Boeing's concept flying wing airplanes, pre ww2

[tomo pauk]

Posted at another forum, illustrations of Boeing's concept flying wing airplanes:

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,304.0.html

 

[Jenisch]

This is a good example to show that Germany was not the only country that produced radical concepts (a popular myth).

 

[Denniss]

But this (and others) stayed a concept while other nations did build them (with more or less success).

 

[fastmongrel]

The Westland Pterodactyl is an interesting flying wing concept
Westland-Hill Pterodactyl - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
bristol cherub | 1926 | 0305 | Flight Archive

 

[tyrodtom]

Northrop's flying wing N-1m flew in 1941, and his N-9m flew in 42. And though not a true flying wing since it had a vertical tail, Northrop's XP-56 flew in 43.

 

[GregP]

The N-9MB is still flying today at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California. There were four of them and ours is the last of the four, with all the "improvements."

 

[evangilder]

From what I understand, the engines are nearly as rare as the aircraft, Greg.

 

[GrauGeist]

A good thread that covers alot of the other "flying wings" from the pre-war years is here: http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/aircraft-pictures/german-flying-wings-15300.html

 

[GregP]

Yeah, they are rare. They only made 13 and had 2 and a half .... then blew a cylinder. We wound up having to have new cylinder made at a machine shop that specializes in aircraft engines. We made 25 and are set for awhile.

They are 8-cylinder Franklins that have the exhaust and intake on opposite sides from all the other Franklins.

 

[Rick65]

Boeing flying wings look as real as an XP-73

 

[tomo pauk]

Maybe an owner of the book named "Secret Projects: Flying Wings and Tailless Aircraft" could shed some light on this. Web sites make references on that book when talking about the Boeing Model 306 series

 

[stona]

This is a good example to show that Germany was not the only country that produced radical concepts (a popular myth).

It's not really a myth. The concept originated in Germany with German aerodynamicists. It is possible to argue that Germany had a substantial lead in some areas of aerodynamic design,certainly delta and flying wings.
We tend to forget that before the war there was much interchange of ideas in Europe and wider. NACA was publishing German aerodynamic research as technical memoranda. Beverley Shenstone (who designed the Spitfire wing) worked at Junkers and spoke excellent technical German. It's one of the reasons Mitchell employed him. Alexander Lippisch very nearly came to work for Supermarine as late as 1938! Conversely Shenstone is named by Lippisch as one of the team who helped design his first delta wing,having been closely involved in both the design and calculus needed to perfect the shape in the winter of 1930/31.At this time Lippisch also designed an aircraft with the familiar today "canard" fore-wing control surfaces,his early designs were,interestingly,elliptical. It was Shenstone who introduced Lippisch to the aerodynamic calculus theories of Glauert which they used as one of many tools to calculate the centre of lift in these revolutianary delta wings.
Cheers
Steve