamaged!. The test pilot used to fly over Dad's farm in an old Rapide to the field where the flying wing operated from and shortly afterwards he would fly the newfangled thing back.

[GrigoriZhukov]

@TheMe110 No, you would be 100% wrong aamof Jack Northrup had started developing flying wings before those nice Horton boys got into the game and not to quibble but HIS flying was better than theirs in every aspect. Better structure, better controls and better layout. But I'm biased because I spent my youth reading up on them and hanging out with IP's and ground crew.

[kinmanyuen]

future bomber!

[binaway]

@TheMe110 Not every aircraft made after the war requires German technology. The British developed their own jet engines during the war and the Gloucester Meteor entered service two weeks before the Luftwaffe had a jet into service. The fist jet engine was built in Britain but the Government wasn't interested at the time. Flying wings go back to to the very beginning of aviation. See the Westland-Hill Pterodactyl by Bomberguy and also his wingless Wonders video.

[JimMorrow1927]

The AW52 was investigating boundary layer with the laminar flow wing and was one of the many wing deisgns developed in the country and was never meant as a production aircraft. Stealth was not in the notes until the late eighties of nineties.

[DonMeaker]

@datzfast Don't know much about Stealh, do you?

[JimMorrow1927]

Excellent video. I was the ATCO in the Bitteswell Control Tower when this took place asnd I have Chas E Brown's autograpgh on the day. I was also on duty when JO Lancaster(now91) had to leave the aircraft with the first Martin Baker Ejection to save a pilot's life. Juliettmike.