FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
Not true - although we know about Jack Northrop's obsession with flying wing designs, by the time the B-2 was on the drawing board he had been long gone and Northrop Aircraft was a way different company from when he ran it. A flying wing platform was chosen more as a matter than function rather than previous designs or Northrop's design legacy. Having worked on the B-2, I can tell you that many of the people who ran the B-2 program probably never heard of the XP-56 and knew little about the XB-35 and YB-49.
This was the aircraft that led the way for the B-2.
Northrop Tacit Blue - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
BTW - although the Westland-Hill Pterodactyl flew before some of Northrop's flying wings (he was building any flying flying wings before WW2) I doubt the Pterodactyl any any influence on Northrop's XB-35 and YB-49 which were actually designed and constructed during the war years.
"An order for 13 YB-35 service test aircraft was placed in September 1942 and another order for 200 production B-35Bs was placed in June 1943. It soon became apparent, however, that the aircraft would not be ready in time for use in World War II. Furthermore, jet bomber prototypes already on the drawing board made the propeller driven XB-35 obsolete before its first flight. The Army decided to continue the B-35 program, but only in test status. The B-35B order was canceled and the YB-35 order was amended to include conversions to jet powered aircraft (YB-49 and YRB-49A). The development of the XB-35 continued but at a slower pace, and the first flight of the XB-35 (S/N 42-13603) wasn't made until June 25, 1946."
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=2583
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