Early stable flying wing

[The Beatles]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horten_Ho_229
Also: http://tanks45.tripod.com/Jets45/Histories/HoIX/Go-229.htm

All I can say is, wow! As opposed to the modern American bomber variant, that was aerodynamically stable. This quite revises my previous conception of the development of modern aircraft.

[neobaron]

Mhmmm

Did you think we silly americans could build such a beautiful thing on our own? The "flying wing" concept is one of the oldest, but it wasnt until Northrop jacked the German plans and built his "B-49" that it became practical/possible on a large scale.

The B-2 is just the most recent model in a long line of copies... as awesomesauce as it is.

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We're not effecient enough to engineer something like that, unfortunately.

How about the F-86, or the Russian MiGs?

German concepts.

German engineers from the Nazi era are directly responsible for revolutionizing air combat (and aviation in general, as war often does promote science more than anything.)

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There is shaky evidence that they might have even had a functional "flying saucer" capable of rapid acceleration and deceleration up to 10,000 MPH if I remember my black helicopter stories correctly.

Soviets are supposed to have gotten /that/ technology first, and many sightings of random "disk shaped aircraft" jetting up from under the ground, or behind a treeline are reported by foreigners travelling the trans-siberian between in the years following the war.

The Canadians also managed to apprehend some of the technology, whether by espionage I dont know off the top of my head, but they did build a functional saucer based on the German "plans" (if you would dare call them that)... even though the Canadian version only got about 6 feet off the ground before it became horribly unstable.

[The Beatles]

Not to mention Operation Paperclip, which led to things like Armstrong on the moon, Northrop's flying wing, and no doubt many other advances.

The Germans also co-discovered jet engines, IIRC. By the end of the Victorian era, they were making major contributions and were on average on par with the British in technology, although that's debatable.

This reminds me why it's so good to have you around, Neo.

[bjornredtail]

I do belive that Junkers designed (but didn't build) a flying wing transport back in WWI. Wikipedia doesn't report it, but I do rember reading that somehwere.

[The Beatles]

They had been experimented with before, even Northrop was building designs. But the Horten was functional, i.e. top speeds nearly 1 Mach, good capacity, the works.

[neobaron]

Mmmm

Negative.

If anyone were to know about flying wings in the first world war, i would be me. And it didnt happen.

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A flying wing would have been impossible with the technology of the time anyways. Given the wingspan needed, the "gear" would have to be very far off the ground, and the materials werent light enough to hold up at high speeds or high altitudes.

You must remember about WW1... they were just begining to use metal in full construction in October of 1918....

A powered flying wing would have been nearly impossible at the time... especially something that would be able to transport given the needed dimensions for such a feat. The only thing capable of holding that much at wars end was a HP 0/400, and only 12 bodies at that... and it was almost as large as a modern jet liner in terms of wingspan.

[windhound]

speaking of flying wing...

http://blackbirdfly.no-ip.org/pl1.jpg
http://blackbirdfly.no-ip.org/pl3.jpg
http://blackbirdfly.no-ip.org/pl4.jpg
http://blackbirdfly.no-ip.org/pl7.jpg

identify plz
bonus points for naming the movie

[Freenhult]

speaking of flying wing...

http://blackbirdfly.no-ip.org/pl1.jpg
http://blackbirdfly.no-ip.org/pl3.jpg
http://blackbirdfly.no-ip.org/pl4.jpg
http://blackbirdfly.no-ip.org/pl7.jpg

identify plz
bonus points for naming the movie

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom?

[windhound]

[almost] got it in one
could you have guessed without piccy 3?

edit: actually, very close
try once more

[Freenhult]

Ah... Indiana Jones: The Arc of the Convanant. (Prolly, I've seen them all a ton. The first one made me think Indy. The second one was too much help. )

EDIT: My dad can't remember if its just I.J. or if it has the rest of it there.

[windhound]

nice freen
there were only three Indiana Jones movies: The Temple of Doom, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and The Last Crusade
this came from Raiders of the Lost Ark
which is close to what you said

still need the airplane name :*laughs*:

[Gen. Volkov]

Made up airplane. Never existed in real life.

