Flying Wing
Support Tales of Future Past!
Help us keep Tales of Future Past going and growing with your donation to our bandwidth fund.
|
|
Custom Search
|
|
The Northrop Flying Wing was an aircraft that can
only be called ahead of its time. This was a machine that by some
uncanny fluke managed to leap off the pages of Air Wonder Stories
and into the skies. This had to be the aeroplane of the FUTURE.
It had that bold, clean line to it; that classic shape that stood out
like the spindle shape of a V2 rocket.
The Flying Wing was originally designed as a bomber, though Northrop also foresaw a transport version for carrying troops and cargo. It was an ambitious programme, but it never got past the prototype stage. In test flights, the flying wings proved to have insurmountable stability problems that wouldn't be solved until the microchips of today allowed for constant computer control. Passenger model
Northop didn't stop with bombers and transport versions of the flying wing.
The possibilities of passenger service were also considered.
Northrop even produced mockups for a passenger model.
With its spacious seats,
piano bar,
and fore
and aft observation lounges
with huge windows to provide panoramic views,
it makes you just want to weep every time you try to look out the peep holes of a modern airliner. |
|
|
|
|
