Jetrader - Autumn 2018 - 57

* In 1948, the number two YB-49 broke
up in flight just north of Muroc. There
had been no chase plane to witness the
accident, but post-crash investigation
indicated that both outer wing sections
were ripped off in the air, and the five
crewmen went down with the center
section. None survived. In honor of the
flight commander, Captain Glen Edwards,
the Muroc facility was renamed Edwards
Air Force Base.
* Despite the crash, the Air Force decided
the jet-powered aircraft should go into
production, ordering 30 as strategic
reconnaissance bombers designated
RB-49A. One would be built at Hawthorne
and the remaining 29 would come from a
bomber plant in Fort Worth, Texas. This
never happened.
* Instead, later in 1948 the Air Force
directed Northrop to complete the
10  aircraft at Hawthorne as jet propelled reconnaissance bombers, but
that  was  cancelled to give the Air
Force extra funds to be used for the
B-36 program.
* Another plan was hatched to modify one
of the 10 aircraft with six (instead of
eight) jet engines plus a huge experimental turboprop engine in the middle.
That too was cancelled.
* Then there was a project (the YRB-49A)
that had only two jet engines in each
wing to make room for extra fuel tanks,
plus another engine in a single pod
below each wing. This six-engine aircraft
was actually built and flown, arriving
at Edwards in 1950. The nine remaining half-built aircraft at Hawthorne
were scrapped.

Flying Wing Bombers were completed
and flown:  three  with piston engines
and three  with jets. Not a single one
was preserved.
However, Hollywood movie fans may
remember the 1953 Oscar-winning movie
War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, where
a video clip from flight testing of the
jet-propelled YB-49 was used to show the
Flying Wing Bomber dropping an atom
bomb on Martians attacking a small town
in California. Spoiler alert: The Martians

were unscathed, protected by an invisible
force field.
Eventually, Northrop (by then
Northrop-Grumman) did produce an
advanced flying wing bomber for the U.S.
Air Force. That was the stealthy B-2 Spirit,
which was rolled out in 1988. The Air Force
hoped to buy 132 of them, but there was
only enough funding available to make 21.
The 21 were delivered between 1994 and
1997. By coincidence, the B-2 has the same
wingspan as the original XB-35.

A Mystery, a Sad Ending
and a Cameo Appearance
In February 1949, the number one YB-49
flew from Edwards to Andrews Air Force
Base near Washington, D.C. where President
Truman called for a thrilling low-level pass
down Pennsylvania Avenue. On the return
flight, four of the eight engines had to be
shut down because of oil starvation, leading to an emergency landing at Winslow
Airport, Arizona. There were conspiracy
theories about possible sabotage, but nothing came of them.
Although 15 airframes were assembled, in the end only six of the huge
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2018 57
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Jetrader - Autumn 2018

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