List of flying wing aircraft

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The experimental Northrop YB-49 bomber of the 1950s.

The following is a list of flying wing aircraft, along with some information about their roles, successfulness, and country of origin. A flying wing aircraft is one in which the fuselage and tail sections are abandoned, and the crew operates inside a thick wing. In theory, such an aircraft has a higher lift and lower drag than conventional ones, though it can be difficult to use properly due to its inherent instability.

1 List of flying wings
- 1.1 True flying wings
- 1.2 Blended Wing Bodies
2 External links
3 See also

[edit] List of flying wings

[edit] True flying wings

The Horten Ho 229, the world's first jet-powered flying wing

Freel Flying Wing
Northrop N-1M (1940)
Northrop N-9M (1942)
Horten Ho 229 (1944) — One of the few planes that met Hermann Göring's infamous performance requirements, the Ho 229 was an experimental fighter built by Nazi Germany near the end of World War II.
Horten Ho XVIII — Design of a long range jet bomber.
Northrop XP-79 Flying Ram (1945)
B-35 (1945) - competitor to the Convair B-36 heavy bomber
Northrop YB-49 (1947) - YB-35 converted to use jet engines. Though proved to have stability problems and cancelled, it served as the inspiration for the B-2 Spirit.
Armstrong Whitworth A.W.52 (1949)- twin engined jet
Northrop B-2 Spirit (1989) — An American stealth bomber, built as an alternative to the F-117 Nighthawk with a much larger payload.
McDonnell Douglas A-12 Avenger II — An American attack aircraft intended to replace the United States Navy's A-6 Intruder. The project was aborted in 1991 before any aircraft were built.
General Aircraft GAL.56 - a glider
Facetmobile - experimental homebuilt aircraft

[edit] Blended Wing Bodies

The Boeing X-48 is not a true flying wing aircraft, but a blended-body aircraft.

Boeing X-45C (2002) - unmanned aircraft
Boeing X-48
Burnelli CBY-3
Junkers G.38
Lockheed Martin/Boeing DarkStar Tier III-
Northrop Grumman X-47 Pegasus (2003) - unmanned aircraft
Silent Aircraft Initiative

There are also other aircraft that incorporate design elements fundamental to a blended wing design (such as the B-1B and F-16), but not to the extent required for the scope of this article.