Neo, Jack Northrop was building his flying wing before anyone even knew about the German one. The first flying wing he built was not that big ass bomber, but a much smaller fighter sized plane. In 1940 I believe. He then scaled it up to build the bomber after the war. All the flying wings, including the German one, suffered from stability problems. It's inherent in the design. The modern B-2 is indeed the next in a long line of flying wings, but the first truly successful one, as it has fly-by-wire controls that fixes it's stability problems.

The first MiG jet was a direct copy of a Focke-Wulf design that never flew. The F-86 was a basically a P-51 with swept wings and tail and a jet engine, which they got the idea to do from the German Me-262.

There is shaky evidence that they might have even had a functional "flying saucer" capable of rapid acceleration and deceleration up to 10,000 MPH if I remember my black helicopter stories correctly.

Watching a few too many history channel shows there methinks. XD. The evidence is not just shaky, it's barely there at all.

Soviets are supposed to have gotten /that/ technology first, and many sightings of random "disk shaped aircraft" jetting up from under the ground, or behind a treeline are reported by foreigners travelling the trans-siberian between in the years following the war.

There's also reports my ex-airmen of seeing US flying saucers sitting in hangars at different spots around the country. I give both about equal credence, which is next to nothing. I have yet to see one convincing photograph or videotape of a flying saucer. Supposedly one guy got pictures of these Air Force saucers, but they were confiscated, which leaves that guy up the creek. Pictures are easy to claim when you can say the guvmnt took em.

The Canadians also managed to apprehend some of the technology, whether by espionage I dont know off the top of my head, but they did build a functional saucer based on the German "plans" (if you would dare call them that)... even though the Canadian version only got about 6 feet off the ground before it became horribly unstable.

*laughs*, you mean that retarded "Avrocar"? They were trying to build a flying saucer yes, but it was based on a joint Canadian/American design and the saucer was an experimental that disproved the entire concept. Which is why the project was scrapped. The avrocar proved that the thrust to weight ratio required was simply not achievable by current tech. It was more the first hovercraft than flying saucer.

[windhound]

*grin*

The German Flying Wing

The plane in Raiders looked so unique because it was.
Here is a quote from
The Raiders of the Lost Ark Collector's Album.

"The futuristic Flying Wing was chosen by director Steven Spielberg to represent the ominous and advanced state of aeronautics in Hitler's Germany Production designer Norman Reynolds used a Northrop Corporation prototype of the Flying Wing and drawings by Ron Cobb to design for Raiders of the Lost Ark this strange plane that has no tail and no fuselage. The plane was built in England by Vickers Aircraft Company and painted at EMI Elstree Studios in London. In order to ship the elaborate prop to Tunisia for filming, it had to be disassembled and sent in parts, then rebuilt on location. In the film the Flying Wing is in Egypt (the Tunisian location) for the top secret mission of transporting the sacred Ark of the Covenant. But before the Ark is even aboard the plane, a series of dramatic events results in the fiery destruction of the Flying Wing."

edit: source: http://www.indygear.com/props/planes.shtml

thats kinda funny
because as neat as that plane looked, nazi germany had more advanced versions of the flying wing that actually flew (even if most if not all were prototypes that never made it out in time)
I also thought it was really wierd it had a ball turret

http://richard.ferriere.free.fr/3vues/go229_1_3v.jpg

shiny...

[neobaron]

Silly Volkov, which Northrop design was the first one to be flyable with men inside and stable enough to actually take out "for a spin"

(Assuming you didnt stall it with a high AoA... otherwise you fall to the ground like a feather dropped on its side. )

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The Gotha (manufacturer) flying wing was the first, and without it, Northrop would not have had his out by... '48?

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And yes, i did get that information from "The War Channel"

I thought it was interesting.

The Avrocar was leet. One day, they'll get it right.

[The Beatles]

AFAIK -- which isn't far -- the German flying wing was stable, it's just the modern B-2 that isn't stable, as unimportant design details were compromised for stealth.