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Northrop N-9M

1942 WORLD WAR 2 X-PLANE

History of the Northrop N-9M

Before the famed Northrop B-2 "Spirit" stealth bomber became a reality, Jack Northrop worked hard to develop a viable, military-focused flying-wing design. The twin-tailed X-216H spawned the tailless N-1M in 1941, which exhibited many of the qualities of Northrop Visual Sound.

After Northrop sold the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) with the idea of ??a flying-wing strategic bomber (to become the propeller-powered "YB-35"), he produced a 1/3 scale prototype of the aircraft to represent the finished product and solve any potential issues, while also collecting much-needed flight data.

This effort later became the "N-9M", which appeared in 1942 and was eventually built in four copies.

The contract to develop the full-scale YB-35 bomber was signed in October 1941, a few months before the United States entered World War II (1939-1945). The N-9M has proven to be a key tool in understanding the various effects of tailless aircraft flight and managing large area control and handling.

The prospect of flying wings is exciting, with promising natural lift trends, a flatter profile and larger internal volumes for fuel and weapons. The original aircraft, the N-9M-1, was lost in a crash on May 19, 1943 (unfortunately, it was fatal to the test pilot of the control system).

The N-9M-2 and N-9M-A followed, eventually producing the final prototype aircraft - the N-9M-B - which benefited from lessons learned from the first three airframes.

The built-in N-9M series mimics much of what has been seen in previous N-1M research aircraft. The wings have a boomerang-like top-down shape, with the cockpit centered on the thickest part of the wing. When seated under a largely unobstructed canopy, pilots have to settle for huge wing areas that limit cockpit visibility. The engine is embedded in the design, and the drive shaft extends from the upper surface and drives the twin-bladed propeller assembly in a "thrust" arrangement. Since the N-9M did not have a vertical tail, the control surfaces were machined into the trailing edge of the wing.

The landing gear is fully retractable, giving the aircraft a very attractive streamlined profile.

Crew accommodation is equivalent to a pilot. Overall length is 17 feet 9 inches, with a wingspan of 60 feet and a height of 6 feet 7 inches. Gross weight is 14,000 lbs. Power is provided by 2 Menasco C6S-4 Buccaneer inverted 6-cylinder air-cooled inline piston engines, each rated at 275 hp. Top speed is 260 mph and range is up to 500 miles.

It has a service ceiling of 21,500 feet.

The N-9M test vehicle made its first flight on December 27, 1942, and 45 more flights to follow. However, many proved to be maddening due to the dynamic tech and mechanics, especially when it comes to powerplant choices.

The "N-9M-B" test car mentioned above was built with 2 Franklin XO-540-7 series engines, which now produce 300 horsepower.

With the end of World War II in 1945, many programs that were initially strongly supported by the U.S. military were either scaled back or permanently terminated. The U.S. Air Force canceled the YB-35 program in 1949 after prototypes and pre-production systems were already in service.

The N-9M is now past its heyday, with all but one (prototype N-9M-B) being scrapped.

The N-9MB suffered years of neglect in the California climate, but was eventually restored to airworthy status and remains a part of aviation history to this day. Despite the loss of a potential YB-35 strategic bomber contract, the USAF commissioned Northrop to adopt an improved jet-powered version, known as the "YB-49".

However, these existed only in prototype form, but heavily influenced the B-2 bomber program decades later - Northrop's flying-wing military bomber eventually came to fruition.