And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
It was a case of parallel evolution. Designers early on discovered that the fuselage creates huge amounts of drag. The glider revolution period in the late 20's and early 30's really spurred radical design development.
As anonymous below states, Norton and others, including the Hortons, experimented with flying wings.
Northrop was doing stuff very similar to the Horton Boys in Germany Pre-WWII. Flaying Wings are Tough to build with 'natural stability' and so the modern Autopilot/Fly-by-Wire Systems make them Practical.
One wonders if Germany's Horten Ho 229 would have been successful. It had no vertical stabilizers and should have had all the stability problems of the YB49.
Although the Horten was made mostly of wood, there were enough radar reflections off the engines and cockpit to make it detectable by the radars of the time, although with significantly reduced returns (20%?).
The Horten was a truly gorgeous aircraft, and someone should build one with modern controls just for kicks.
Could this have inspired Jack Northrop?
ReplyDeleteIt was a case of parallel evolution. Designers early on discovered that the fuselage creates huge amounts of drag. The glider revolution period in the late 20's and early 30's really spurred radical design development.
DeleteAs anonymous below states, Norton and others, including the Hortons, experimented with flying wings.
Northrop was doing stuff very similar to the Horton Boys in Germany Pre-WWII. Flaying Wings are Tough to build with 'natural stability' and so the modern Autopilot/Fly-by-Wire Systems make them Practical.
ReplyDeleteOne wonders if Germany's Horten Ho 229 would have been successful. It had no vertical stabilizers and should have had all the stability problems of the YB49.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the Horten was made mostly of wood, there were enough radar reflections off the engines and cockpit to make it detectable by the radars of the time, although with significantly reduced returns (20%?).
The Horten was a truly gorgeous aircraft, and someone should build one with modern controls just for kicks.